Medium: Fibre Arts
Location: Saltspring, BC
Member Since: 2001
ABOUT
Ulrieke Benner grew up near Duesseldorf in Germany.
After several longer travels to the United States, she left Germany and her tenured teaching career, in English, Geography and Textile Design,and moved to the U.S. to follow her dream of creating handmade textiles as a full time self-employed textile artist.
First studying for a BFA in Textile Design and Fiber Arts from the University of Massachusetts, she then worked for shibori designer Carter Smith near Boston and established her own art studio at the same time. Ulrieke had enjoyed feltmaking before, but was immediately drawn to a new technique called nuno felting (Polly Sterling, AUS), a fusion of gauzy fabrics and wool. She fully immersed herself in exploring and transforming this technique with fine silk fabrics and soft merino wool into light weight exquisite scarves and shawls. First all in white with focus on compositions of lines and circles. Finally in vibrant colour combinations that she has become well-known for.
After immediate success at prestigious art shows in New York and Philadelphia, in 2001 she moved to Canada’s West Coast, directly to Salt Spring Island with its attractive reputation as a well-known artist community and a destination for art lovers worldwide. Ulrieke opened her Art You Wear Studio & Gallery and has attracted fashion connoisseurs.