For as long as I can remember I have loved to create.  At a very young age my maternal grandmother taugh me  knitting and crocheting.  Long before school age my paternal grandmother taught me to sew and weave. I can still remember spending the summer day up in granny's attic, trying to reach down to the treadles to put the shuttle between the threads.  I remember the satisfaction when I managed to get the old treadle machine to sew forward and not go backwards!   All sorts of crafts have filled my life since then.  I have been knitting, crocheting and embroidering, as                                                                      well as making gilded leather and painting in oils.  I am also a skilled dressmaker and for many years I made all the clothes for our four children and me.  When they got a bit older I managed and operated a dressmaking studio for some years.   In December 2006 I discovered art quilt through Caryl Bryer Fallert's website.  I was amazed at what was possible to create in fabric.  After more searching on the Internet I found Quilt University and a very busy period in my life started.  In eighteen months I finished eighteen classes at QU.  I started with basic techniques and continued with classes in art quilt and fabric dyeing.  They have made the foundation I now work from.  The most important moment was in Marilyn Belford's class  'Realistic Portraits in Fabric'  where I learned I could actually make a portrait in fabric.  Me, who had longed to paint portraits for many years, but never had the courage to try...it was a fantastic feeling and I felt I had finally "come home". I like to make art quilts, but making portrait quilts is my greatest love.   Dyeing my own fabric is important.  To see white fabric transform into wonderful colors and patterns is very satisfying.   Creating the illusion of three dimensions on a two dimensional surface is a continuing challenge. The joy when I succeed and capture an expression or a shape is beyond words and worth the entire struggle!  My goal is to create a fabric or a quilt that invites the viewer to take a closer look and bring beauty into the world.

Article in Quiltemagasinet

There is an article about me and my work in the Scandinavian magazine Quiltemagasinte no 6/09,

written by the editor Bente Vold Klausen.

                                                                © 2008 Bente Kultorp Andresen

                                       No pictures may be copied without the owner's written permission