Konichiwa, Japan!
Exhibition by Felt Mistress and Jonathan Edwards at Soma Gallery
Opening Saturday 21st July, runs til mid September
Sat 21st East meets West style afternoon tea 11am – 5:30pm
During the summer of 2011 Felt Mistress (AKA Louise Evans) and Jonathan Edwards spent 5 weeks in Japan as part of a gallery residency at Headspace in Nara and also headlined the Headspace arts & music festival in Osaka. This show collects some of the work created during their time there and also new pieces influenced by their experiences in Japan and created exclusively for this exhibition. The show will be a collection of 3D pieces, prints and original artwork featuring the character design that they've become known for. Both Louise and Jonathan will be present in the gallery on the opening Saturday and visitors will also have the opportunity to have their portraits drawn in the style of a Felt Mistress character.
Felt Mistress
Felt Mistress AKA Louise Evans is a UK based stitcher and prolific tea drinker who creates a range of one-off bespoke creatures with her partner, illustrator Jonathan Edwards. Originally trained in fashion design and millinery, Louise has brought many of the skills learnt through years of work as a couture dress maker to the world of character design. As well as original Felt Mistress characters Louise has also collaborated with a variety of other artists including Jon Burgerman, Jon Knox (Hello, Brute)and Pete Fowler. Her work has been exhibited in the UK and internationally and in 2010 was given her own window on Oxford Street as part of Selfridges' Christmas display.
She states her main interests as sewing, Japan, buttons, creatures, cake and Mr Edwards. When not sewing she likes to dream she'll live to see the day when you can download French Fancies "off of the Internet".
Jonathan Edwards
Jonathan's work first appeared in 1993 in Deadline and Tank Girl Magazine with strips such as Dandy Dilemma, Simon Creem, The Squabbling Dandies (with Richard Holland) and one pagers about, amongst others, Scott Walker, Sly Stone, Nancy Sinatra, Kraftwerk and The Beach Boys. Since then he's worked for the Guardian, Mojo, Q, Mad, The Black Eyed Peas, A Skillz & Krafty Kuts, The Jungle Brothers, The Glastonbury Festival, etc. His comics include Aunt Connie & The Plague of Beards, A Bag Of Anteaters (with Ian Carney) and Two Coats McWhinnie (also with Carney). He's also been a regular contributor to the Guardian since 1999 and illustrated the Hard Sell weekly column in the Guide from 2002 - 2011.
Jonathan's design work includes collaborations with his partner, Louise (AKA Felt Mistress), and a vinyl toy, Inspector Cumulus available from Crazylabel toys.
