{"id":1591,"date":"2009-03-01T00:42:34","date_gmt":"2009-03-01T06:42:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/?p=1591"},"modified":"2009-03-02T07:45:36","modified_gmt":"2009-03-02T13:45:36","slug":"7-imps-7-kicks-104-featuring-up-and-coming-illustrator-chantal-bennett","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/?p=1591","title":{"rendered":"7-Imp’s 7 Kicks #104: Featuring Up-and-Coming Illustrator, Chantal Bennett"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Jules:<\/font> Can you believe it’s already the first Sunday in a new month? I can’t. But you know what it means when the first Sundays come along: We highlight a student of illustration or an illustrator otherwise new to the field in some way. This morning, 7-Imp welcomes Chantal Bennett<\/strong><\/a>, who . . . well, no introduction is necessary on my part, because when I asked if she’d like to say a few words to introduce herself, she ran with it and did a fine job, indeed, of giving us a bit of insight into her work and her plans. So, without further ado and with many thanks to Chantal for stopping by—especially for that enchanting opening image up there—here she is: <\/p>\n

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Hi! My name is Chantal Bennett. I’m 26 years old, and I went to Parsons New School of Design<\/strong><\/a>. I interned with the fabulous Pat Cummings<\/strong><\/a>, who introduced me to the business of children’s books. I always had a feeling in the back of my mind that I was destined to illustrate picture books, and interning with Pat only reinforced that.<\/p>\n

I’m originally from Northern Ontario in Canada, where art classes are few and far between. My education as an illustrator took a long time to develop, because there was not much encouragement for the field where I grew up. So I dabbled in fine arts {and} animation and finally obtained a non-art-related university degree before I decided, <\/em>enough was enough; I’m moving to NYC to go to art school and become an illustrator. I moved there with my boyfriend Joel Kimmel<\/strong><\/a>, who is also an illustrator. I am fortunate to have studied at Parsons.<\/p>\n

I draw my inspiration from the Golden Age illustrators (Arthur Rackham<\/strong><\/a>, Edmund Dulac<\/strong><\/a>, Carl Larsson<\/strong><\/a>, N.C Wyeth<\/strong><\/a>, etc.) and also contemporary fantasy illustrators such as Alan Lee<\/strong><\/a>, John Howe<\/strong><\/a>, Yvonne Gilbert<\/strong><\/a>, Rebecca Guay<\/strong><\/a>, The Dillons<\/strong><\/a>, to name a few. I like illustrating obscure Celtic myths, like this one about jackdaws that saved a village by finding two missing rings…<\/p>\n

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…and painting obscure creatures, like Failinis, a golden hound who renders the beasts around him powerless.<\/p>\n

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I also really love costumes, so you will rarely ever see a character in modern-day clothing in my work. I collect books on costumes and even enjoy making them myself just for fun. I have a particular penchant for the Victorian era…<\/p>\n

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I’m also a big fan of fantasy literature, so I always try to add a bit of the fantastic or the whimsical to my pieces {such as with the illustration that opens this post}.<\/p>\n

I like doing portraits, too… <\/p>\n


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I’m in the middle of several projects right now. I created a 32-page dummy at Parsons named <\/em>Growler the Reluctant Guard Dog…<\/p>\n

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…but I am now working on three different dummies that are mostly along the fantasy\/folktale genre. While in school, I also came up with a concept for a book entitled <\/em>Around the World in TwenTea Days, and I plan on developing that idea as well…<\/p>\n

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I hope to shop these books around soon. I’m also starting up a letterpress business in the spring, so I hope to incorporate that technique into my illustration in the future. It’s going to be a busy year, that’s for sure!<\/font><\/em><\/p>\n

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Thanks again, Chantal, and best of luck with your career!<\/p>\n

As a reminder, these Sunday posts are our weekly meeting ground for taking some time to reflect on Seven(ish) Exceptionally Fabulous, Beautiful, Interesting, Hilarious, or Otherwise Positive Noteworthy Things from the past week, whether book-related or not, that happened to you. Absolutely anyone, of course, is welcome to list kicks — even if, or especially<\/em> if, you’ve never done so before.<\/p>\n

* * * Jules’ kicks * * *<\/strong><\/font><\/center><\/p>\n

1). If you haven’t already read about Share a Story — Shape a Future<\/em> (the brainchild of Terry Doherty from The Reading Tub<\/strong><\/em><\/a>), coming up in March, then—by all means—head over to Jen Robinson’s<\/strong><\/a> or Terry’s<\/strong><\/a> blog and take a gander. They have all the info, but bottom line is that it’ll be a one-week literacy blog tour of sorts that is “for and by the people who create and engage their readers: teachers, librarians, parents, and people passionate about literacy.” It’s got its own site here<\/strong><\/a>, and—as you can see there—I’ll be involved on Day Four: I’ll be interviewing\/chatting with public librarian extraordinnaire and kicks-regular Adrienne Furness<\/strong><\/a> about how to make the library work for YOU — yes, YOU, the patron. It’ll be fun. I’m happy to be involved in such a unique blog tour. More on that later. <\/p>\n

2). My husband and I finished—all done and kaput—The Sopranos<\/em>. I’m mostly speechless, but I will say that I understand now what author Haven Kimmel meant when she said<\/strong><\/a> that her choice of death, if she only had twenty-four hours to live, would be to spend twenty-four hours with Tony Soprano and then have him shoot her in the heart. Tony Soprano is an evil sociopathic rat bastard son of a devil. Yet I love Tony Soprano<\/strong><\/a>. The show just might do that to you. <\/p>\n

3). My mother-in-law gave me money to spend on myself (I was forbidden to spend it on my children), ’cause she’s just randomly-giving like that, and one thing I got was this book<\/strong><\/a>, pictured here to the left. ‘Cause I’m a nerd like that. <\/p>\n

4). Smart teachers like this<\/strong><\/a>, and thanks to Susan<\/strong><\/a> for that link. (I also figured out from Susan this week that the NPR librarians have a blog<\/strong><\/a> “by and for the audio-loving, fact-finding, truth-seeking, pop-culture-fiending, news-addicted librarians of the world”. Color me jealous. I’ve always wanted to be an NPR librarian.)<\/p>\n

5). I taught a class to the homeschoolers at my local public library on Friday. The two children’s librarians asked me to teach about American Sign Language for one hour. I was nervous. I’m used to working at home in my PJs anymore. I had a blast. I think the kids did, too. It was really fun. I think I need to be back in a library again some day soon, mostly ’cause I took a stack of new picture books with me and managed to work them into the class. I can’t help it. <\/p>\n

6). I’ve made it clear before that I pretty much just listen to the same music over and over. This week I grabbed Patty Griffin’s “1000 Kisses,”<\/strong><\/a> on my way out the door one day, and I was all blubbery-crying on about each and every song, re-discovering that great CD. She’s so gooood<\/em> and such a great storyteller and her songs are filled with longing. When is she gonna give us a new CD already?<\/p>\n

7). Captain Huggy Face from PBS’s “Word Girl.” I tried to replicate Captain Huggy Face’s dance for my four-year-old and almost got stuck in a position from which there was no return. If any of our readers can do this dance and prove it on video, you’ll have my undying love and devotion for all eternity. Wait, you all pretty much already do. <\/p>\n

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BONUS: I finally read Sherman Alexie’s<\/strong><\/a> Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian<\/strong><\/a><\/em>. Fabulous. “I used to think the world was broken down by tribes…By black and white. By Indian and white. But I know that isn’t true. The world is only broken into two tribes: The people who are assholes and the people who are not.” Amen. <\/p>\n

* * * eisha’s kicks * * *<\/strong><\/font><\/center><\/p>\n

Word to the Alexie quote. Glad you liked the book too.<\/p>\n

Also: Dude! The NPR librarians have a blog?! I’ve always wanted to be one of them too. Do you think we could be, like, NPR field<\/em> librarians?<\/p>\n

And was it the Huggy backspin that got you? That’s a tricky move. Actually, most of those move are tricky when you’re a 30-something person and not an animated monkey.<\/p>\n

1* Chantal’s portrait of Tennessee Williams rocks<\/em>. I have a special place in my heart for that man. It’s a kind of run-down plantation of a place, an old mansion that’s fallen into disrepair, a mere shadow of its former glory. A handful of people with good names and no ambition lounge around on the porch drinking too much, haunted by family secrets and lamenting their wasted youth, when they aren’t stumbling through weedy cotton fields or getting thrown out of the bordello…<\/p>\n

What? Too much? Sorry. TW has that effect on me. Right, moving on…<\/p>\n

2* Did ya’ll see the fabulous review\/interview<\/strong><\/a> with Michael J. Rosen, and featuring illustrations by Stan Fellows, that Jules threw down for Poetry Friday? That was some really, really good stuff.<\/p>\n

Tender Morsels. Not-so-tender book, so far.<\/p>\n

3* Speaking of treating oneself to books, I had to buy some books for a baby shower last weekend, and while I was at it I picked up Margo Lanagan’s<\/strong><\/a> latest, Tender Morsels<\/em><\/strong><\/a>. (In case you didn’t know, our love for Margo Lanagan is the<\/a> stuff<\/a> of<\/a> legend<\/a><\/strong>.) I just started it, so I can’t tell you much yet, but DAMN does it ever kick off with a bang.<\/p>\n

4* I also stopped in at a little antique store and got myself a cool chain-link bangle bracelet for $3.50. It’s kinda biker-girl, but elegant<\/em> biker-girl.<\/p>\n

5* Lindt Excellence Intense Pear bar<\/strong><\/a>. ‘Nuff said.<\/p>\n

6* We’ve had every kind of weather you can imagine this week: sun, rain, snow, wind, fog. Friday it was 50-something degrees outside, and Saturday morning I woke up to snow on the ground. I have weather-ADD, which causes me to get bored from too many days in a row of the same thing, so I’m loving it.<\/p>\n

7* Saturday night I went to, of all things, a bagpipe concert<\/strong><\/a>. It was fabulous, with piping, drumming, and traditional dancing. They also handed out earplugs at the door, ’cause DANG, ten bagpipes playing at once is a big noise.<\/p>\n

What are YOUR<\/font> kicks this week?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jules: Can you believe it’s already the first Sunday in a new month? I can’t. But you know what it means when the first Sundays come along: We highlight a student of illustration or an illustrator otherwise new to the field in some way. This morning, 7-Imp welcomes Chantal Bennett, who . . . well, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1591","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-seven-good-things-before-monday"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1591","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1591"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1591\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1591"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1591"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1591"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}