Friends United

An horrific accident led to Stroud artist Sophie Hughes taking her work in a whole new direction, says Tracy Spiers, and now she’s teaming up with ceramicist and friend Anne James for a joint exhibition

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A quirky looking seven-foot tree stands upright in the landscaped garden of Gloucestershire artist Sophia Hughes. On closer inspection, however, this is no tree. Rather it is a cluster of 11 rusty steel rods and a mirror-polished stainless steel one, camouflaged by flowering bind weed. Now an impressive ornamental feature immersed in wildlife, it records a significant monumental moment in Sophia’s life and artistic career. But it is really a sculpture topped with a chunk of glass called Song of Experience. The experience in question? Well, if you are eating you might want to put your edible item down at this point. Nine years ago, Sophia was a successful sculptor, creating giant pieces such as this – until she impaled the length of her left arm on one of those steel rods when her ladder slipped. She made an amazing recovery and it led to her swapping the chisel and saws for paintbrushes and palette knives – a much safer option. Although she does still use tools for constructing her own frames.

“My accident taught me two things. It showed me how much strength I had inside me and how much people cared for me,” recalls Sophia.

“One of the things I was doing at the time of the accident was painting on driftwood. One piece was a long plank and I realised that what I was really doing was a painting, so I brought out a canvas and started painting that. I called it After 40 Years.”