Sophie Southgate
Sophie Southgate is a ceramic artist working in Kent. She studied BA Ceramics at Cardiff School of Art and Design, graduating in 2014.
Sophie’s practice is an on-going exploration of the object and the vessel, in both the contexts of sculpture and functional ceramics. Her work moves between the boundaries of art and design, challenging our preconceptions and understanding of contemporary ceramics.
She takes inspiration from the landscape, paring it back to abstract interpretations of space through basic geometric forms. She utilises colour and negative space to engage the audience and play with perception. Her work is ambiguous in nature and open to interpretation, raising questions about both material and process.
Making ambiguous objects that trick the eye, Sophie draws an unconscious gaze into conscious thought. She interrupts culturally embedded values and understandings of ceramics by creating optical illusions. Through use of colour, texture and negative space, Sophie’s work playfully tricks the audiences’ perception of weight, what is 2D or 3D and material. She specialises in slip casting and working in plaster. She make her forms on the plaster whirler and makes shapes out of paper. Sophie utilises colour to focus the attention and uses negative spaces to draw the eye in and play with perception.
