Supporting and encouraging emerging artists is something that Boojum&Snark and Ventnor Exchange strive to do, so when it came to designing a new beermat together, we commissioned illustrator and printmaker Katie Stone to conjure up images that capture the spirit of living in a Unesco Biosphere Reserve as well as shining a spotlight on craft beer.
Inspired by nature, Katie has an organic, often humorous style that magically interweaves resulting in the creation of folkloric images. She invents landscapes where pixie hedgehogs dance in the winter woods or giant vampire domestic cats mischievously disrupts village life. All we needed was to add some craft beer, of which we know Katie is a fan as she often has a paddle!
Katie Stone illustrations @kjsdoodleprints
For the Ventnor Exchange side of the beermat Katie chose to depict a rather happy, luminous Ventnor Wall Lizard (Podarcis muralis) guarding a glass of Belgian beer whilst on the Boojum&Snark side a curious short-snouted seahorse (Hippocampus hippocampus) gazes through a glass of pale ale.
Those zany wall lizards are a real feature of Ventnor life, often heralding the beginning of spring when they awake from their winter slumber. A first sighting may be slightly unnerving, causing you to think, did I really see a green speckled lizard crawl up the wall, or have I drunk way too much beer?* The origin of the Ventnor wall lizards has been the subject of much speculation. Did they break out from a Victorian Herpetologists collection? Maybe they swam ashore when an Italian ship was wrecked on the coast or were they introduced much later – the first reliable report was in the 1960’s? Today the Ventnor colony of common wall lizards is probably the largest and oldest colony in the UK – that’s a lot of lounge lizards for one town but as you know Ventnor is super inclusive and likes to keep things weird!
“I was delighted when asked to design beer mats for Ventnor Exchange and Boojum&Snark. Not only is it a great platform to show my artwork but also a brilliant opportunity to work with two organisations that are committed to promoting arts and culture on the island. Each character design was carefully thought through to represent each venue. The short-snouted seahorse, which can be found in the beautiful Sandown Bay, was designed to show the abundance of sea-life present in our waters. The Ventnor wall lizard and tropical flora were the perfect emblems for Ventnor’s microclimate and eclectic spirit. It is organizations like Ventnor Exchange and Boojum&Snark that encourage creativity for all and this, in turn, adds to our coruscating island life.” Katie Stone 2022
Most people think seahorses are far too exotic for English shores however the Solent is lucky to be home to two species of seahorses; both the long-snouted and short-snouted seahorse have been sighted off the Isle of Wight coast. Interestingly Seahorses are the only animal with a true reversed pregnancy! The female transfers the eggs to the male who self fertilises them keeping them in his brood pouch, before giving birth to live young called fry. Reverse pregnancy seems a very enlightened concept!
Vertipool Sandown Bay linear geology Sandown Bay
In 2019 the Isle of Wight was designated a Unesco Biosphere Reserve. What does this mean? Well in part it’s recognition of the abundance and diversity of wildlife and nature that the Island is home to but also it’s an acknowledgment of how the local community have found a way to live sustainably within their local ecosystems. Sandown in particular leads the way when it comes to making a difference on the global stage as it’s where the eco-innovators ARC Biodiversity and Climate (ABC) are based. Among many initiatives, ABC has increased natural habitat with eco-designs such as Vertipools, MudFlats and Coralpods as well with their innovative Shaping Better Places framework that helps communities, environments and economies to prosper. You can see Vertipools (essentially artificial rockpools) at the Science Beach in Sandown. Vertipools have been exported throughout the world. We are very proud of the groundbreaking work ABC do 🙌
So, yes it’s only a beermat but in many ways it’s a lot more. Katie’s designs demonstrate how connected we feel to our island environment and the special relationship we have with nature, heritage and culture – now that’s something to drink to!
For additional geekiness, the practice of collecting beermats is known as tegestology from the Latin teges, meaning mats. A beermat collector is a tegestologist and two very famous tegestologists were Morecambe and Wise. This 1960 British Pathé film shows the lengths they would go to to get their hands on desirable beermats. For more on beermats and beyond visit Britishbeermats.org
NB: Any brewery will know that a tegestologist is both dogged and persistent in his quest for a new beermat. We expect to be attacked on multiple fronts: emails, calls, SAE with postal orders or cheques!
CRAFT BEER ADVENTURES and chocolate… If you are looking for a craft beer adventure on the Isle of Wight please be sure to check out Wight Knuckle Brewery located at the Pilot Boat in Bembridge. Founded during Covid by brothers Fergus and Edward Bristow Wight Knuckle brew beer onsite and serve fab pizzas. In Ryde check out Craft Vegan run by skater turned chef Darryn and Char, they specialise in vegan pizza and junk food and importantly have 4 taps of vegan craft beer. A few doors up from Craft Vegan is the Chocolate Apothecary a must stop for exquisite handmade chocolates, great service and coffee – we love you Jules 🧡
* too much beer, really! 🙄