Bente Hansen grew up in Copenhagen, Denmark. As a child, her creative mother and architect father were her first artistic influences. She went on to study art at the University of British Columbia, majoring in painting and fibre arts. In 2014, She and husband Eric and their dog Star moved from the Fraser Valley to Powell River, where she now enjoys painting the windswept beaches, jagged inlets and moving skies of the Sunshine Coast.
Can you describe what you do?
I am a painter of what I call intuitive landscapes. I usually start with strokes of colour that are unplanned, intuitive and abstract. I manipulate these strokes of paint until something of meaning shows up. Since I am highly influenced by my environment they are usually landscapes. My process is not always the same but this is how I generally start.
How and when did you first get into painting?
I had an amazing art teacher in junior high. She taught us all the basics that we needed to know and made the process fun and exciting. From there I studied art at UBC for four years. Since then I have taken many fabulous workshops through the Federation of Canadian Artists and other great art centres. I have taken classes from Ann Templeton, Michael O’Toole, Dawn Emerson, Mike Svob and more.
Where can people find your work?
My paintings are on display at the Dancing Tree Gallery in Powell River, the Tug-Guhm Gallery in Lund, and I’ll be at the Malaspina Art Society studio tour August 24 and 25.
What else do you do for fun and work?
I have a number of wonderful friends who I walk the trails with. Our dog Star and I do that a few days a week. I’m also a new member of the Powell River Rotary Club and I love kayaking when the conditions are right. We are very spoiled in Powell River in that we just look out the window and we can see what the water is doing.
