Sophia Maris grew up in an old farm house on the outskirts of the city of Binghamton, NY. As a child she spent many hours making art projects and running barefoot in the fields. She always had a flare for the unusual, whether it was expressed in the wild colors or patterns in her mismatched outfits. Following in her mother’s footsteps, she developed an interest in art, and before her senior year in high school she attended Rhode Island School of Design’s summer pre-college program. There her passion for the art world was confirmed and she decided to apply to an art institute upon graduating from high school.

She anxiously left the crickets of the Binghamton countryside for skyscrapers of New York and moved to Brooklyn, anticipating her enrollment at Pratt Institute in the fall of 2005. While in foundation year as a freshman, she decided to major in Jewelry because of her interest in a functional art form, as well as her love of personal adornment. For the next three years she explored basic jewelry making skills as they lead to advanced techniques in metalsmithing. She enjoyed exploring the city’s many opportunities for inspiration, whether found in museums or on the streets.

In the summer before her junior year she was accepted into a study abroad program in Lucca, Italy. Instead of painting the beautiful Tuscan hills she concentrated on painting herself and returned to Pratt with a wall full of vibrant self portraits. She figured out how to integrate her love for color, unusual shapes and the act of painting while making sculptures for the body. As she experimented with advanced jewelry making techniques, Sophia fell in love with enameling and utilizing alternative materials, finding freedom in assembling pieces in a spontaneous manner. She is influenced by unconventional shapes found in the everyday world, asymmetric compositions, and liberal amounts of color. Her latest work in jewelry making gives homage to the period of Modern Art. Sophia graduated with a BFA in May 2009 and is excited to attend Rhode Island School of Design for her Masters starting Fall 2010.