Peta Kruger

GOOD NATURED: design art architecture celebrates creative projects by designers, artists and architects working to design a better future. These practitioners are focussed on creating outcomes that are both beautiful and good for the planet.

About Peta Kruger

Peta Kruger is a South Australian artist based in Adelaide/Kuarna who works across the fields of textiles, public art and contemporary jewellery.

Peta makes artworks from plastic bags and waste materials, transforming them into elegant woven forms. The material list of ‘waste’ for each artwork elevates and brings awareness to the beauty she creates from what many consider worthless.

“The plastics in my recent textile artworks are sourced from food packaging, gift-wrapping, litter and occasionally dumpster diving. My neighbourhood has become a place where I can mine new material; a walk through the city is like a treasure hunt, and picking up litter in a playground helps to maintain my engagement with studio practice while I am looking after my son.

Collected plastic is sorted into colour groups, sanitised and then cut into strips for threading. The texture and thickness of each plastic dictate any further preparation that may be required. Every scrap of plastic thread created during the stitching process is also kept for recycling and weaving into future artworks.

Soft plastics are imbued with new value through this process; litter has become an alluring colour palette and remnant scraps are kept like precious metal filings. Plastic once destined for stormwater and landfill is redirected to a gallery as treasure. Reinstating the plastic waste back into households is ultimately my goal.”

This positive approach illustrates the creative thinking we reveal in this exhibition. Seeing plastic once destined for landfill resolved into a treasured artwork helps us to revalue the everyday materials we throw out, reconsidering their possibilities.

Connect with Peta: @petakruger petakruger.com

Peta's Artwork

Material list of exhibition artworks:

Used #1 (series), 2020 - artwork in image at top
needlepoint canvas, dark pink found garbage bag, clear bread bag, white shopping bag, yellow Carousel Fresh Food Market grocery bag, dark yellow Skala bread bag, orange found garbage bag, light pink grocery bag, red grocery bag, light green Coles Rice Cakes packet, blue charity clothing bag, dark blue The Athlete’s Foot retail bag, black and grey single-use tablecloths, gold and green plastic gift wrappings, black and white David Jones retail bag, white and blue Sanitarium Weetbix packets

Used #2 (series), 2020
needlepoint canvas, yellow Carousel Fresh Food Market grocery bag, grey and black single use tablecloths, Red Nose clothing collection bag, clear Huggies packaging, bright green plant nursery bag, light green, orange and pink garbage bags, white and dark blue shopping bags, light blue puff pastry liners

Private collection of Brian Parkes

Used #3 (series), 2020
needlepoint canvas, clear Dough Bakery bread bags, black and grey single-use tablecloths, pink potato bag, yellow gift wrapping twine, dark green Woolworths shopping bag, orange garbage bag, bright green plant nursery bag, light blue puff pastry liners, red Red Nose clothing collection bag, dark blue shopping bag

Private collection of Tom Sullivan and Michelle Mackrell

Offset #2, 2023
needlepoint canvas, gold balloon, silver Yalumba cask packet, white shopping bag, light yellow cherry bag, yellow JB-HiFi bag, white/blue Weetbix packet, light pink hair dye apron, dark pink potato bag, orange and green garbage bags, light blue puff pastry liners, dark green Woolworth’s bag, grey and black single use tablecloths

Price: $2200 (please call the gallery to enquire)

Peta's Good Natured Action

Visitors to the exhibition at Australian Design Centre can recycle soft plastics for Peta's next artwork.

Can include: coloured retail bags, gift wrapping twine and ribbon, plastic gift wrapping, clean and coloured soft plastics.

Can't include: supermarket food packaging or soft plastics with food remnants.