Artist Statement
Sophie Préteseille is a metalsmith, jeweller, sculptor and environmental artivist. She designs and makes body adornments and decorative pieces for the nature lover and modern eco-warrior at heart.
Sophie works mainly with metals to create wearable, decorative or functional objects. She uses base metals (copper, bronze and gilding metal - close to brass) and precious metals (sterling silver and 18ct gold). She works from scraps and recycled metals whenever possible.
Sophie designs and makes wearable pieces with base and precious metals; using precious, semi-precious and lab grown synthetic stones.
Sophie designs and creates sculptures both from hand raised sheet metal and in wax (lost wax process), which she gets cast in a local foundry.
Sophie is an artist creating wearable and decorative pieces to raise awareness about environmental issues she is concerned about, mainly the state of the oceans and the incessant plundering of marine life. She believes in art as a powerful communication tool through the emotions generated. See dedicated page for more information.
Biography
Sophie Préteseille is French, living in Dublin, Ireland.
She graduated in Earth Sciences in the late 1990s and has enjoyed a varied career as a geologist for more than two decades. She worked in diverse fields over the years both in France and Ireland: education, outreach, heritage conservation, local communities tourism initiatives, spatial planning, environmental impact assessment of developments, and data management.
In parallel to her professional career, Sophie has always had a keen interest in art practices and crafts, designing and making, trying her hands at all sorts of media until she tried metal during jewellery design night classes and found her medium. She freed up some time from work to attend craft school and art college in Ireland. She also trained with masters goldsmiths and silversmiths in Ireland, England and Italy and continue to do so to hone her skills in all aspects of metalwork.