Anna Lambert
Grass Woods hazels, orange wide jug, 15 x 24 x 11cm
A full-time maker since 1980, Anna Lambert makes slip-painted slab-built earthenware exploring narratives relating to land use, and the regeneration of woodland and orchards.
Anna's techniques are varied, and each piece is unique. Each piece develops during the making using drawing in the landscape as a starting point. Most pieces are assembled from fine pliable sheets (slabs) of clay - white earthenware mixed with a rougher clay, Earthstone ES40 - which are then altered, cut and fettled. Some may have added sections of texture from carved or lino cut designs. When the form is finished, pieces are painted with multiple layers of coloured slips, often with darker underpainting, which may then be cut back to reveal the embossed pattern or drawn on with sgraffitto. Further layers may be added with the use of hand cut tissue paper stencils and masks. The pieces are bisque fired to 1100before being inlaid with contrasting slips in the sgraffitto areas and dipped or sprayed with a lead bisilicate glaze. The final firing is to 1105
Anna's ideas reflect an interest in her locality exploring narratives relating to, amongst other things, climate change in her local landscape and the regeneration of orchards. Inspired by new nature writing, she engages with a common language beyond pastoral sentimentality, combining drawing with the abstract qualities of pots, their spaces, edges and surfaces.
Anna is a nationally recognised full time maker, a fellow and council member of the Craft Potters Association, exhibiting throughout the UK and Europe.