Cat Johnston, a London-based illustrator and model maker, crafts expressive sculptures and puppets inspired by her childhood memories, folk art, and nature. Her creations, which include a fashionable bat, a melancholy sun, and a springtime spirit with allergies, inhabit dreamlike worlds.
Johnston’s characters are a unique blend of historical costumes and cartoonish, emotive faces, making them appear both familiar and otherworldly, as if they’ve stepped out of a children’s book or a peculiar dream. Her recent series features gods personifying sunburn, hay fever, and insomnia, each intriguingly manifested as the sun, flowers, and the moon.
In collaboration with stop-motion animator and puppet-maker Joseph Wallace, Johnston recently debuted her first short film, “The Wickywock and the Jubjub Berry.” The film follows a mythical woodland creature struggling with sleeplessness until a forest sprite offers an unexpected solution.
Aligning with the local pagan festival, Hastings Traditional Jack in the Green, held every first weekend of May, Johnston will present a solo exhibition at a local pub, The Crown. Furthermore, she has joined London-based cinematic studio Passion Pictures as a director, continuing her exploration of film.
Johnston is pursuing ideas for animated series and is developing a longer stop-motion project. She is also working on another short film, featuring live-action puppetry and stop-motion animation, which will include two flowery monsters and a charming bee.
Enthusiasts might also appreciate the quirky, Hieronymus Bosch-inspired figures of Roberto Benavidez.
