Northern Folklore Archive sat down to chat with printmaker Alice about her artwork and the emergence of Pickled Pennies Prints. Alice began printmaking in 2022, when on a whim she decided to invest in a linocut kit. By 2024, she began printmaking as her full time occupation and has spoken about how the artist process of printmaking, and other creative projects, helps to calm her anxieties and give her a safe mindset to express herself.

We discussed how creativity manifested itself in her life, how much influence folklore has on her creative projects, if she finds inspiration from the North of the U.K. and the benefits that her artistic processes has on her mental wellbeing.

Northern Folklore Archive: Pickled Pennies Prints begun on a whim when you decided to get a linocut kit for beginners, did your love for creativity and art begin before this or was the linocut kit the catalyst for creativity in your life?

Alice: I have always been creative in one way or another since I was very little. Through school there wasn’t a single lesson where I didn’t doodle in the margins. At university I covered the walls of my halls bedroom with drawings, paintings, collages. I wasn’t even studying art!

And as an adult working a ‘normal’ job I would take any free moment to draw on scraps of paper, invent board games, write adventure stories. It’s impossible for me to bottle up my creativity - like trying to hold in a sneeze. So, I have always been an artist. But my journey as a professional artist is just beginning.

How much of an influence does folklore have on your artwork?

At the moment I’m finding myself quite entangled in folklore and history. Something I’ve noticed while reading is that no matter what period of history, human behaviour is as bizarre as it is consistent.

History gives us context for the strange things that humans get up to while folklore gives us an insight into the lives and imaginations of people, past and present. There’s no end of inspiration in these sources – beasts, characters, magic, landscapes, rituals, politics. It’ll be some time before I move on from these themes!

A Linocut print of Nessie by Pickled Pennies Prints

There's quite a few creatives in the folk community that speak honestly and openly about their mental health journeys, how much has printmaking helped your wellbeing?

Gosh, HUGELY. I was really struggling with my mental health (anxiety in particular) when I used to work a 'normal job', but this improved hugely after making the leap to printmaking full time in 2024.

It's a huge privilege to have been able to change my occupation in this way. It's been tough trying to get my art to pay the bills despite working very hard, but I've never once wanted to walk away from art as a job.

Do you take a lot of inspiration from the North? Does the history and landscape of your local area reflect in your artwork?

Since starting my folklore-inspired prints I would say yes, definitely. 'We All Are Joined' is inspired by the remains of the Neolithic burial mound called Five Wells which is located in the Peak District. It was a chambered cairn built to house the bodies of individuals from early farming communities. They would each have known one another and felt profoundly every single loss. In preserving and visiting such sites today we join ourselves to all those before us and to the land itself. This print is featured in issue #3 Sarah Calcutt's curated zine about the Peaks, "Heath & Mud". You can find out more about this publication and purchase it here.

Another of my prints, 'Ritual', is inspired by hagstones. If you walk the beaches of Whitby you might happen across one of these strange treasures - hag stones. These stones with their perfectly circular holes seem manufactured, not a creation of nature. You wouldn't be the first to think there's magic behind them. Centuries-old tales tell of good fortune and protection when the stones are hung over doorways or beds, and visions into a faerie realm should you gaze through the eye of the hag stone.

Upcoming folklore-themed prints relate to the (non local) stories of The Roaring Bull of Bagbury and Twrch Trwyth, both of which originate from Wales and the West Midlands where I did live some years ago.

Lastly (and I'm asking this to everyone) one of the Northern Folklore Duo is a huge film fan, so this question is purely for him... what is your favourite film?!

I'm not a massive watcher of films but I think it has to be Fargo. I adore Frances McDormand. Really the whole film, its cast and storytelling are fantastic.

It was so lovely to chat to Alice, and hearing the folkloric inspirations behind some of her gorgeous linocut prints was absolutely delightful! You can catch Alice and her work at Pickled Pennies Prints at these various links:

Website https://pickledpenniesprints.com/

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/pickledpennies/?hl=en-gb @pickledpennies

Current Stockists: Cat's Cauldron Stockport, Art & Soul Leeds, Dotty Poppy Manchester, Pen & Pearl Studio Hebden Bridge

Artist Highlight: Pickled Pennies Prints

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Artist Highlight: Pickled Pennies Prints

Community Categories

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