Artist profile
Pippita
Bennett
Pippita Bennett is a landscape artist who works with plant dyed textiles immersed with memories of place and time.
Pippita is a textile artist, living on Dharug and Gundungurra Country, who makes landscape art using fabric, thread and organic materials such as leaves, bark, reeds, soil and stone. She uses organic materials to make plant dyes, immersing fabric and thread in the dye. Once this process is finished Pippita sits with the dyed fabric and begin stitching, following the line of patterns and prints made by leaves and other objects. This way landscapes form - from small gestures, stitches and sometimes brushstrokes. Pippita works anywhere with her stitching on her lap and her materials around her – and so each landscape is also made up of conversation, bush walks and cups of tea. Internally these gestures are powerful. Each mark she makes with needle, brush or plant colour, each conversation and observation she makes is a response to her landscape. Her process is immersive, contemplative and slow.
Artist Career Highlights
- Solo exhibition at Corner Store Gallery in Orange 2024
- Artist retreat in Flinders Ranges 2022
- Community art project Baya Budbili (Yarning Blanket) 2021
Artist Interview
How does your artwork get from initial concept to exhibition stage?
I begin each artwork building a campfire. I collects leaves, bark and flowers from the landscape and uses these to dye thrifted wool, silk and linen. When the fabric has been embedded with colour from the landscape I uses needle and thread to follow the line of a branch, rock or thought. Each line of stitch is a response to place, the physical, social and emotional landscape. When I return to my studio I continue to build layers of stitch and fabric.
Tell us a bit about your story and how you came to be an artist
My mother was an artist and I started stitching, painting and drawing from the moment I could hold a needle or a brush.
