Pew Center for Arts and Heritage

Get our monthly newsletter in your inbox for the latest on cultural events, ideas, conversations, and grantmaking news in Philadelphia and beyond.

Main page contents
Marian Bantjes, Lost Child, installed as part of Framing Fraktur at the Free Library of Philadelphia. Courtesy of the Free Library of Philadelphia.

Questions of Practice: Graphic Artist Marian Bantjes on Textual Embellishment

Questions of Practice: Graphic Artist Marian Bantjes on Textual Embellishment

In conjunction with the Center-funded Framing Fraktur exhibition at the Free Library of Philadelphia, graphic artist Marian Bantjes visited the Center to talk about her creative process. Having worked in the graphic design and advertising industries for many years, the artist finds that audiences have an interest in engaging with and deciphering text, as long as the message is meaningful. As a result, Bantjes says, “One of the things that I am constantly thinking about is what is worthwhile to say, and what is worthwhile to embellish, and also to make a reader go through some effort to read.”

Graphic designer and artist Marian Bantjes talks about her creative process, in conjunction with Framing Fraktur at the Free Library of Philadelphia. Filmed at The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage on March 3, 2015.

Marian Bantjes is a Canadian graphic artist, designer, typographer, and writer. She is a member of Alliance Graphique Internationale (AGI), and regularly speaks about her work and thoughts at conferences and events worldwide. Bantjes’ monograph, Pretty Pictures, was published in 2013. She is also the author of I Wonder (2010), an exploration of the marriage of word and image.