Monday 16 December 2013

The Hiber-Nation

IHere is a selection of photos from our exhibition at Wales Millennium Centre, it's on until January 5th so there is still time to go visit (and give The Hugger a hug) Apart from the three oversized pieces, which now belong to the Centre (the Queen, The Hugger and the Storyteller) all artwork is for sale and can be purchased thought the Milllennium Centre (they are also elligible for the Arts Council Wales collectors plan, 0% finance) All the paintings Jonathan produced can be viewed here and his blog post about the show is here



Striders
The striders stride across bringing with them the winter weather and monitoring the progress of the frost and snow. They report back to the Snow Queen. Striders grow from the feet up. Strider children can be tiny but with gigantic feet which makes Strider nurseries extremely noisy places to be. 


The Hiber-Nation Queen
Once the Striders have cleared the way the Hiber-Nation Queen travels the land bringing with her frost, ice and snow. She is accompanied on her annual journey by Ffrinton her faithful frost fox. 


Trunk & Loggins
Trunk and Loggins are the two main members of the woodland quiz team, The Tree of Knowledge. Winters are spent revising obscure trivia and testing each other's knowledge for future quiz tournaments. They are based in the countryside surrounding Cardiff as they like to be close to the Only Connect studio.


Myfi Snark
Fashion correspondent for the Hiber-Nation Times, Myfi divides her time between the frosted pathways of the Welsh woodlands and red carpets events worldwide.


The Storyteller
The storyteller is responsible for teaching the young ones the ways of the Hiber-Nation. Sometimes it's the history of prominent HIber-Nationals, sometimes it's advice on buying knitwear. Occasionally it's an anecdote about what happened to him at the post office that morning or a recipe for stew. You never know what you're going to get. 



Strider


The Twins
Frib and Drib (the Prib twins) are never apart. They appear like clockwork every winter and work their magic on the landscape. They enjoy placing frosted mittens on gateposts and shaking a snowy branch just as you're walking below it.


Mai Ffrai & Bonto Kring
Mai Frai, lead singer with all-girl rock band "The Hiber-Nations". A darling of the music press she was rocketed to worldwide stardom after the success of their single "Bringing Secsi, Bach!". 
Bonto, currently in a relationship with Mai Ffrai, is the guitarist with woodland math-rock band, Cwadratig. Recently photographed, alongside Mai, by Snapper Duvall for a spread in Cwmbran Vogue.


Striders


Fernando Mulch
Fernando enjoys reclining in piles of decomposing leaves with his feet up. His parents were Abba fans from Abermaw hence his unusual first name. His sister, Chiquitita, works in a call centre in Newport and often visits the woods for Sunday lunch.


The Poet
Inspired by the wintery weather Ferris appears ever year at the first sign of frost. Found sitting on his own in the woods he can be heard reading aloud from one of his many books of poetry. 


The Listeners
Ffrimp, Dybol, Grwblyn, Plwc and Moslyn are the current group of youngsters listening to the the Storyteller. 


Pondtificators
The Pondtificators appear from lakes and ponds during the winter months providing essential advice which ranges from household repairs to the best way to remove a red wine stain from a sheepskin rug. During the rest of the year they stay in their underwater lair watching Cadfael DVD box sets and eating waterlogged Battenburg cake.


Idris Grimp
Professor Idris Grimp is a keen entomologist  and a visiting lecturer at St Grunk's University. He travels the word collecting unusual specimens for his collection and brings them home to Wales where they're displayed in his converted Yew tree. One day he plans to launch his own signature pipe tobacco.


Mupsi 
Mupsi is the youngest of the Hiber-Nation characters appearing at the Centre. She enjoys colouring in, unicorns and colouring in unicorns. 


Myfi Snark


The Hugger
The Hugger lives to hug! If you're in the woods feeling a bit chilly just call for the Hugger and he'll be there within seconds. He's won numerous awards for his hugging skills and won Gold at the 2013 Hugolympics in Zurich.



If you visit the Centre and get a hug from The Hugger please post your photos with the hashtag #yeticwtsh It's great to see everyone's hug photos. I was a bit disturbed by how squashed his poor feet were getting but after watching some tiny toddlers just smiling at him then collapsing on top of his furry feet I think it's worth it. He's certainly loved :)


















Thursday 31 October 2013

The Hiber-Nation at the Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff


At last I can reveal what we have been working on for the last few months. Our biggest show to date and our first in Wales - The Hiber-Nation at the Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff. The show opens on Friday the 6th of December with the launch night on Thursday the 5th (6-8pm). Everybody's welcome! We have produced over 50 new pieces for the show including some giant oversized characters (over 8ft tall!) one of which you can get a furry hug from. I'm really excited to announce that the musical guests for the launch night are Gulp!






Here's the official press release -

Mystical Welsh creatures to take up winter residence at Wales Millennium Centre


Seeking refuge from the harsh Welsh winter, The Hiber-Nation will be descending on Wales Millennium Centre this December. Hand-crafted by the inimitable Felt Mistress out of new and vintage fabrics including tweed, wool and flannel from Welsh mills, the band of quirky, colourful creatures are soon to be found huddled in stairwells and suspended from ceilings around the Centre.

Louise Evans, alias Felt Mistress, has crafted over 20 x 3D pieces for the exhibition, including 3 x 8-10ft works: a snow queen, a huggable yeti and a woodland guru.

The inspiration behind the 3D creatures lies in the striking illustrations created by Jonathan Edwards, Louise’s partner and a regular illustrator for the Guardian newspaper. Around 30 of Jonathan’s original works, – a collection of watercolours, acrylics and ink drawings - depicting the characters and the landscape they inhabit,will also be on display during the exhibition. Video content introducing the characters will also be presented on the Centre’s projection wall.

From her studio in North Wales, Felt Mistress has created a legion of felt characters for the best part of a decade. While both her work and Jonathan’s has been exhibited all over the world in cities including Osaka, Los Angeles, Berlin and London, The Hiber-Nation exhibition is to be the Welsh-born couple’s first in their homeland. In 2010, the couple presented a Christmas window display at Selfridge’s iconic Oxford Street store.

Louise Evans originally trained in fashion design and millinery and 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 Mistresscharacters, Louise has collaborated with a variety of artists including Jon Burgerman, Ben Newman and PeteFowler. A 400 page retrospective of her work, "Creature Couture - the Art of Felt Mistress" was published in December 2012.

Along with providing illustrations for the Guardian, Jonathan Edwards has produced illustrations and comic strips for magazines and publishers around the world. His artwork also appears on the covers of records by artists such as The Black Eyed Peas and The Jungle Brothers.

Louise Miles-Crust, Head of Programming, said: 'We're very excited to be bringing the work of Felt Mistressand Jonathan Edwards to the Centre this Christmas. Their work is both visually stunning and fun, so we hope that art lovers and families alike will enjoy the exhibition. It’s also great that we can host the homecoming exhibition for the talented Welsh duo and display some of the truly unique and exciting art and design work to be coming out of Wales.'

Felt Mistress will also be offering a free workshop on Saturday 14 December from 2.45pm to 4.45pm where participants will be able to make their own felt creatures - the perfect Christmas gifts. Booking is required as spaces are limited.

The exhibition will open on Friday 6 December, with an open-to-all launch party on Thursday 5 December 6pm-8pm, with live music from the band Gulp. The exhibition closes on Sunday 5 January 2014.



Friday 23 August 2013

Felt Mistress for the Amy Winehouse Foundation




This is my tribute to Amy Winehouse for the Amy Winehouse Foundation. I was honoured to be asked to contribute to the fundraisers and events for what would have been Amy's 30th birthday.

"The Amy Winehouse Foundation works to prevent the effects of drug and alcohol misuse on young people. We also aim to support, inform and inspire vulnerable and disadvantaged young people to help them reach their full potential." More information about the good work they do can be found HERE.

This piece (approx 120cm tall) will be displayed in the window of the Camden Pop Up shop and then auctioned for the charity.

Follow @amysfoundation on Twitter for updates and on Facebook HERE.

Monday 15 July 2013

Pincer Lickin' Good


Made for Nautical Nonsense a Spongebob tribute show at Gallery Nucleus in association with Nickelodeon.
With this piece I wanted to try and heal the rift between the former friends - Mr Krabs and Plankton. Consider it a felt intervention. Details about the show here
This piece measures 29 inches tall. Any sale enquiries please contact Gallery Nucleus.













Friday 24 May 2013

Workshop At Foyles London

I am doing another workshop at Foyles next month (Sun 23rd June) Tickets are now on sale (places are ltd) Visit Foyles here for more details and to book tickets. The workshop is open to all skill levels and children are welcome if accompanied by an adult. See you there! :)





- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Monday 29 April 2013

Meet The Gurus From Gotta Get Up To Get Down






"Gotta Get Up To Get Down"
"Feeling down? Low self-esteem? Feeling up? Too full of yourself? Helping the downtrodden to pick themselves up and bringing the over inflated down to earth, a gaggle of egregious gurus will descend on Berlin, led by the ‘serene blue dude’ G’goob. Groam and G'goob will be on hand to offer words of wisdom for those in need"
This was our show for Pictoplasma, Berlin. It was centred around a group of gurus/life coaches lead by the serene blue dude G'goob. Meet Groam, Gooplin and Gromp.




Groam




Groam believes the only way to true happiness is through sheer misery. He enjoys sitting alone in cold rooms, overcast days and missing the last bus home. When not spreading misery Groam also enjoys playing Ping Pong.




Gooplin




Gooplin provides a "nutty, mellow flavour" to every room he's in. Comparable to a fine wine or a mature cheddar Gooplin prides himself on providing a feeling of well being and contentment. When he isn't life coaching he likes to age well in an Oak cask while listening to Steely Dan.




Gromp




Gromp is a self proclaimed "bad vibe inhibitor". He has the ability to soak up bad vibes and emit good vibes. He enjoys hanging around doctor's waiting rooms, bus queues and late night motorway services and transforming the atmosphere into "party time"!




G'goob




G'goob, a serene blue dude. He believes inner enlightenment can be achieved through the consumption of Tunnock's Teacakes and the music of Boney M.

Sunday 28 April 2013

Pictoplasma

Pictoplasma was amazing. We had such a great time. Thanks to everyone who came to see us, thanks to everyone involved in organising the event and thanks to all our lovely friends old and new, who we got to spend time with and made it even more lovely. Let's do it all again soon :)
Here's some photos (I'll post character names and descriptions in another blog post to follow)

























































Location:Pictoplasma Photo Round Up