Peta Milne

Slow Stitching, Mixed Media, Installation

I met Diana online while playing scrabble and jumped at the chance to collaborate with her to do art and exhibit it in America. This was the beginning of The Pleiades Project: an International Artist Collaboration. Diana recruited three others and me two and we became seven. I have loved being a part of this group and am amazed how my art has grown over the years because of it.

Artist Statement

I love to slow stitch - I love the garden that grows as you sew or how the picture you are creating grows with every stitch. I don’t plan too much ahead and like to see where my stitches take me. It's not finished until it's finished. With some projects it's never finished. I use many different fabrics to stitch on and love adding fabrics or other mediums to my stitching. I also love to work with lots of different mediums on paper. I love journaling and painting in my journals using lovely pieces of paper stickers, ribbon, buttons, stencils etc.

I find my art is relaxing and mindful, and in times like this we really need to find something that is mindful. COVID has added another dimension to our lives and a reminder to slow down, enjoy life and look around at our world.

Bio

I have always done some sort of art in many different forms. My mother taught me to sew when I was still in early primary school and she got me my first sewing machine,  also in primary school.  Mum was the sewing teacher at our little one teacher school, so the pressure was on. I loved sewing and making dolls' clothes and my own clothes. This continued when I had children and I would sew their clothes and embroider dresses, cot sheets, and toys for them. Throughout my adulthood I did lots of courses on sewing, painting, mixed medium, and macrame, but always came back to slow stitching. My major piece for an exhibition in Lawrence Kansas in 2018 was fabric covered in felt and slow stitching.