Statement
Sophia Mason’s soft sculptures perform. They dress up as fine art, then act out social scripts. In Object Lessons (2016-2019), her soft sculptures performed as the everyday items that populate moral object lessons. In Of Plural Worlds (2023-2026), sculptures were costumed as the display cases and set of a natural history museum, and then they acted out the history of mormon feminism. Her work frequently acts out social scripts from her mormon background.
Bio
Sophia Mason is a soft sculptor and installation artist. She attended Rhodes College and earned an MFA from the University of Memphis in 2025. She has shown work at the Intersect Arts Center in St. Louis, MO, Art Fields in Lake City, SC, and at Coop Gallery in Nashville, TN. She has written and published images of her work in the feminist periodical Exponent II and written for Burnaway. She is represented by Ugly Art Co. She has curated her living room as the alternative art space The Little House Gallery in Memphis since 2019.
CV
Sophia.Mason
Exhibitions (Solo show*)
2026 Fire Extinguisher, Moveable Gallery, River Arts Fest, Memphis, TN
Of Plural Worlds: Archive, Ugly Art Co., Memphis, TN*
2025 Of Plural Worlds: Guided Tour, Ten in Tennessee, COOP Gallery, Nashville, TN*
Field Guide, St.Louis Lambert International Airport, curated by Sarah Bernhardt. Group show
Of Plural Worlds: Exhibit, MFA Thesis Exhibition, Fogelman Galleries, University of Memphis, Memphis, TN*
2023 Field Guide, Intersect Art Center, curated by Sarah Bernhardt. St. Louis MO. Group show
Student Juried Exhibition, University of Memphis Art Museum, Memphis, TN. Juried Group show
Movable Collection, Memphis Public Libraries, Memphis, TN. Group show
Art for All, Museum of Science and History, Memphis, TN. Group show
Artfields, Lake City, SC. Juried Show
2022 Fabrica: UAC New Public Sculptors Exhibition, Fogelman Galleries, University of Memphis, Memphis, TN. Temporary installation
2021 Ritual, Intersect Arts Center, curated by Sarah Bernhardt and conceptualized by Abby Bennett. St. Louis, MO. Juried Group show
2020 Dirty Laundry, The Focus: Locate Arts, Nashville, TN. Curated by Pam Marlene Taylor. Virtual group show
Relevant Experience
2023-2024 Co-curator with Cheryl Hazelton, The Little Box Gallery, University of Memphis
2019-ongoing Curator, The Little House Gallery, Memphis, TN
Publications
2025 “The Filth You Leave Behind”, review, Number:, online publication
2024 “The Real & Imagined”, review, Burnaway, online publication
2023 “Lens Language Leaves You Warm”, review, Number:, online publication
“MengCheng’s Potluck”, review, Burnaway, online publication
Awards and Grants
2023 Graduate Student Award, Student Juried Exhibition, University of Memphis Art Museum
2022 CCFA Graduate Research Funding Award, University of Memphis
2021 New Public Sculpture Fellowship, UrbanArt Commission and The University of Memphis, Memphis, TN
2020 Bridging the Distance Grant, UrbanArt Commission, Memphis, TN
2013-2016 Community Outreach and Development of the Arts Fellow, Rhodes College, Memphis, TN
2012-2016 Fine Arts Fellowship, Art and Art History Department, Rhodes College, Memphis, TN
Education
2025 MFA in Sculpture, University of Memphis, Memphis, TN
2016 BA in Studio Art and Art History, Rhodes College, Memphis TN
2015 Brown University, Providence, RI (summer session)