Biography

Sandra Bendor is a singer and textile artist. As a young folksinger, Bendor performed with the National Endowment for the Humanities in 48 US states in the shows “How and Why People Create” and “The Frontier in Song and Story”. While on tour in Appalachia, she observed people making quilts by hand from fabric used and worn by generations of family members. Thus began a lifelong interest in collecting and upcycling textiles.

Returning to New York City, Bendor became a member of the off-off Broadway La Mama Experimental Theatre Club and performed in New York and California as well as European festivals. She was then sent by La Mama to Tel Aviv, Israel, as a musical director for one month. The month eventually turned into 15 years. During this time she learned Hebrew and performed in many hit shows, including “Padam, Padam” (on the life of Edith Piaf), and Brecht/Weill’s “Three Penny Opera” at the Habimah National Theatre. Bendor performed solo concerts around the country and sang for visiting American dignitaries including President and Mrs. Gerald Ford. While living in Israel, Bendor was frequently sent by the US State Department to perform concerts of American music in many countries including Turkey, Iran, India, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Hong Kong, South Korea, Japan and Taiwan. During this time she began collecting different types of silk, particularly in India and Thailand, and began creating hand stitched artwork, often incorporating metals, beads, glass and shells.  

Bendor became more and more involved in textile art and, in 2010, opened a gallery in New York City in which she hosted textile artists from around the world. She has exhibited her own artwork, all from reclaimed and repurposed silk of all types, in galleries and private collections in the US, France and Israel. She now lives in a suburb of Denver, Colorado.