ANA BENAROYA

Since the inception of the BCNB Roots N Blues N BBQ Festival, a featured artist has been commissioned to design the posters that will advertise, illustrate and embody the festival’s distinct personality. This year, the Roots N Blues N BBQ team has discovered talent in New Jersey native, Ana Benaroya.

Benaroya, 25, is a full-time freelancing artist with a post-formal education from the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA). Although her preferred medium is illustration, Benaroya also paints and makes collages. “I enjoy having a variety of working methods because I feel like it allows me to keep growing as an artist,” Benaroya says. Like art, roots n blues music is about evolving, embracing and making progress. Benaroya depicts this wonderfully in her diverse collection of work. She has lent her creative talents to Nickelodeon Magazine and worked as graphic designer for Purplethum Textile Studios.

Benaroya loves doing promotional work for concerts and festivals. Music serves as an inspiration for Ana, who used to play instruments even more than she drew. For Benaroya, it’s an escape, a way to engage her imagination. She’s always listening to music when she works, and is constantly discovering new artists.

While Benaroya has been the beneficiary to an array of design opportunities, she maintains a one-of-a-kind style, which she describes as, “…very colorful and always a little bit funny or weird. I try to make it as honestly me as possible.”

There are very few genres of music that encapsulate honesty as well as those of roots and blues. Known for its unadulterated storytelling, it would seem that Benaroya and blues music are kindred spirits of an implicit kind.

Perhaps Ana’s upbringing has shaped her artistic style. She grew up in a Jewish family of immigrants, on both sides. Her grandparents escaped Bulgaria during World War II and moved to Israel. After her father was born, they relocated to Brazil, then to New York City. Her mother’s side is from Scotland and Russia, and also came to the United States during the war. From a young age, Benaroya’s parents were incredibly supportive of her interest in art. “They also taught me to value education and how to be a good person,” she tells us.

Fresh, innovative, eye-catching and fun are words that come to mind when describing this artist’s festival work. Any fan of the Roots N Blues N BBQ Festival will be thrilled with Ana Benaroya’s contribution to the festival aesthetic.

Benaroya’s work is quirky, imaginative and maybe even a bit unconventional, but that’s what we love about her. That’s what drew us to her. Her work is not overflowing with some deep, underlying, complex message. “ I just try to create honest work. I believe meaning comes from doing what you do naturally…I’ve always disliked artwork with a message. I want people to look at my work and be able to feel me as a person and make a connection with me, somehow,” she says. Benaroya’s artwork is up for interpretation, as is most music. It’s the connection one makes to her creations that becomes of importance.

View Ana’s personal website!