Artist Statement
Propelled by a curiosity of the world we inhabit, my practice traverses both the materials which comprise our landscape and the materials that provoke the thinking and making responses of the artist. Through acts of attentiveness, my work considers the reflexive perspectives that emerge when elements of poetry and visual art are constellated with place-based and placemaking responses.
I engage an intentional intermedia approach that enables an iterative mode of working at an intersection of various media. These include drawing, installation, fibre art, printmaking, creative writing, metal casting, and ceramics. Imbued with intimacy and texture, these materials, when gathered together, can be used as imposition or invitation, can fuel the ego-centric, or bring together a community of like-minds. Offered as an invitation, my practice holds space for dialogue; to share ideas, shift perceptions, and reconsider human relationships with one another and our other-than-human-kin.
Artist Bio
Dr Katie Hart Potapoff (she/her) is a Canadian artist-researcher based in Dundee, Scotland. Through the power of dialogue, she is committed to inclusive practices that facilitate networks of reciprocity, build community, and encourage humans to reconsider their relationships with the environment. As an interdisciplinary artist-researcher, Katie often works collaboratively, and shares creative research with local and international communities through presentations, workshops, networks, and publications.
A creative professional, with more than a decade of experience employed within Higher Education and the arts, Katie is passionate about the role of the arts in research and education. An adept and nimble project manager, she possesses a distinctive combination of presentation and communication skills, knowledge of artistic practices, ability to navigate digital platforms, proven modes of collaboration, and extensive experience facilitating public engagement with diverse audiences.
Katie’s Practice Research PhD, titled Materials of the Foreshore: Explicit Ambiguity as a Methodology for Place-Based Arts Research, was completed in 2024 from Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design (DJCAD), University of Dundee, Scotland. She received her MFA with Merit from DJCAD, and her BFA from the University of British Columbia. To expand her understanding of inclusive ensemble practice and modes of collaboration, Katie has also completed a Graduate Diploma in Advancing Socially Just Schools & Communities and a Post-Bachelor’s Certificate in Design Thinking for Innovation, both from the University of Calgary.
She has exhibited artwork and presented research through various symposia, publications, residencies, and collaborative projects in the US, Canada, Ireland, Finland, and the UK. Katie has been the AHRI Research Fellow for the Centre for Scotland’s Land Futures and currently supports PLaCE International as their Postdoctoral Research Assistant. Katie’s research projects have been funded by the Henry Moore Foundation, VACMA, Canada Council for the Arts, and Arts Society Fife.
