Fourteen years ago, Anna Bruder originally created A Line Florist in an empty shop unit off Berwick Street, SoHo London. She hand cut, painted, and drew 5,000 flowers. The walls were covered in her drawings. Beside her, poet and partner Arji Manuelpillai was crafting bespoke poems for strangers walking in off the street. It was Valentine’s Day 2012. It was chaotic. It was joyful. It was bold.
“Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine it going to MoMA 14 years later!! And never did I think I would be drawing directly on the walls of MoMA either. It’s been amazing! The work looks incredible, the team at MoMA have been amazing to work with, and the 10,000+ families who have visited over the last 5 days have been a joy to meet. I hope this is the beginning of a working relationship in New York.” Anna shares.
Anna trained in Theatre Design and Design for Performance at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design in London, graduating in 2004. She was fortunate enough to assist theatre designer Ian MacNeil while in college and for several years afterward, working on shows at The Young Vic and the Barbican Theatre. Through these experiences, she built contacts and learned her craft, designing props and sets for West End productions, repertory theatres, community venues, outdoor festivals, and schools across London.
“These were the years where I learned and developed my craft leading to 2012 when I set up my interactive art and theatre company, A Line Art.” she says.
A Line Art specializes in creating interactive, playful art events and theatre performances for children, young people, and their families. “I love to play,” Anna says. “My main aim is to inspire and encourage creative play within families. It’s about making space for joy, imagination, and hands-on engagement.”
Her work has a distinctive, bold style inspired by artists like Keith Haring. “I’ve always loved his energy and innovation, the thick black lines, the references to cartoons, and the performative aspect of his public work. He was utterly brilliant, and a huge influence on what I do now,” Anna says. Over the years, she’s developed a universal language of simple, drawn symbols, designed so anyone can access it. “It doesn’t matter where you’re from or what you speak. I’m trying to build a universal language. I take inspiration from the everyday, the people I meet and the fun I have with my partner and our four year old daughter.”
Working at MoMA influenced her process in subtle but meaningful ways. “When I start a project, I always design and draw the walls first and make a small model box to envisage the space,” she explains. “Drawing directly on the walls of MoMA has been a complete dream! This has raised the quality of the mark making which has been wonderful to see.”
At the heart of Anna’s practice is accessibility. “My aim is to inspire and encourage creative play for children and their families. My style may look simple and naive but in reality it’s created to encourage others to make art. I hope anyone in the room, adult or child, feels that they could have drawn what I have drawn and that allows them to give it a go! If the audience at MoMA goes home and feels inspired to make art on the kitchen table, then my work is done!” she says.
Her tools are as bold as her style. “My giant marker pens are incredibly important to me. They have become part of me! My enlarged handwriting, my extendable hands! I would be lost without them!”
Even if someone spends only thirty seconds in front of her work, Anna hopes they feel the joy she puts into it. “I want people to see the fun and playfulness, to be wowed, and for the work to give them the license to have a go at home. Art making is for everyone, it’s something that we can access anytime we want, and it is that belief that sits at the center of my practice.”
Anna’s path hasn’t been without challenges. “I have made work in empty shops, deserted shopping centers, theatre foyers, and schools. Sometimes, no one shows up. Running tours with little money and little audience can be soul destroying but the fight for artistic access is never going to be easy. Taking the work to the places it doesn’t usually appear is a way of giving access to people who wouldn’t usually have the opportunity to engage with art. All of those challenges are part of the ongoing fight to make art available to all. I believe wholeheartedly in that and that continues to shape my work and drive me forward.”
Through every flower, line, and playful symbol, Anna Bruder has created a world that invites everyone to participate. “If a child leaves inspired, or a parent smiles seeing their child explore, that’s everything,” she says. “If the audience at MoMA goes home and feels inspired to make art on the kitchen table, then my work is done!”
And she keeps proving it, one bold black line at a time.
