Australian Women Artists
The podcast
Ep 74 Rachel Milne
Rachel Milne is a Newcastle-based painter whose work turns everyday interiors, objects, and moments into beautifully compelling paintings.
Rachel grew up in Cambridge, trained in Cardiff, and built an early career in Britain serious enough to earn her membership of the Royal West of England Academy.
Then, in 2013, she packed up and moved to the other side of the world — to Newcastle, New South Wales — and something shifted.
She is a painter of interiors. Of unmade beds and cluttered studios, of hallways and mirrors, of spaces that hold the shape of the people who inhabit them.
She works in oil, from life, often in a single sitting — because she believes the camera makes too many decisions on her behalf.
She has been a finalist in numerous significant awards including the Wynne Prize and Portia Geach and has won the Evelyn Chapman Award, Muswellbrook Art Prize and the Vincent Prize. More recently she has spent time as artist-in-residence at the Liddell Power Station — finding beauty in a building the world was busy demolishing.
And who could have guessed this started from painting backgrounds for Wallace and Gromit.
Head to the link in my bio to have a listen to our conversation.
Rachel’s latest exhibition: Newcastle, High is on at King Street Gallery on William (Sydney) till 4 July 2026.
For more info and examples of her work, head to www.rachelmilneartist.com.au
Rachel is represented in Sydney by King Street Gallery on William (@kingstreetgallery) and Sophie Gannon Gallery, Melbourne (@sophiegannongallery)
Images
1. RM by David Griffen
2. The Stage, Victoria Theatre 2021 160 x 120
3. Nest, 2022 oil on board (winner Muswellbrook Painting Prize)
4. Studio Haefligers 2016 50 x 80 (Bathurst Regional Art Gallery Collection)
5. View From The Stage, Victoria Theatre, 2021 80 x 100
6. Town Hall 2026 60 x 80
