Emma Bennett

Emma is originally from the city of Birmingham. A trained primary school teacher, she is now a full time professional artist, illustrator and creator/editor of The City Through The Eyes of It's Artists book series. After studying archaeology at university Emma trained as a teacher and spent two years working in China with the charity Voluntary Services Overseas. A dream job as an Exhibition Developer at The Science Museum in London and then as Head of Architecture Education at Dulwich Picture Gallery began a career of over fifteen years working in exhibition design and project management.

It was a move to the beautiful city of Cambridge (UK) in 2005 (With husband Craig Bennett; CEO of The Wildlife Trusts) that re-ignited a love of all things art. Surrounded by the history, grandeur, creativity and vibrancy of Cambridge, Emma began to create pictures using her favorite technique of hand-cut collage. Using only recycled papers her creations range from nature and animals to large-scale intricate architectural city scapes.  Her work can be seen in a major Cambridge Art Gallery and in exhibitions in the region. Clients include The University of Cambridge, The RSPB, Friends of the Earth and The Scott Polar Museum.

The idea for The Cambridge Art Book (The first in the series) came in 2015, with a desire to show the city through the eyes of its artists; and to get people walking around Cambridge to see how different buildings and sites can represented in different media and styles.  Cambridge artists were quick to come on board (As was local based publishes UIT Cambridge). Emma was assisted in selecting images for publication by a panel of local city and art experts - an essential part of the editing process, which is used for every book. Visual artist Jo Tunmer is Lead Pannelist for the book series and I am grateful for her input.

Following the success of The Cambridge Art Book, which shows the city through the eyes (and using a wide variety of different techniques) of over 50 artists, The Oxford Art Book was published in 2018 followed by The Edinburgh Art Book, The Liverpool Art Book and The Dublin Art Book. The Bristol and Bath Art Book will be published in 2022 with The Birmingham Art Book to follow.

In 2021 Emma's first written and illustrated Children's book, 'Finn and the Flies' was published. (www.finnandthefiveflies.co.uk) In September 2022 Emma is exciting to be starting an MA in children's book illustration at Cambridge School of Art. Emma will do the MA part-time along with creating The City Through The Eyes of Its Artists book series.

Emma has a studio in central Cambridge where she works, often with Barney the Labrador snoring away.

A quick link to Emma's work can be found here:

www.emmabennettcollage.co.uk