Pippita Bennet - Following the Needle

Pippita Bennett creates stitched landscapes of places lived in and visited. Her home on Dharug and Gundungurra country is the source of her practice; she uses leaves, bark and flowers from her surrounds and the wild places she travels to dye the threads and textiles she works with, gathering extra inspiration from thrifted materials. Her dyed fabrics are soaked with the memory of the place they were dyed; similarly thrifted fabric holds memory of its past use. Pippita works wherever she finds herself: at home, in wild landscapes, in waiting rooms and libraries, allowing her needle to follow the line of a branch, rock or a thought. Stitches are her words; a journal of place and time, where memories and images overlay each other to form the landscape of a life. Pippita studied art at the Tin Sheds as part of her architecture degree, and has worked in primary school teaching for the last twenty years. She is currently studying a Master of Art Therapy, and is happiest stitching with a dog on her lap and a cup of tea beside her.