Today we hear from Mark, one of our volunteers, about what he has been doing behind the scenes…

My name is Mark and on Friday afternoons I volunteer giving library support for the Monika Kinley Collection (Outsider Art Collection), with the Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art, Valentin Diakonov. I feel privileged to have had the opportunity to handle, sort and shelve many of these beautiful works. I am currently sorting through some very interesting bookings which include many outsider artists in our collection.

I get a lot of satisfaction from volunteering, as I believe that the collection of literature and artworks are very important and should be seen by the art loving public. For the last 7 years of my employment I worked across several libraries in Brighton, and found archival work gratifying and rewarding to be able to catalogue books, manuscripts and journals.

The Outsider Art collection was housed in a box for many years in the Irish Museum of Modern Art and has now made a permanent home at the Whitworth. Outsider art is made by artists who are self-taught and develop their practice without going through formal or traditional training.

Below are examples from the outsider artists: Madeleine Lommel (1923-2009), Dusan Kusmic (1920-1990), Madge Gill (1884-1961), Valerie Potter (b.1954).

The textile piece by Valerie Potter was accompanied by a letter that read: ‘Dear Monika, This tiny piece of embroidery is an xmas present for you. Love, Valerie’

Working with this collection is all most like opening a present every day. You won’t know what you’ll find!

– Mark