Sophie Southgate

Sophie graduated from Cardiff Metropolitan University in 2014 with a First in BA Honours Ceramics, winning the Regina Lasker prize. Sophie spent the following year at Fireworks Clay Studios on the Graduate Resident program refining her work and exhibiting around the UK. In 2015 she was part of the National Welsh Eisteddfod and won the Y Lle Celf CASW Purchase Prize. In November 2015 Sophie was a runner up in a Nationwide design competition, Confessions of a Design Geek Bursary, making the final six. In early 2016 Sophie set up her studio, The Clay Room UK, where she continues to develop her ceramic practice, as well as teaching adult pottery courses and mould-making workshops. She also teaches children's pottery courses on a holiday scheme program at Tonbridge School.

LANDSCAPE//COLOUR SERIES

My ceramic sculptures are an exploration of the object and the vessel, sitting between the boundaries of art and design. My work is about challenging initial perception, at a distance they can appear 2Dimensional, close up they appear solid. My work appeals to the senses, individually they are luxuriously tactile pieces, but they are each part of a larger colour palette that talk to each other when arranged in groups. I use bright colour to capture peoples attention. I purposefully make work that is ambiguous to create intrigue, that raises questions about materials and how the objects were made. I want my ceramics to provoke a reaction.

UKYA PROJECTS:

National Biennale: Derby 2016