VALERIE POTTER

Upon reading the seminal Outsider Art book from 1972 by Roger Cardinal, Valerie Potter (b.1954) decided to send its author some drawings. The art historian was so impressed, he curated Potter’s first solo exhibition at the University of Kent in 1985, recommending her to collector Monika Kinley.

Although always creative, Potter did not consider herself an art-maker. Born in Kent, she had spent a childhood in Nigeria and adolescence in Jamaica, alongside her father, a teacher and educator. At 19, Potter enrolled at art school, but found it restrictive and left, continuing her drawing at home. When she caught sight of a stranger, cross-stitching on a local train platform, she considered whether fabric might give her more freedom and portability. It was a moment of realisation; and it led the artist to explore a new and exciting format.

Potter’s practice shifted. Elaborate weaves described personal associations. Fantastical landscapes and microscopic worlds were fuelled by the artist’s love of botany. They tied together symbols of birth, death and love with non-religious iconography, all in cross-stitch. Complex and swirling monochromaticworks formed the next phase of her production. The line drawings on cloth (as she describes them) use graphic text and image to describe the dense inner monologues and dialogues of her analytic mind. These materialisations offered a means to articulate ideas and concerns, philosophies and phobias. The drawing is not planned, and Potter just draws whatever pops into her head, as well as her thoughts and emotions from that day. She likes having a blank canvas and being able to fill it. It takes around one month for a piece to be finished, working for two hours per day. The last one of her embroideries is always her favourite until she is part way through her next one, then her favourite always changes to that one.

Potter continues to live and work in Margate, where she also writes poetry and knits. Her drawings, paintings, tapestries and embroideries have been exhibited at the Irish Museum of Modern Art (Dublin, UK), Whitechapel Gallery (London, UK), Whitworth Museum (Manchester, UK) and Tate Britain (London, UK). Collections include the Whitworth Art Gallery (Manchester, UK) and Bethlem Museum of the Mind (Kent, UK).

2023 Why We Linger, Darbyshire, London
2023 Outsider Art Fair, Metropolitan Pavilion, New York
2022 Oxmarket Open, Oxmarket Contemporary, Chichester
2022 Outsider Art Fair, Metropolitan Pavilion in New York with Jennifer Lauren Gallery
2022 To all the Kings who have no Crowns, Carl Freedman Gallery, Margate
2020 Monochromatic Minds: Lines of Revelation, Candid Arts Trust, London
2020 Autobiographic, Gallery of Everything, London
2019 Outsider Art Fair (with Jennifer Lauren Gallery), Metropolitan Pavilion, New York
2014 Bold Vision: Outsiders in Black and White, Julian Hartnoll Gallery (curated by Vivienne Roberts), London
2006 Inner Worlds Outside, Whitechapel Gallery, London
1998 Art Unsolved, Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin
1985 Paintings by Valerie Potter, University of Kent (put on by Roger Cardinal)

This video is of Margate based artist Valerie Potter. She explains how she initially got into creating her textile works, the inner need to get her ideas down as soon as she has them, and a little explanation about some of the pieces. This footage was filmed during a collaborative exhibition between Valerie Potter and Carlo Zinelli titled Autobiographic at the Gallery of Everything in London, January 2020. Filmed and edited by Luca Productions. Funded by Arts Council England. Film length is 3.25 minutes and it is subtitled.

Transcript in PDF format HERE and Word format HERE.