Christmas Exhibition at Soma

Beautiful New Prints by Rob Ryan

We have some new screen prints by Rob Ryan in the gallery and online.

Rob Ryan was born in 1962 in Akrotiri, Cyprus. He studied Fine Art at Trent Polytechnic and at the Royal College of Art, London where he specialised in Printmaking.

Since 2002 he has been working principally within the paper cutting medium. Although he views himself first and always as a fine artist, his intricate papercut work adapts itself readily to screenprinting which have then transferred to ceramics, fabrics, lasercutting and other surfaces.He has collaborated with Paul Smith, Liberty of London, Fortnum and Mason and Vogue along with many other established companies.

His work, often consisting of whimsical figures paired with sentimental, grave, honest and occasionally humourous pieces of writing he readily admits are autobiographical.

"We all really share only the same one story, my work only tells that story over and over."

He lives and works in London UK






You can view all Rob Ryan's prints on our website here.

We have ceramics and other items by Rob in the gallery and online. You can view everything by Rob Ryan on our site 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.

Pick Me Up 2012

 

We are very pleased to announce that we will be exhibiting at Pick Me Up at Somerset House this year with Andy Smith, Crispin Finn, Tom Frost, Gemma Correll and Peskimo.

The show runs from 22nd March until 1st April and is open from 11am - 8pm daily with late nights on Thursdays until 10pm.

We will post more info in the coming weeks. You can also follow us on Twitter and Facebook to find out more news.

Rob Ryan Valentines 2012 Silkscreen Print

Every year Rob Ryan produces a special Valentines print for the romantics out there! This year he has created this beautiful silkscreen print depicting a man and woman on a bridge. It is printed in two colours (burgundy brown and soft vanilla) and is signed and numbered in an edition of 400. Print size is approximately 28.5 x 35cm, paper size is 34.5 x 42.8 cm and is £120.

The print is available on our website here and in our gallery later on in the week.

We are able to frame these prints for customers coming into our Bristol gallery. Unfortunately we are not able to post framed pictures.

2011: in Review

Well, what a busy year 2011 was! I feel like my Christmas rest could perhaps have done with being a little longer. 2011 was probably our biggest year at Soma in terms of events, exhibitions and projects. Some of the ideas that were in our heads were actually realised this year and we had our first ever events in our gallery space.

Going backwards a little bit... In August 2010 we moved to our new building, which really kick started things with actual storage space (instead of none!) and a lovely big light filled gallery space. Following this in November came our new, easy to operate website to replace the one I had designed and built (poorly by current standards) way back in 2005 and was on its last legs as well as being a pain to keep updated. So we had a good platform to kick 2011 off from.

Some of the great things we've done this year are highlighted below.


Amelia's Compendium of Fashion Illustration at Soma

We started in May with our first event, the Bristol leg of Amelia's Compendium of Fashion Illustration book tour. Amelia gave a talk and signed copies of the book whilst Lahloo Tea, Juiceology and Harts Bakery provided the refreshments.



You can read about it on our blog here
And again after the event on the blog here
Or see photos on Flickr here
And view the book online here 


Lesley Barnes Tote for Soma

Also in May, we comissioned Lesley Barnes (who we worked with a few times in 2011 - more to come!) to design an exclusive promotional Soma tote bag. She came up with this fabulous dancing bear design. Lesley designed loads of other little characters for us which we have on badges for online orders.



You can buy the tote on our website for £5 here.


Andy Smith's Sunny Side Up Exhibition

The next event was Andy Smith's fantastic 'Sunny Side Up' solo exhibition. This show featured brand new silkscreen prints on both paper and wood plus hand painted pieces from Andy. This was the first time a solo artist had shown in the first floor space and fortunately Andy is quite prolific as there was a lot of space to fill!



This show ran from 24th June and was due to end on 20th August but by popular demand was extended!



Most pieces from the show are now sold out or are just about to sell out. You can view Andy's page on our website here.

You can read about it on the blog here
And a review of the show and private view on the blog here
And see the photoset of the show on Flickr here


Gemma Correll Exclusive Tote Design

In August we comissioned Gemma Correll to design a tote for us. She came up with this great cat on a scooter design 'Au Revoir'.



You can buy this tote for £10 here


Crispin Finn's Pack Rat Exhibition

The next exhibition was 'Pack Rat' from the fantastic Crispin Finn which opened at the end of September.



You can read about the show on the blog here
And more on the blog here
And see the Flickr photos here


Soma for Not Another Bill

We put together the October Mailout for Not Another Bill which was released at the start of the month.



Bristol based Peskimo and Tom Frost created exclusive prints and badges for this and Lesley Barnes designed an exclusive tote bag.

You can read a bit more on the blog here
And see photos on Flickr here


Tatty Devine Workshop and Book Signing

Then in November Tatty Devine came to Soma to host a workshop and book signing for their new book 'How to Make Jewellery with Tatty Devine'. They taught people how to make a tape measure rosette, one of the projects in the book. Lahloo Tea also were there to provide delicious refreshments once again.



Read about this on the blog here
And here
And see the photos here


Lesley Barnes Wrapping Paper Design

Also in November we launched this beautiful wrapping paper by (yes, her again!) Lesley Barnes. We sell this wrap in sheets and use it for gift wrapping online orders.



You can view this wrapping paper online here.


Christmas Exhibition

And finally at the end of November we had our annual Christmas Exhibition which went down really well, with original pieces from Andy Smith and Gemma Correll selling out as soon as they went on sale!