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Art Source
Talk Of The Table
Having spent many years early in her design career with multi-national ceramic company, Churchill China, highly versatile artist and illustrator, Karen Tye Bentley is well used to keeping those proverbial plates spinning when working on different briefs for greeting cards and other products. Karen opens the doors of her home studio in Newcastle-under-Lyme to share her life and loves. “I have always loved being creative and I started drawing from a very young age and have very fond memories of drawing ‘competitions’ with my Grandad as well as knitting with my Nan… special times. I enrolled at Newcastle-under-Lyme College of Art to do a general art and design diploma as I wanted to try out different areas of creativity. I instantly loved pottery and using different glazing techniques, and living on the doorstep of The Potteries it seemed natural to look to a career in ceramics. I then studied at Staffordshire Poly (Staffs Uni now) and enjoyed a HND course in industrial ceramics which led to a placement at Wedgwood which I thoroughly enjoyed. While still at the Poly I answered a job advert to join a studio which created prototypes for collectable items, mainly for the American market. I got the job, and as soon as I finished education I was offered a full time role and worked on varying projects covering shape, pattern and illustration which was a fantastic experience and taught me so much. My next move took me to Churchill China, initially as a designer, but I worked my way up to design manager, then group design manager covering the hotel division as well as retail. I loved the teamwork involved in running a small, but very busy studio. I feel lucky to say that over 20 years later I am still firm friends with the original team, but as time went on, I spent most of my time travelling or in meetings and designing less and less. When I got married and my first daughter came along it was a perfect opportunity to take stock. I didn’t want to be travelling so the decision was made to set myself up at home and have a crack at Top: Karen Tye Bentley loves her design life, working from her home studio in Newcastle under Lyme. Above middle: A love of Christmas comes out loud and clear in Karen’s portfolio. Right: A knowledge of surface pattern is evident in Karen’s work. Far right: Karen loves experimenting with different techniques, including within a piece of artwork. Background: Pretty florals and butterflies lend themselves to greeting card sends.
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Far left: Karen is just as happy working in bold colour palettes as delicate pastel ones. Left: Forging a career as a freelance designer balances well with Karen’s life.
freelancing. Because I had so many contacts in the ceramics world this is where I started, but I gradually expanded into the greeting card market. Whenever I had previously visited trade fairs while working in ceramics I had always wandered longingly into the greeting card halls and been envious of the designers being able to work on such colourful and exciting artwork! I have been juggling many different products ever since. My daughters are now both at University and I still can’t quite believe that I get paid to sit at home with my slippers on colouring in all day… I love working on different products, I love being busy, either to a customer specific brief or having a play with new ideas to see what comes of it. I never have a fixed plan. I’m at my happiest when I’m creating. I have always hand-painted and used Photoshop, but I am now having a dabble with Illustrator so that I have a few more styles up my sleeve for whatever comes along. I really don’t mind what the theme is, but I do have a special love for Christmas! Although I work at home I have built up really great relationships with customers over the years, such as with Farmhouse Biscuits, who treat me as part of their team, and many of my greeting card customers come back year after year. I have recently jumped in with Creative Sparrow which is working out brilliantly, and I’m looking forward to designing for a new set of customers and working alongside Hannah Curtis [Creative Sparrow’s md] to develop my portfolio further.” l Karen Tye Bentley is
represented by Creative Sparrow for licensing and commissions.
If you are an artist, photographer or verse writer and would like to be considered to appear in Art Source, please contact PG’s Jakki Brown on jakkib@max-publishing.co.uk. This is an editorial feature and as such is free of charge. PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE 53