“The act of making art exposes a society to itself. Art brings things to light. It illuminates us. It sheds light on our lingering darkness. It casts a beam into the heart of our own darkness and says, "See?” — Julie Cameron, The Artist’s Way
I’m a visual artist based in the Highlands of Scotland.
My creative process combines elements such as hand built wooden frames, carefully cut out woodblock prints and miniature lights.
My intention is for the audience to find their own meaning within my work but some loose, overlapping and ever-evolving themes that I’m interested in are:
Our connection with the natural world | Light + Darkness | Folklore + Magic | Time | Journeys + Mapmaking | Organic + Geometric Patterns / Symbols | The notion of a ‘spectacle’ | Our relationship with technology.
Through the multi-stage process of creating art, I find that my mind settles and if I’m lucky gets into a state of flow.
Somehow helping me to navigate and make more sense of our increasingly busy and somewhat distracted existence.
I often find creative inspiration from time spent in nature and journeys into the wild.
John Muir — “I only went out for a walk and finally concluded to stay out till sundown, for going out, I found, was really going in.”
Jonny Charles Harris — growing up in Yorkshire, I spent many a weekend exploring The Dales and the Lake District. Even when trekking with ridiculously heavy canvas tents in the Scouts, I loved the sense of adventure. Establishing a deep-rooted connectedness with wild places.
After studying a masters of art in London, I keep being drawn further and further north. Currently based in Moray, Scotland near the Cairngorm mountains where I find endless inspiration from the natural world.
Over the last 20 years, I’ve mostly worked in motion design and art direction across music, broadcast, film and digital installations. Honing my visual eye and being lucky enough to win some awards along the way. Highlights include designing the opening title sequence for much loved BBC drama series Shetland and Oscar nominated documentary Virunga. Currently I’m MGFX Art Director at Revenant and creative designer at Jonny Harris Design.
During the last couple of years, I’ve been quietly working away in my studio late into the evenings. Slowly building an arts practice alongside my daytime design work. I’ve started to share this art wider in the summer of 2023.
Environment — as an artist I try and keep my environmental footprint as small as possible. Using non-toxic paint and wood glue as well as sourcing paper from ethical suppliers. It’s a continuous process and I’m always looking for ways to further reduce my impact and waste. My current focus is to try and source wood more locally.
To keep up-to-date, follow me on Instagram
Alternatively, for other enquiries or for commissions, please send me an Email
------------------------------------------------------------------
A big thanks to Northport for the portrait photography.
© 2024 Jonny Charles Harris. The copyright of images and text used in this website remains with the artist. They may not be reproduced or redistributed, either in whole or in part, without the prior written consent of the artist.