Isa Beniston

Originally from San Diego, Beniston spent her childhood not at the beach but rather in a book, knee-deep in a pile of art supplies, or at the library with her mom checking out an age-inappropriate book on tape for their next road trip. When she was 17 years old, she moved to Los Angeles to attend UCLA’s School of Arts & Architecture, where she graduated with a BA in Art and a minor in Arts Education. After several years of miscellaneous but formative jobs including teaching art at a juvenile hall, repairing historic tile in LA’s finest restrooms, and guarding contemporary art, she started her now-8-year-old retail brand, gentle thrills, where she slings novelty goods featuring her drawings to the kind folks of The Internet. An avid patron of her local flea markets, she loves all manner of treats, junk, awkward and tender human interactions, dogs, tiki drinks, and the two months a year she can actually get away with wearing a sweater.

You can find Isa on instagram @gentlethrills, at www.gentlethrills.com, or on her Patreon, where she is sharing pages each month of her travel journals dating back to 2018.