We are starting this week with a mini artist feature from Young Photographer Shania Harness, who is also from Norfolk which is where the OP is based!
Give her work lots of love+ keep reading…
Q1: What is your Name, Age, and Where are you based?
Hi, I’m Shania Harness, I am 19 and am a Norfolk based photographer.
Q2: How did you first get into your creative practice/ work?
I have always been a creative person, I think I first realised this in primary school when I won 1st prize in the art category of the Norfolk Show (seemed like a big deal at the time), this creativity became even greater when I received my first camera- I took it everywhere, it even had a waterproof case so I used to dip it into the water while canoeing along Norfolk’s peaceful rivers, yes the images were mostly blurry but it sparked a passion.
Q3: Are there any main or overarching themes you explore in your work?
I love to experiment, my current project is based around escapism- going somewhere you have daydreamed of, but in miniature form. Although a lot of my work revolves around being outside.
Q4: Highlight one of your biggest inspirations!
The outdoors- I could spend hours exploring!
Q5: Where can you see yourself in 5 years’ time?
I hope to have just finished a degree in natural history and marine photography and start exploring the photography industry. Maybe working for somewhere like national geographic or even just travel the world with my camera. Who knows!
All images by Shania Harness! You can follow her on Instagram!
We have a brand new Full Artist Feature by talented Illustration Molly Russon! Keep Reading to find out more…
Q1: What is your Name, Age, and Where are you based?
I’m Molly Russon, I’m 22 and I’m an illustrator based in London.
Q2: How did you first get into your creative practice/ work?
A: I’ve always been interested in art and I think just had it in my head that art was what I was going to do. My mum is an artist, so I grew up drawing and painting, but I think I wanted to Illustration when I realised that working with lots of different clients means you can work on so many different sorts of projects. I’m one of those people that wants to do everything, so the fact illustration gets used in so many ways really appeals to me!
Q3: Are there any main or overarching themes you explore in your work?
A: I don’t really purposefully have themes in my work, but I always want to make work that kind of points at maybe the mundane, ordinary or the stuff we take for granted, and says ‘ah, that’s a weird/beautiful/funny thing’.
I also really love history and want to do more work telling stories about people from the past and how they lived their lives as it really interests me. I’ve done a few projects looking at figures from the past. My book about Alfred Wallis which looked at his work but also his battle with mental health, and also the LGBT lives of the Bloomsbury Group. Often the stories that don’t get told interest me a lot.
Q4: How has the COVID- 19 Pandemic affected your work?
A: Lockdown has allowed it to just be me and my work, and that has been really good. I think because I’m quite good at comparing my work to others, having this time to just focus a bit more has been great. Also being forced to get into a good routine and work out how to work from home- as that would be the situation for me Covid or no Covid- has been really useful in setting myself up for being a freelancer after uni!
Q5: Highlight one of your biggest inspirations!
A: I suppose I kind of have to say Alfred Wallis. I’m obsessed with him. Then I wrote about his work and life and that got worse. He’s a folk artist – so completely untrained – and he just communicates his love, obsession, knowledge and concern for the sea and boats in a way that I don’t think any trained artist could. It’s that translation of passion and a point of view into art, that I would love to be able to do. For it to come completely from someone’s heart and to be able to feel that as another person is amazing to me, and often kind of dampened by training a lot of the time. It’s very rare to find trained artists that are able to do that.
A: I don’t know really. Part of me wants to just sing the lyrics to the Noah and the Whale song as a response instead ! I do have things I’d like to do though. I’d liked to have worked on illustration jobs for magazines or publications by then. That’s one place I’d like to see my illustrations. I also would like to have maybe written or illustrated another book? Ive got a few ideas so maybe by then I would have decided which one to do. I also love the idea of working with other people such as writers on collaborative projects. Also ceramics, I hope I get access to doing that again soon. Apart from that in five years I’d like to maybe have a studio space somewhere!
Q7: If you could share a message with the world, what would it be?
A: I think probably just be compassionate. To others and especially to yourself. How you treat yourself will help your interactions with others. Respect yourself. Don’t beat yourself up. Give yourself time to learn and grow. Listen to yourself. Once you’re doing all that for yourself you can do all that for others. So everyone should start there.
Illustration by Molly RussonIllustration by Molly RussonIllustration by Molly Russon
Today we are sharing an interview with the first Band we have featured on the Orange Peel!
Another Norfolk creative duo who go by Eluders! Keep reading to see the full interview and here some of their music!
Q1: What is your Name, Age, and Where are you based?
A: Fin is 17 & Bri is 18, and we’re based in Norfolk.
Q2: How did you first get into your creative practice/ work?
A: We’ve both been playing our instruments for 8+ years, and we found eachother as our dads are close mates. Being into the same music, we just kinda clicked and after a few small gigs at local pubs, we decided to proper try and push ourselves!
Q3: Are there any main or overarching themes you explore in your work?
A: Lots of our music is very politically written and focusing on themes that are impacting our lives.
Q4: How has the COVID- 19 Pandemic affected your work?
A: COVID has completely ruined so many plans we had. We had new music in the works, tons of gigs upcoming, and even merch on its way but we haven’t got the equipment around us to get anything recorded now. stay at home & wash ur hands people, the sooner this gets sorted the sooner we can be back on stage.
Q5: Highlight one of your biggest inspirations!
A: We both look up to similar people. Punk bands like ‘Strange Bones’ and the ‘Blinders’, upcoming local artists, are possibly are biggest inspirations!
Screenshot from ‘The Blinders’ ‘Brave new world’ MV
Q6: Where can you see yourself in 5 years’ time?
A: 5 years is a long time, but we’ll probably be crowdsurfing somewhere, and if not, probably just sat on the sofa drinking tea. we live exciting lives.
Q7: If you could share a message with the world, what would it be?
A: Only advice we can give is don’t be a prick. EASY AS (:
‘green screen’ by Eluders Band.Eluders ‘Sister’ single art.Eluders ‘Greenscreen’ single art
You can find Eluders on Instagram – @weareeluders and also support them by listening to their music on Spotify!
When I told him that he could stay in the room that we were renting and that I would leave, he replied something that surprised me: he said that this place did not feel like home if I wasn’t there and that there was no point for him to stay. This made me think about what makes a place home. Is it the bond you have with the people you share this space with, is the space itself just superficial? The theme of “home” gradually appeared as a recurring theme in my photography. It happened unexpectedly, but, this is the first time that I intellectualise it and put it into words. My relationship with my home is quite profound, it is an important part of my life. Growing up in the middle of nowhere in rural Brittany, France, means that you spend quite a lot of time in your home. My parents always put a lot of work into their homes and have tackled a lot of renovation projects. I have family members working in construction, some others in antiques and my mother is an estate agent in the countryside. Hence a lot of my world and the topics of conversation that I have heard since I was a child in my family, were about houses and living spaces. The result of this is that I am fascinated by spaces that people call home. I like familiarity and habits, I like cities and urbanism, I like to know where people are from and what draws them to their home. I love London and how it has become home for so many people. It may be an apartment block, a basketball court, a busy high street; there are always places that people call home in London and I want to learn more about them. Moreover, in my work in production design for film, I always find myself thinking about domestic places. Recreating living spaces for films is an amazing exercise that demands a lot of attention to detail. It requires to dive deep into the script and its characters: their history, their passions, their characters traits etc. What kind of decoration (if any) is on the wall? Would the space be cluttered or neat and tidy? What food is in the fridge? Every answer needs to be decided according to the story and characters, design in film, is an essential part of storytelling. Thinking about those crucial and revealing details while designing films, made me realise that I could also pursue them with my photography. When entering a home, I like to see the charm that spills out of a kitchen or the layers of decoration that has built up in a bedroom throughout the years. When in an outside location, I like to think about memories and nostalgia. I love to take picture of those places that people have called home once and come back to later with reminiscence. Are these a places calm and peaceful or are they places of chaos, anxiety and worry? What are or what were the relationships like in these living spaces? I am attracted to the atmosphere of a place, its light and how the objects scattered around can tell me so much about a person without them being there. Hence, this love for the home, the house and the familiar has become a recurring theme in my photography and is what directed me in this series of photographs. Every room tells stories and I want to share them.
We are proud to feature another creative today from North Norfolk, where the Orange Peel is based!
Keep reading to find out more about Emily, her artwork+ Lino Printing!
Q1: What is your Name, Age, and Where are you based?
A: My name is Emily Coulson, I’m 21 and currently living in North Norfolk, (while searching for a house in central Norwich).
Q2: How did you first get into your creative practice/ work?
A: I started carvingLino Prints towards the end of my A-levels in 2017, then forgot about Lino printing for much of my first year of Uni. I started again during the summer between 1st and 2nd year of university after I realised I had been working mostly digitally during 1st year, and this was just not fun to me. Lino printing was something that allowed me to enjoy the process as well as the result. This has become really central to any work I produce – there has to be some hand-made element of unpredictability o surprise to the result, which there almost always is with Lino.
Q3: Are there any main or overarching themes you explore in your work?
A: Increasingly my work explores+practices sustainability (:the ability to be maintained at a certain rate or level. And avoidance of the depletion of natural resources in order to maintain an ecological balance.) I have a recycling bin in my studio that isn’t really even a recycling bin as I dip in to it for materials to collage with. Or I use my misprints/ notes etc and then shred them to create packaging filler. I’ve recently been trying to make new paper out of the old scraps too. It has become a fun challenge for me to create work from the old, because I don’t see simply throwing anything out as an option anymore. As for the work I actually create, I almost always look to the past for the imagery I like to produce. Objects that are made with good craftmanship, a story behind them, things that are one-offs, unique. I prefer to look to the past, before the era of plastic mass production!
Q4: How has the COVID- 19 Pandemic affected your work?
A: Prior to Covid-19, I was working 5 days a week in a restaurant, then squeezing in making things either in the early hours of the morning or the other 2 days a week. Since lockdown started though I do feel like I’ve had the most productive 3 months of my life… I’ve been able to focus on my practice, how I want to create work, without any other disruptions whatsoever. It’s kind of been like having a years’ worth of personal creative growth crammed into 3 months!
Q5: Highlight one of your biggest inspirations!
A: One of my favourite artists/ printmakers is Eric Ravilious. His way of creating ‘pure pattern’ within his watercolour paintings is something that I completely adore. Ravilious had this ability to include so much pattern within one work, but make it so that the whole piece is still beautifully balanced. The same goes for his woodblock engravings, so many shapes and patterns within one piece but the compositions are so well thought out that it works wonderfully.
Q6: Where can you see yourself in 5 years’ time?
A: I’d ideally like to be a freelance Illustrator, without a part time job by then! I’d hope to have really consolidated the way I want to work, and then be in a place to manage creating both work for myself to sell, and creating work for clients. I would really like to do something to help others like myself, starting a career in the creative industry. Teaching Lino print classes maybe? Or mentoring a local creative? I don’t know, but it’s definitely something I’d like to be doing by 5 years into the future, so I can give something back to the creative community.
Q7: If you could share a message with the world, what would it be?
A: Right now I’d say… Please do your research before you buy things – everything and anything! No fast fashion! Re-use and recycle! Buy second hand! OR buy it independent! Spend that little bit more money to make a small business grow AND get something that will actually last you a lifetime and means something!
Art work by Emily CoulsonArt work by Emily CoulsonArt work by Emily Coulson
Everyone knows the drill by now…To find more of Emilys work and support her you can go to he Instagram! Where you will also be able to find her Etsy store!
Today on the Orange Peel, we are featuring yet another talented Photogrpher, James Lissimore! Continue reading to discover more about his alternative subculture imagery…
Q1: What is your Name, Age, and Where are you based?
My name is James Lissimore, I’m twenty years old and work between Brighton and Colchester, Essex
Q2: How did you first get into your creative practice/ work?
Funnily enough I originally only took photography in college because I had to select four subjects and photography was one that took my interest more! Starting out working on abandoned buildings and creating source images for my oil paintings but as I matured I began to find interests elsewhere. mainly street photography and portraits.
Q3: Are there any main or overarching themes you explore in your work?
My most popular work has been exploring the themes and ideas around subculture, titled ‘Revival’ Looking more specifically at Skinhead and Punk culture. As many people know skinhead culture is a very complex one; with the origins being a coming together of cultures. Where music (reggae and ska), dressing “properly” and being apart of a bigger collective of poeple, it developed into the football terraces and the coming together with punk culture lead to the creation of Oi! music. This development meant taller boots, harsher cropped hair and more experimental dress styles. I personally love both of these parts of the culture, but some identify with one or the other.
There has since been complications with the stealing of the culture by those who don’t hold the true values of what a skinhead really is, leading to the stigma to us all being nazi, racist thugs!
I aim to create work that educates the general public to what we really represent.
Q4: How has the COVID- 19 Pandemic affected your work?
With the lockdown it has completely shut down all operations; having no opportunities to travel the country to find potential subjects for my work. I’ve tried to create work on my own but there are only so many photos that you can take of yourself in your own home. I’m intensely looking forward to lockdown ending and being able to resume my work.
Q5: Highlight one of your biggest inspirations!
When looking at the history of skinhead culture there is a photographer’s name that comes up very frequently; Gavin Watson. He was just a teenager with a camera who fell into one of the most explosive subcultures in British history. He’d photograph the day to day situations of him and his friends, these photos would see the light of day in his book ‘Skins’ that reaffirmed his name as the definitive skinhead photographer
Image from ‘Skins’ by Gavin Watson.
Q6: Where can you see yourself in 5 years’ time?
With the current unpredictability of what’s going on it’s really hard to imagine what I’ll be doing in a few months let alone years. But the best case scenario is traveling Europe photographing the many different factions of skinhead culture throughout countries such as France, Belgium, Germany and Italy. Worst case scenario is dying I think…
Q7: If you could share a message with the world, what would it be?
No one is lesser than another; we cannot judge entire groups of people by the actions of some and there needs to be changes from politicians and the rich before there can be real and true justice for those who need it.
To find more of James’ work you can go to his Instagram!
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