Contributed
Art educator Ellen Burke took the Seven Lakes Garden Club on a guided tour of the life and works of Beatrix Potter at its January meeting.
Most famous for Peter Rabbit and his little forest friends, Potter had an interesting and challenging life. The exceptionally talented and intelligent girl grew up in an upper-class Victorian Household in London with lots of rules and parental expectations.
Within those confines, Potter created her own world. Fascinated by nature, she intensely studied all the creatures and plants in the garden. She created detailed drawings and watercolor paintings.
Denied formal education, she had a caring governess, Annie Moore, who allowed Potter freedom to explore and a loving brother who shared his education with her.
Family summers in the Lake District provided Potter greater exposure to animal and plant life. She collected pets, mice, rabbits, newts, caterpillars and birds, which formed a menagerie in the schoolroom.
Potter sought recognition for her work in botany and was rejected. She was not thwarted; she sold her illustrations to greeting card companies. She wrote letters. The children of her former governess’s children were frequent recipients of the stories she created about her pets with illustrations to amuse them.
Annie encouraged her to create a book. Rejected by publishers, she self-published Peter Rabbit and had instant success. The publisher reconsidered and published her books. The first printing of 4,000 copies flew off the shelves. She wrote over sixty books and sold over 250 million copies. Her idea for a Peter Rabbit stuffed toy was rejected, but she pursued it on her own, becoming a pioneer of character merchandising.
Peter Rabbit was the first fictional character to be made into a patented stuffed toy, making him the oldest licensed character. Potter was not discouraged by rejection; she simply found a way to do it herself.
Her animal characters are the center of her art. Her interest in nature and conservation found many outlets. Her success gave her the freedom to purchase property in the Lake District.
She found love, became a successful sheep farmer, a prize-winning breeder of Herdwick sheep and a prosperous farmer interested in land preservation.
She bought fifteen farms and donated 4,000 acres to the National Trust upon her death.
Burke shared her great appreciation for Potter’s work. She lived in a county farmhouse in New Hampshire for several years and recounts that although the mice were plentiful in the house in winter, she never had one of them sew on a button.
