# Sophie Ryder

Sophie Ryder (born 1963) is a British sculptor, painter, printmaker and collagist known for her large wire structures. Ryder typically uses bronze, wet plaster embedded with found materials, sheet metal, marble, and stained glass.

## Biography

Sophie Ryder was born in London, England, in 1963. She studied combined arts at the Royal Academy of Arts from 1981 to 1984, focusing initially on painting. She changed her focus when the Royal Academy's director, Sir Hugh Casson, encouraged her skills development in sculpture.

### Works

Ryder's sculptures sometimes represent mystical creatures, animals and hybrid beings created in assemblages of materials such as sawdust, wet plaster, obsolete machinery, toys, weld joins, wire 'pancakes', torn scraps of paper and charcoal sticks. Her iconography includes the character of the Lady Hare, which she sees as a counterpart to Ancient Greek mythology's Minotaur. Her most known piece is the Lady Hare, a hare with a female human body. The works have been commended for questioning human relationships to the natural and folkloric worlds while contemplating dualities of perception.
In 1994, a depiction of five minotaurs was excluded from an exhibition at Winchester Cathedral because the sculpture included genitalia as part of the anatomy.
Ryder has stated, "I don't sit and contemplate what it is I am trying to achieve. My head is full of ideas all the time. It is part of my life. I don't plan anything, it just comes." Similarly, when asked about the prominence of hares in her work, the artist stated, "it's the same as asking me why I make sculptures, and the answer is because I feel driven to. So it's difficult to always pin down reasons. My introduction to hares was when my lurcher dog would proudly bring hares home and drop them at my feet."

### Solo shows

1987
* Edward Totah Gallery, London
* Courcoux & Courcoux Gallery, Salisbury
* Salisbury Cathedral, Salisbury
1988
* St. Paul's Gallery, Leeds
* Courcoux & Courcoux Gallery, Salisbury
1990
* Newport City Museum & Art Gallery, Newport, Gwent
* Courcoux & Courcoux Gallery, Salisbury
* Henley Festival, Henley-on-Thames
* Berkeley Square Gallery, Landon
1991
* Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Wakefield
1992
* Courcoux & Courcoux Gallery, Salisbury
1994
* Winchester Cathedral, Inner Close, Winchester
* Red House Museum & Gardens, Christchurch, Dorset
* The Allen Gallery (Garden), Aton, Hampshire
1995
* Berkeley Square Gallery, London
1996
* Belloc Lowndes Gallery, Chicago
1997
* O'Hara Gallery, New York
* Berkeley Square Gallery, London
1998
* Courcoux & Courcoux Gallery, Salisbury
1999
* Berkeley Square Gallery, London
* Victoria Art Gallery, Bath
2000
* Berkeley Square Gallery, London
* Odapark, Venray, The Netherlands
* Courcoux & Courcoux Gallery, Salisbury
* Buschlon Mowatt Galleries, Vancouver BC
2001
* Galerie de Bellefeuile, Montréal
2002
* Metropole Galleries, Folkestone, Kent, UK
* Courcoux & Courcoux Galley, Salisbury
2003
* Berkey Square Galley, London
2004
* Victoria Art Gallery, Bath
* Imago Galleries, Palm Desert, CA
* Courcoux & Courcoux Gallery, Salisbury
* Storey Galleries, Lancaster
2005
* Canary Wharf, London
* Solomon Gallery, Dublin
2006
* Atkinson Gallery, Millfield School
* Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin
2007
* Imago Galleries, Palm Desert
* Frederick Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park, Grand Rapids
2008
* Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Wakefield
2009
* Victoria Art Gallery, Bath
2010
* Ayphoe Park, Oxfordshire
* Chateau Saint Rosaline, Les Arc-sur Argens
2011
* Ayphoe Park, Oxfordshire
2012
* Cartwright Hall Aré Gallery, Bradford
* Villa D’Arte, Pietrasanta, Italy
2013
* Cola Landis Contemporary Art Gallery, Moreton in- Marsh Royal West Academy, Bristol
* Imago Galleries, Palm Desert
2014
* New Brewery Arts, Cirencester
* Courcoux & Courcoux Gallery, Stockbridge
2016
* Hignell Gallery, London
* Sophie Ryder Rising, Waterhouse and Dodd, Rising, New York
2017
* Hignell Gallery, London
2018
* Galerie de Bellefeuile, Montreal