Next Exhibition - Anna Marrow Solo Show

Next Exhibition: Anna Marrow
Private View 7pm-9pm Thursday 19th Feb, exhibition opens Friday 20th February and runs throughout March.

Our next exhibition features the stunning screen prints from Bristol based printmaker, Anna Marrow. We are holding a private view on Thursday 19th February between 7pm and 9pm if you are in Bristol and would like to preview the exhibition first! There will be drinks and nibbles provided.

Anna Marrow is a printmaker, illustrator and image-maker based in Bristol. She studied Fine Art in Bristol, then Communication Design at Central Saint Martins, specialising in illustration and now prints at Spike Print Studio.

She works with household paints, biros, fine liners, pencil crayons and screen print. Most of the prints start off as biro and ink drawings in her sketch book, then turn into collages, and then screen prints.

Anna makes surprising, sometimes humorous or alarming images by combining mundane objects and environments with exotic creatures and characters. She like to pin point a specific moment in time and is drawn to objects from her childhood such as 70’s televisions, radios and cars which all feature heavily in her work, as do urban and suburban landscapes.

You can view some of the prints by Anna on our website here.

The Current Exhibition is Now OPEN!

The Current opened in glorious sunshine last Saturday and was a great success. All the prints are now available to buy on our website. Originals and framed pieces can only be purchased in the gallery. The Current runs in our gallery space on the first floor until 28th June.

The Current, a group exhibition coinciding with the 10th Birthday of Soma Gallery, brings together the work of five contemporary graphic artists. Adam Bridgland, Matthew Green, Adam Hayes, Lucy Gough and Jessica Wilson have all exhibited widely throughout the UK and internationally and have completed major commissions for clients such as Nike, Uniqlo, the Guardian and You Tube. They are also held in a number of important collections like the Victoria and Albert and the British Musuem. The Current is an exciting, fresh and vibrant exhibition showcasing recent works, including a number specially launched for this show.

View all the work on our website here

View all photos on Flickr here

The Current Opens This Saturday!

Andy Smith New Exhibition at Soma

Four Fonts Walk Into a Bar...
An Exhibition of Silkscreen Prints by Andy Smith
Opens Saturday 1st March 2014

Our new exhibition by Andy Smith is now open in our first floor gallery space. All the prints and items from the exhibition are available to view and purchase online.

The artwork of Andy Smith has at its core a sense of optimism and humour. This new collection of work by the award winning illustrator revels in this and explores the theme of popular jokes, one liners, gags and puns.

He presents a set of images which experiment with hand drawn typography and silkscreen printing that are bold, colourful and eye popping- his most colourful work yet.

Complementing the prints on paper are some of his popular, large, wooden printed signs, books and objects all signed and numbered by Andy.

Come along and find out what happened when those four fonts went into that bar!

View all the prints on our website here

View photos of the exhibition on Flickr here

Konichiwa, Japan - Photos from the show

Here are a selection of photos from 'Konichiwa, Japan' by Felt Mistress and Jonathan Edwards. You can view more on our Flickr page here.









At the opening, visitors were able to get their very own monster portraits drawn by Jonathan! See a couple below:





You can view all the work on our website here.

Konichiwa, Japan! An exhibition by Felt Mistress and Jonathan Edwards

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.

Pack Rat by Crispin Finn Exhibition

Last Friday we had the preview of Crispin Finn's new exhibition at Soma, 'Pack Rat'.

The term Pack Rat refers to people who engage in the excessive acquisition of possessions, even if the items are worthless.

For their 'Pack Rat' show they've created a set of prints in their trade mark red, white and blue based on their fascination with collecting inspired from items within their archive. These prints aim to make the ephemeral momentarily more permanent, examine the beauty of vernacular design and draw to attention how the everyday is worthy of wall space.



Alongside the prints they are showing t-shirts, notepads, greeting cards and other items designed by them, all in red, white and blue!





Crispin Finn is a small, London based design partnership. Founded and run by Anna Fidalgo - a graphic designer and Roger Kelly - a fine artist, their shared love of screenprinting, stationery and vernacular design inspired them to collaborate and develop their trademark style.

Working predominantly in red, white and blue, a restriction they initially set themselves in order to hand produce simple and affordable designs, the colour scheme has become part of the Crispin Finn identity.



The exhibition runs until 13th November.

View more photos of the exhibition here

View prints from the exhibition plus other items by Crispin Finn here

Extended! - Andy Smith Sunny Side Up Exhibition

We've extended the Andy Smith show until the end of the month as it's been such a popular show and we're getting loads of people wanting to come and see it before it comes down.

So instead of finishing this Saturday, it will run to Wednesday 31st August. We may extend it a little longer but if you haven't come to see it yet and plan to, there's a little more time to do so!

View Andy Smith work at Soma here

View photos of the show on Flickr 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

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.