Spotlight On: Jo Harris

Artist, illustrator and founder of The Henley School of Art, Jo Harris tells us her creative story.

Words & images by Marta Wasielewska.

Tell us about your background and how you started drawing?

I’ve always drawn since I was a child. It was a very normal thing to do growing up with both my parents being trained artists, my father went to the Royal College of Art and had work displayed at the Royal Academy as well as the Tate Gallery. My Mother is still an incredibly talented artist - I think I found their talent a bit intimidating growing up, which meant I never tried to become a painter. I did go to art school but I specialised more in sculpture and drawing.

I’ve always done Life Drawing, I just really enjoy the process. Even when I was young and being wild, I still practised it – if I didn’t have a class or a model, I’d draw my friends or people in cafes and on public transport. The desire to draw has always been constantly with me.

For most of my 20s and 30s, drawing was something I did in my spare time, I was living in London and doing a job I hated. In my mid 30s I just had enough and decided to make a list – the idea was to choose 40 things that I wanted to do for a job, no matter how bonkers. Anything was allowed, so there were some pretty interesting ones, astronaut was in there somewhere. I went through the list, removing the more crazy and boring ones until I was left with an answer I had known all along, I’d just needed to go through the process to prove it to myself. I wanted to be an illustrator! So I sold my flat in London and I took myself off to University in Gloucestershire where I didn’t know a single soul. Looking back it seems a bit crazy, I was 36 and I was terrified, everyone thought I was mad, but it was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.

Tell us about Boo Dillon and The Henley School of Art?

I started Illustrating under the name Boo Dillon, Boo or really Boodles, was my childhood nickname and Dillon was my first surname. It felt important to me to keep my illustration almost as a separate, more precious, part of my life and I guess Boo Dillon is the persona I become when I lose myself in drawing.

Whilst I was in Gloucestershire, I learnt about a small, independently run, art school in the town, so I started going there for Life Drawing and that’s where everything changed. I met the owner, a lovely lady called Viv who could see that I could draw so she offered me free Life Drawing if I was happy to take the sessions for her. I learnt the confidence to work with a group of students as well as with the model and how to run a small Art School. So when I moved to Henley, it felt like a natural progression to open my own studio and sure enough, the Henley on Thames School of Art was born. I love the School, but it’s hard to find time to sit down and get on with my Illustration work. I make it work somehow!

Describe your creative process – how do you search for inspiration?

I don’t search, it’s all in my head. Each of my drawings has its own story. I once saw a great photograph of a teenager wearing a rabbit mask, it was all big and wrong and I hung it on my wall. One day I drew it, but instead of drawing it the way it was, I enlarged the rabbit head. It was never meant to be realistic. When I started drawing it, it became more pleasing to mess about with it. I started playing around with imagery and that got a ball rolling that hasn’t really ever stopped.

I often find an image of a body or a face that’s doing something interesting or awkward, something that’s captured my imagination, I’ll then try and find a head or body to match it and maybe play around with the proportions – in that way, I’m creating my own version of a person. I really enjoy the idea of kids having overly big heads – which sounds odd I know – it’s a creative phase I’m going through right now! The human body is always the inspiration of my artwork.

How do you organise your day?

I wish I could tell you that I have a very structured and sensibly planned out creative existence. I actually spend a lot of my time rushing around trying to fit everything in – I’m an extremely disorganised person!

Do you have someone who inspires you?

This is an almost impossible question to answer! So many people inspire me, I could be here all day making a giant list for you. I'm a BIG Peter Blake fan as well as David Hockney, Lucien Freud, Frida Kahlo, Julie Verhoeven, the list goes on and on...

What do you do in your free time?

Free time? What's that?!

Find out more at The Henley School of Art and take a look at Jo’s illustrations on our shop.