Sophie Ryder

Sophie Ryder (born 1963) is a British sculptor, painter, printmaker and collagist[1] known for her large wire structures.

Ryder typically uses bronze, wet plaster embedded with found materials, sheet metal, marble, and stained glass.

She changed her focus when the Royal Academy's director, Sir Hugh Casson, encouraged her skills development in sculpture.

[2] 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.