Bio

Sophie Copeland is a ceramic artist based in Richmond, Virginia who has been working in clay since 2018. She earned her BFA in Craft + Material Studies with a concentration in Ceramics from VCUarts in 2021. Her work has been recognized and shown in various group exhibitions in local Richmond galleries around the city. Her pieces have also been featured and discussed in digital and print publications for Ink Magazine. Sophie recently joined the clay community at Shockoe Bottom Clay, a makers-gallery with ten working studios and ceramic artists who run the space. You can find and tour her studio on the second floor during open gallery hours at Shockoe Bottom Clay in Richmond.

Statement

Within my practice of using clay, I focus on reimagining traditional tableware and utilitarian objects through sculptural processes. Along with objects intended for the table, I like to challenge the limits of clay to create ceramic work beyond the purpose of function. My process-heavy way of making is translated through hard and soft imagery, playful forms, and meticulously handbuilt details on both functional and sculptural wares.

Through the delicacy and fragility of clay as a medium, I often use its materiality as a way to create ceramic objects of care. These objects describe personal moments of deep feeling such as nostalgia or melancholy and the process of making allows me to heal and define what I’ve experienced. Clay holds memory in the form of touch and manipulation which echoes how I aim for it to hold on to the memories I pull and push into it.