Benedicte Caneill is a textile artist and a biology teacher with a degree in botany and education. She was born in Paris, raised in Toulouse, France, and came to New York in 1981. Benedicte has always been involved with art in many different forms: painting, music and the performing arts including acting, singing, and the traditional danced theater of Kathakali in Kerala, India. She always felt a passion for beauty and a need to create with her hands.

Soon after coming to New York she discovered Aesthetic Realism, founded by the American philosopher and critic of the arts, Eli Siegel, and based on the principle: “The world, art and self explain each other: each is the aesthetic oneness of opposites.” In studying this principle, a new world opened up to her; one in which art and science co-exist, as different ways of showing what reality truly is. At the same time the scientist and the artist in Benedicte, which she always thought would be separate, found a happy composition, too. In 2001 her husband, David, bought her a sewing machine and in an attempt to learn to sew she took a log cabin class. It was “love at first quilt” and she found that this new medium could be a means of expression that would keep her busy and happy. Her award winning quilts have been exhibited in numerous places. Benedicte also makes garments which have traveled with the Hoffman Challenge exhibit.  She teaches classes in fabric painting, embellishment, embroidery, and redwork.

Artist Statement

I see myself as an experimental textile artist. I love playing with paints, dyes, stamps, fabric, thread, beads, fibers, and embellishments. I like using various elements together on a surface and discovering what the combination can express. My inspiration is diverse and comes from the natural world, living things, architecture, and literature. It also comes from the various countries I have visited and the feelings that life and its challenges constantly provide.