SOPHIE RYDER
SOPHIE RYDER - THE ARTIST
Sophie Ryder was born in London, England, in 1963.
Sophie studied Combined Arts at the Royal Academy of Arts 1981-84, where, while obtaining her diploma in painting, she was encouraged by Sir Hugh Casson, the then director of the Royal Academy, to develop her sculpture.
Ryder's world is one of mystical creatures, animals and hybrid beings made from sawdust, wet plaster, old machine parts and toys, weld joins and angle grinders, wire, torn scraps of paper and charcoal sticks.
Sophie famously developed the Lady Hare as a counterpart to Ancient Greek mythology's Minotaur.
Working 'big' is a very significant feature of Sophie's work, and she enjoys rising to the constructional and creative challenges which flows from this aspiration.
Many of the people who meet the artist must hide their astonishment when they confront reality, for Sophie, unlike the perception of her being a six-foot Amazonian woman with huge biceps, is five foot three, slender, softly spoken, slightly dreamy, given that she is always thinking about her work, and future works in progress, and wears her hair in long curly tresses. She is altogether more reminiscent of a Pre-Raphaelite muse than a prolific builder of potent images. Looks do deceive, of course, and in her case the evidence of her hard profession is born on the tips of her fingers. These have become so abraded by the materials she uses that she has virtually lost the capacity to make fingerprints. Commitment is all, and one sees the same quality applied to everything else that she does in running the daily life within her household. The only way she can maintain a healthy balance is to have a very disciplined approach to her work, and to work only with those who deliver an equivalent level of commitment. However, Sophie is not a prima donna, as anyone hearing her infectious laughter is bound to appreciate. Much of her work expresses her desire to preserve her own 'joie de vivre' at all costs, reawakening ours in the process.
Biography
1963 Born, London
1981–84 Royal Academy Schools, London
Solo Exhibitions
1987
Edward Totah Gallery, London
Salisbury Cathedral Courcoux & Courcoux Gallery, Salisbury, UK
1988
St Paul’s Gallery, Leeds, UK
Courcoux & Courcoux Gallery, Salisbury, UK
1989
Henley Festival Berkeley Square Gallery, London
1990
Newport City Museum and Art Gallery, Newport, Gwent, UK
Courcoux & Courcoux Gallery, Salisbury, UK
1991
Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Wakefield, UK
1992
Courcoux & Courcoux Gallery. Salisbury, UK
1994
Winchester Cathedral, UK
Red House Museum & Gardens, Christchurch, Dorset, UK
1995
Berkeley Square Gallery, London
1996
Belloc Lowndes Gallery, Chicago, US
1997
O’Hara Gallery, New York, US
Cheltenham Art Gallery & Museum & Town centre, UK
Berkeley Square Gallery, London
1998
Courcoux & Courcoux Gallery, Salisbury, UK
1999
Victoria Art Gallery and City centre, Bath, UK
Cartwright Hall Art Gallery, Bradford, UK
Berkeley Square Gallery, London
2000
Odapark, Venray, Holland
Courcoux & Courcoux Gallery, Salisbury, UK
Buschlen Mowatt Galleries, Vancouver, Canada
2001
Galerie de Bellefeuille, Quebec, Canada
Berkeley Square Gallery, London
2002
Metropole Galleries, Folkestone, Kent, UK
Courcoux & Courcoux Gallery, Salisbury, UK
Pierrepont Fine Art, Oxford, UK
2003
Berkeley Square Gallery, London
2004
Victoria Art Gallery, Bath, UK
Imago Gallery, Palm Desert, California, US
Storey Gallery and Lancaster town centre, UK
2005
Canary Wharf, London
2006
Atkinson Gallery, Millfield School, Somerset, UK
2007
Imago Galleries, Palm Desert, California, US
Frederick Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park, Grand Rapids, US
2008
Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Wakefield, UK
2009
Victoria Art Gallery, Bath, UK
2010
Aynhoe Park, Bedfordshire, UK
2011
Cartwright Hall, Bradford, UK
2013
Celia Lendis Contemporary Art Gallery, Moreton-in-the-Marsh, UK
Imago Galleries, Palm Desert, California, US
Royal West of England Academy, Bristol, UK
2014
Courcoux & Courcoux Gallery, Salisbury, UK
New Brewery Arts, Cirencester, UK
2015
Kloster Eberbach Sculpture Park, Germany, during the Blickacksen exhibition
2016
Salisbury Cathedral and select locations around Salisbury town centre, UK
Hignell Gallery, London
2017
The Ann Norton Sculpture Park, West Palm Beach, Waterhouse and Dodd, Florida, US,
St. James Square, UK
Pilane Sculpture Park, Sweden
Hignell Gallery, London
2018
Galerie de Bellefeuille, Quebec, Canada
Hignell Gallery, London
2019-2020
Berkley Square, Mayfair, UK with Hignell Gallery, London
2022
The Piece Hall, Halifax
2022-2023
Lakeside Arts, Nottingham
2023
The Lightbox, Woking
St. James Square, London
Group Exhibitions
1984
Christie’s Inaugural Pick of the Graduates Interim Art, London
1985
Gallery 24, London
Henley Festival, UK
1986
Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Wakefield, UK
Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK
Photographers Gallery, London
1987
Louise Hallet Gallery, London
1988
Plymouth City Museum, UK
Glasgow Garden Festival, UK
Cleveland Gallery, Middlesbrough, UK
Berkeley Square Gallery, London
Chilford Hall Press, Cambridge, UK
Oxford Gallery, Oxford, UK
1990
Glasgow Print Studio, UK
1991
Hannah Peschar Gallery, Surrey, UK
1992
Art at Milton Keynes Millfield School, Somerset, UK
Bruton Street Gallery, London
Arhus Festival, Denmark
Bruton Gallery, Bath, UK
Plymouth City Museum, UK
Mail Galleries, London
1993
Oxford Gallery, Oxford, UK
Art in the City, London
Bury St Edmunds Art Gallery, Suffolk, UK
Kilkenny Arts Week, Eire, UK
1994
The Allen Gallery, Alton, Hampshire, UK
Berkeley Square Gallery, London
Sculpture at Goodwood, Chichester, West Sussex, UK
Artbus, Fife, UK
1996
Chelsea Harbour, London
1997
Manchester Academy, UK
Wimpole Hall, Cambridge, UK
The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh
Sotheby’s, London
1998
Vancouver Sculpture Festival, Canada
1999
Shape of the Century, Salisbury, UK
Canary Wharf, London
Den Haag Sculptuur, The Hague, Holland
2000
Veranneman Foundation, Belgium
2001
Kirkland International Outdoor Sculpture Exhibition, Washington, US
Eigsé, Carlow Arts Festival, Eire
Den Haag Sculptuur, The Hague, Holland
2003
Newbury Spring Festival, UK
2004
Sculpture in the Park, Aykley Heads, Durham, UK
2005
Vancouver Biennale, Vancouver, Canada
Solomon Gallery, Dublin
2006
Royal Hibernian Gallery, Dublin
2007
Blickachsen 6, Bad Homburg, Frankfurt, Germany
Vancouver Biennale, Vancouver, Canada
2009
Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Wakefield, UK
Vancouver Biennale, Vancouver, Canada
2011
Aynhoe Park, Bedfordshire, UK
Vancouver Biennale, Vancouver, Canada
2013
Wetpaint Gallery, Cirencester, UK
Caldwell Snyder Gallery, San Francisco, US
2015
Lemon Street Gallery, Truro, UK
Blickacksen, Bad Homburg, Germany
2016
Hignell Gallery, London
Public and corporate collections
Ballantrae Park, Dublin, Ohio, US
Barings Bank
BOC Group
Canary Wharf, London
Cheekwood Museum of Art, Nashville, Tennessee, US
Cheltenham Art Gallery & Museum, UK
Cheltenham Borough Council Conoco Ltd, UK
De Beers Collection Folkestone Town, UK
Frensham Heights School, UK
Gerrard & National Bank
National Trust, UK
New Hall College, Cambridge Newport City Museum & Art Gallery OHSU Foundation
Private Bank and Trust Company Ltd
RHS Wisley
Robert and Mary Montgomery Armory Arts Centre, Palm Beach, Florida, US
Seven Bridges Sculpture Park, Connecticut, US
Tyne and Wear Development Corporation, UK
Victoria Art Gallery, Bath, UK
Yorkshire Sculpture Park, UK
Artist in residence
1986
Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Wakefield, UK
Grizedale Forest, Cumbria, UK
1987
Salisbury Cathedral, UK
1988
Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire, UK
1993
Kilkenny, Eire
1996
Boulogne, France
1997
Cheltenham Art Gallery and Cleeve School, Cheltenham, UK
Cheekwood Sculpture Park, Nashville, Tennessee, US
2000
Vancouver Sculpture Festival, Canada
2003
Newbury Spring Festival, UK
Art fairs
Zurich: 1986
Bath, UK: 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991
Business Design Centre, London: 1988, 1989, 1991 – 2001
Olympia, London: 1989, 1990
Art Miami, US (with Berkeley Square Gallery): 1994–2001
20th / 21st Century British Art Fair, London (with Berkeley Square Gallery): 1994–2001
Miami Basel Art Fair, Florida, US: 1994–2013, 2016
Art International NY, US (with Berkeley Square Gallery): 1998
Art Palm Beach, US (with Berkeley Square Gallery): 1999–2001
Salon de Mars, Geneva, Switzerland (with Berkeley Square Gallery): 2001
20th Century Art Fair, NY, US (with Berkeley Square Gallery): 2003
The Armory Show, NY, US: 2013
The Hamptons Art Fair, NY, US: 2013
London Art Fair: 2016
Art Basel, Waterhouse and Dodd, Miami, US: 2016
Lectures and teaching
Sheffield Art College, UK
Loughborough Polytechnic, UK
Ikon Gallery, Birmingham, UK
Cheshire Art Teachers Conference, UK
Staffordshire Art Teachers Conference, UK
Jesus College, University of Cambridge, UK
Cheltenham Art Gallery & Museum, UK
Victoria Art Gallery, Bath, UK
Kirkland International Outdoor Sculpture Exhibition, Washington US
Mary Hare School, Newbury, UK
Frederick Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park, Grand Rapids, US
Oxbow School of Art, Saugatuck, Michigan, US
Keynote Speaker, International Sculpture Conference, Chicago, US
Cartwright Hall, Bradford, UK
Royal West of England Academy, Bristol
Waterhouse and Dodd, NY, US
Lightbox, Woking, UK
Prizes
Discerning Eye 1992 at the Mall Galleries: Art Newspaper Award for best sculpture in show