Jessica Potenza: from show jumper to painter of horses (by way of coffee)

Step inside Jessica's studio in episode four of The Re-Education of Eddy Rogo, a new digital original series from CBC Arts.

Name: Jessica Potenza
Born: Montreal, 1983
Lives and works: Montreal

Her work: Jessica Potenza combines two of her great loves, horses and coffee, to make paintings that look like nothing else. She creates work that features big, bold lines and remarkable muscular detail in shades ranging from beige to a profound almost-black. She began using coffee one day after she had the urge to paint and didn't have any paint in her house. Horses, meanwhile, are a long-time love. Potenza was a show jumper in her youth, and worked in the horse industry for most of her 20s.

Ink by the dropper: In addition to using coffee, Potenza also creates big, black lines with ink, which she applies with an eyedropper. "When you buy India ink or Chinese ink, you can buy it either in a large quantity, or in a smaller format, and the smaller bottle often comes with this eyedropper," she says. "I guess people use it to dilute it and put it into a larger container of water or mix with paints, but I just found it was easier to serve my purpose with making lines. It was just trial and error. A paintbrush gives less control than an eyedropper."

Her big break: Potenza's first major commercial success came when her work was featured as part of a travelling gallery with Cavalia, the touring horse show. Previously, she had been doing a series of coffee paintings of big cats, which caught the eye of Cavalia execs, who asked her to do a horse series. "I had my work exposed at Mimi and Coco on Laurier, and [Cavalia's] headquarters are just down the street, and I guess the right person from Cavalia, who is in charge of merchandise on tour, fell in love with my work and contacted me." With her show jumping background, horses were a natural fit. "That community has been incredible for me."

What's next? Potenza has started working with a gallery in Ontario, and will be setting up shop in Wellington, Fla. this winter as part of the Wellington Equestrian Festival.