Sonja is a potter/ ceramic artist based in Co Kilkenny. She studied ceramic design at Crawford College of Art and Design in Cork and attended the DCCI pottery skills training course in Thomastown, graduating with distinction in 2000, being awarded student of the year. She has been working in Ceramics for over 25 years, initially working for another potter, followed by 13 years teaching people with special needs in the IWA and Camphill. Throughout this time she has developed and created her own work part-time. After giving up teaching and a year out in 2017, Sonja went full time into making, setting up her own studio under the trading name Jars of Clay Ceramics in 2018. She is a member of MADE in Kilkenny and registered with the DCCI.   

Sonja’s slab-built houses explore mood and character of the architectural environment that surrounds us. She is interested in the relationship between people and their living spaces and how architectural style develops and expresses its cultural context. As buildings age, they take on an organic quality. When we look at architecture, the buildings evoke feelings in us. An atmosphere can permeate a building. Sonja tries to capture human qualities in my work. Through movement and distortion the buildings gain character and personality. Her earlier work was based on actual buildings, distorting and emphasizing certain features in a caricature like style. As her work progressed it has become more abstract; exploring movement, colour and texture and the interplay between pieces.