*Red-Backed Shrike wood engraving and letterpress*

In June 2024 Soma Gallery turned 20. To celebrate and commemorate the occasion, 20 artists were invited to create an exclusive limited edition print. I created this wood engraving and letterpress print, ‘Red-Backed Shrike’. Each print is an edition of 50 and the artists each get a boxed set of one of each, so that leaves 30 left for sale. (A quick disclaimer here: Soma Gallery is my business.)

The edition was launched at BABE - Bristol Artists Book Event and with a pop up exhibition at Frankenstein Press. You can read more about it on the Soma Gallery website here.

The list of artists is absolutely amazing and includes a lot of local printmakers from Spike Print Studio as well as Soma Gallery regulars: Adam Bridgland, Susie Brooks, Anthony Burrill & Ian Sanders, Graham Carter, Crispin Finn, Tom Frost, Matthew Green, Fiona Hamilton, Daisy Hirst, Hannah McVicar, Jude Maguire, Anna Marrow, Peski Studio, Pirrip Press, Anna Ruiz, Rob Ryan, Andy Smith, Emma Studd, Melanie Wickham and Spencer Wilson.

The book fair and the pop up were both really exceptional events and it was really heart warming to see all the customers past and present. Many from the Boyces Avenue days from when Soma was a physical space. I’m really grateful to Anna and Cristian from Frankenstein Press for letting me use their wonderful space to hold the pop up event. As you can see from the photos, the prints fit on their shelves perfectly! It was momentarily hairy, but it all worked out.

The prints have been made by hand by the artists and are produced in a variety of techniques. There are a lot of screen prints, letterpress, wood engraving, lino cut and glitter. I think that’s all of it. The prices range from £30 to £50 unframed and the frames are black wooden box frames. The prints are framed with a shadow gap and are an additional £35 on top of the cost of the print. Each print measures 24cm x 18cm and they are printed on either GF Smith Colorplan 270gsm or 350gsm or Mohawk superfine smooth or eggshell in either 270gsm or 350gsm.