New Mini Prints from Graham Carter

We have some lovely new mini prints from Graham Carter to add to our stunning collection of his work. All printed in small editions and measuring 30cm x 30cm at just £40 each these prints make a lovely gift or addition to any home.

View all artwork by Graham Carter here.

New Artist: Alice Pattullo

Alice Pattullo is the newest addition to Soma. She is an illustrator and printmaker based in London. Alice graduated in 2010 with a First Class Honours in Illustration from Brighton University.

Alice works predominantly in screen print producing limited edition prints for sale in various outlets across the UK and online. Research is at the heart of her practice and her work is often inspired by British folk tradition and superstition, 1930s American musicals and celebrity culture to name a few! She is inspired by mid-century design and strives to create a nostalgic aesthetic in her own work through colour choices and composition.

You can view all work by Alice on our website here

Hate Mail by Mr Bingo Book Signing 17th Nov

Next Saturday 17th November between 2-4pm, Mr Bingo will be in Soma for the Bristol signing of his new book, 'Hate Mail'. Come along during this time to meet the genius illustrator and get your books signed. 



In his own words, "Last year I sent a postcard to a stranger called Jonathan Hopkins. It said on it "F*ck you Jonathan, f*ck you and f*ck your sh*t legs". People seemed to be into it so I opened a service on my website, inviting strangers to pay me in return for an offensive postcard addressed to them (or whoever they ordered it for).

"I persevered with the project and now with over 400 'Hate Mails' under my belt, I am pleased to announce that Hate Mail (the book) is out now and available to buy."

It has been rumoured that there could be bottles of 'Hate Ale' at the signing, brewed specially for his London book launch in a brewery.

Books will be available to purchase in Soma from the 17th.







You can read Creative Review's review of the book here.



The signing will be held on Saturday 17th November, 2-4pm, 1st Floor Gallery Space, Soma, 4 Boyces Avenue, Clifton, Bristol, BS8 4AA.

Soma for Not Another Bill

I was asked by Ned from Not Another Bill to put together the October mailout. For those who haven't heard of Not Another Bill before, it's a fantastic idea by Ned Corbett-Winder, a subscription service where you get a surprise present in the post every month. Each month is produced by a different creative or group of creatives.



I asked Bristol based illustrators Tom Frost and Peskimo to each produce a print and a badge for the packs and Glasgow based Lesley Barnes to design a tote. Each pack contained a print, a badge and a tote.

Both Tom Frost and Peskimo hand printed theirs - which was no mean feat! Tom's (pictured above) is a two colour silkscreen print on reclaimed card and numbered using a pin perforating machine and Peskimo's (pictured below) is a three colour silkscreen print. These prints were specially commissioned for Not Another Bill and not available anywhere else!



Lesley's tote was silkscreened in Cornwall on 100% organic tote bags using environmentally friendly inks. It features the great creatures she has designed for us. She designed the dancing bear tote that we sell in Soma and you can see the bear in the middle of this design.



You can see more work by Peskimo here, by Tom Frost here and by Lesley Barnes here.

And you can visit Not Another Bill here.

Artist of the week: James Brown

The next printmaker in the rather infrequent series that is Artist of the Week is James Brown. We've just received some great new prints from him and some new totes. We've been selling James' work for a few years now and he's always been very popular!


The Man, linocut print


Way Out, linocut print


Unexpected Item, silkscreen printed tote bag in 2 colourways

London based James Brown is an illustrator and printmaker. He trained as a textile and surface print designer and worked in the clothing industry for 10 years producing print designs for numerous brands from Levis to Louis Vuitton.

After two years at Hope & Glory menswear James embarked on a new career as an illustrator in 2007. James has been commissioned to produce work by publishing houses, magazines and newspapers and advertising and design agencies. Recent clients include Oxfam, Cancer Research, The Guardian and Faber & Faber.

Alongside his commercial practice James produces limited edition screen prints and linocuts. James' prints reflect his interest in the printed and typographic ephemera of pop culture. The traditional processes that go into the production of James’ prints are very important.


Pointers, silkscreen print

The below prints are a little older but still very popular!


Bags, lino cut print


Me & You, silkscreen print


Viking, silkscreen print

You can view all James Brown prints at Soma here.

Sunny Side Up by Andy Smith exhibiton preview evening

Last Friday evening we held the private view of our new exhibition, 'Sunny Side Up' by Andy Smith. It's no mean feat filling the entire first floor gallery space, especially for a single artist! We've been selling Andy's work for quite a few years now and he's been involved in the last couple of Christmas Shows so it's great to finally have the space to have a big show of his work. And almost everything was created for this show!

Although the weather wasn't on our side, those who braved the rain were treated to a great show and refreshments including Juiceology juices (who we loved at the ACOFI book tour!).


Almost the whole show!


Wooden Blue Moose head, prints, Push to Quit wooden butons, Everyone Gets Lonely totes, They Went That Way arrows, Warning blocks


Hand painted wooden goldfish bowl, This Way & That Way birds, other prints by Andy Smith in browser


They Went That Way arrows


Andy Smith at the private view


Some guests at the private view enjoying the Juiceology drinks


Stickers and postcards for the private view guests

All the artwork in the show is available to view and purchase on our website here

You can see more photos of the show on Flickr here

To read more about the show read post here

Creative Review featured the show on their blog here

Visit Juiceology's wesite here

More Sunny Side Up Teasers!

Here's a handfull of teasers for the Andy Smith show which opens this Saturday with the private view on Friday evening 6-9pm.


The Lonely Goldfish, enamel paint on wood


Push to Quit, silkscreen on wood and varnished


This Way, enamel paint on wood


That Way, enamel paint on wood


They Went That Way, hanging sign, screenprinted and varnished


Shoot The Breeze, silkscreen print

ACOFI at Soma - The Event

A little over a week ago we hosted the Bristol leg of Amelia Gregory's ACOFI book tour. We were joined by two fantastic Bristol based businesses Lahloo Tea and Harts bakery who provided teas and biscuits respectively. Juiceology provided beautiful blended juice drinks and Dr Hauschka provided skincare samples.



We have had a lovely long relationship with Amelia since we started stocking Amelia's Magazine back in around 2005. We started on issue 3 and I wish I had heard about it sooner as I would have loved to have managed to get a copy of issue 2 which came with a Tatty Devine necklace and a cover designed by Rob Ryan (who we also have a great relationship with and have stocked both for a few years too now).

Amelia's magazine gained a bit of a cult following during it's 10 issue run. Beautifully illustrated and designed as well as being full of top quality content including fashion, art and music, it blew most other publications out of the water. The incredible attention to detail  including glow in the dark covers, scratch n sniff covers, usb sticks full of music, cocktail books and many more extra additions made it incredibly covetable but also incredibly expensive to produce as well as being a huge amount of work. So after 10 issues, Amelia moved into the world of book publishing.

ACOFI is her second title and focusses on ethical fashion. Amelia gave us a talk about her journey from setting up the magazine to the creation of the books, the rise of eco fashion and the importance of social media in promoting yourself.

Amelia's compendium of Fashion Illustration is available on our website here or in our Bristol shop. All the copies we have are signed by Amelia. We also have a few back issues of the fabulous Amelia's Magazine available in the shop.


The book & the delicious custard creams (which were swiftly gobbled up and then twittered about the next day by some of the appreciative guests!) with the tasty Juiceology drinks.


Amelia enjoying one of the fantastic custard creams made by Laura Hart of Harts Bakery.


Amelia and Bex Glover, one of the illustrators from ACOFI

Two of the illustrators from the book were present at the event. Bex Glover who is shown in the photo above showing her work and Katie Harnett.

We are so grateful to our fantastic sponsors of the day, in particular Kate Gover and her team from Lahloo tea and Laura Hart of Harts Bakers who made the event extra special with their wonderful products.


Image (c) Lahloo

Lahloo Tea was founded by Kate Gover. This dynamic new company offers tea drinkers a boutique collection of loose-leaf tea from some of the world’s finest small tea gardens. With a little help from two expert importers, Lahloo brings you fairly traded, organic tea direct from small artisan producers.

You can find Lahloo tea sold a couple of doors down from us in Arch House Deli as well as in Chandos Deli's in Bristol. For those of you outside Bristol, you can buy direct from their website www.lahlootea.co.uk or find it stocked in specialist deli's and cafe's.


Image (c) Harts Bakery / Rebecca Bernstein

Harts Bakery is run by Laura Hart. Laura has worked in Bristol as a pastry chef and baker for nine years. She has gained a wealth of baking experience working at Quartier Vert, followed by Bordeaux Quay, the Arch House Deli, and the Clifton Lido.

Her bakery and shop is open Monday - Friday and is located in Hampton Lane just off Cotham Hill and close to the Clifton Down shopping centre and station. You can also find her on Saturdays on a stall on Gloucester Road outside Planet Pizza and opposite Bristol North Swimming Baths.

Amelia has also blogged about the event and her review is full of pictures.
Amelia's blog of the event here.

The last leg of the tour is at Tatty Devine tomorrow evening. For more information go here.

ACOFI on our website here

Lahloo tea website here
Harts Bakery website here
Juiceology website here
Dr Hauschka website

Next Exhibition: Andy Smith

‘Sunny Side Up’
Exhibition by Andy Smith at Soma Gallery, Bristol
25th June 2011 – 20th August 2011

Hastings based illustrator Andy Smith studied at Brighton University and the Royal College of Art. When not busy working for clients such as Orange, Nike, McDonalds, The Guardian and Faber and Faber he can be found in his studio by the sea in Hastings printing books and posters which he has exhibited in the UK, France, USA and Australia. Specialising in silkscreen printing Andy’s work combines illustration and typography to create images with humour, energy and optimism, executed with a handmade tactile feel. Illustrating for 12 years, his work has won D&AD, Creative Circle and AOI awards and been featured in numerous books and publications.

His summer show at Soma Gallery in Bristol will include a set of 12 new large artworks, hand screenprinted by Andy and featuring his distinct hand lettering and visuals. They deal with bold statements, strange visitors, warnings from gurus, the thoughts of Captain Scott and other random themes. Accompanying these prints will be an eclectic collection of new 3D arrows and moose heads, totes, stickers and one sad lonely, goldfish.

We're really looking forward to this exhibition. It will be the first time a single artist has made up of the entire first floor gallery space in the new Soma! Keep an eye out for more information in the coming weeks.



There's a couple more teaser images on our flickr page here.

View all prints by Andy Smith at Soma Gallery.

Artist of the week: Hellomarine

Marine was born in Paris, grew up in South of France and moved to Brighton to study Graphic Design.

Now living and working in Brighton as an illustrator she divides her time between commissions for clients such as The Guardian, Penguin,Coca-Cola, TruThoughts, Amelia's Magazine, Jazeera Airways... and personal work that she exhibits regularly. Her work has been described as vivid, vibrant, sometimes retro or slightly surreal and has been published in Computer Arts, Etapes Graphiques, Illusive and the Secrets Of Digital Illustration.

She's inspired by her love for music and fashion, the Ye-Ye movement in 60's France, her childhood and all the different people she meets.

View Hellomarine's page at Soma Gallery.

Ben Javens at Soma Gallery

We are very pleased to welcome Ben Javens and his fantastic work to Soma. We have a selection of his screenprints plus badges and a very cool pencil case. You can view his work both in the gallery and in the online shop here.

See all work by Ben Javens