Sophie Carnell is a contemporary silversmith living and working on lunawanna-alonnah Bruny Island, Tasmania, while being inspired by the stunning landscape surrounding her. After obtaining a Bachelor of Fine Arts at the University of Tasmania Sophie focussed on contemporary jewellery and silversmithing and has continued to develop her practice through the completion of courses in metalsmithing and jewellery design. As a result, Sophie has been able to teach herself a variety of skills that has greatly informed the creation of her delicate sculptures.
Sophie seeks to illuminate the hidden and easily overlooked; to instil a sense of wonder and joy in the small and disregarded; to seek out the poetic in the unexpected; and to create space to question our connections to place. Most recently this has expressed itself in the examination of the plant life of her environment, highlighting and accentuating its preciousness both through the use of scale and her chosen medium
Working primarily in responsibly sourced Australian silver Sophie fabricates her sculptures entirely by hand, finding it a powerful learning experience to make by observation and to find ways of morphing material into new forms. The slow and intricate process of sawing, hammering, bending, soldering and sanding allows her to learn the intricate details of her subject matter and consider its fragility and also wonder at its fortitude.
Sophie has exhibited widely in Tasmania and the mainland and her work is held in many private collections locally and overseas. In 2021 in collaboration with Sarah Rayner she won the Toowoomba Contemporary Wearables Award - as well as being a finalist in 2017 - on both occasions the Toowoomba Regional Art Gallery acquired the works.
Among other accolades she has been a finalist in the Waterhouse Natural Science Art Prize (2024, 2018, 2014), the York Botanic Art Prize (2021) and the Woollahra Small Sculpture Prize (2015). She has won residencies on King Island and at Bundanon NSW.
Sophie is exclusively represented by Gallery Sally Dan-Cuthbert.
