About Anna Lambert
Anna Lambert makes handbuilt earthenware. Each piece is constructed individually by pinching, modelling and relief decoration. It is coloured with subtle underglaze washes, oxides and transparent glazes and fired to 1085°C. From simple bowls to complex multiple forms, I aim to present memories of land and seascape and of my enjoyment of the ordinary.
THE MAKING PROCESSES
To make each piece, I start with a mixture of two clays, white earthenware and earthstone handbuild, which I mix myself.
Every piece is started by pinching or rolling out components. Bowls are started as small curved slabs, then increased in size by coiling.
At each stage the pieces are left to dry a little, until they are 'leather hard', then scraped back to reduce weight and thickness and to refine the form. Only two or three coils, flattened to roughly the right thickness, can be added in each session, or the piece will become floppy and control is lost.
When the main shape is finished and the base and rims have been shaped, fettled and smoothed, I consider the decoration. Each piece is different and although I may have drawn out a rough idea before starting, I usually take time to consider form and function before deciding how to decorate it. The modelled decoration is often functional, becoming a knob, a handle or a ridge to ease handling. All my pieces are intended to be used, even if only for occasional celebrations. I often use memories of walks, glimpses of landscapes or gardens. Ordinary things become extraordinary by their universal appeal.
I usually work on four to five large or ten to fifteen smaller pieces at once, making the small while the large ones are drying out. When they are all finished to the 'green' stage they are left to dry. I make all the pieces for one exhibition in one cycle - about six to ten weeks
The dry pieces are placed in the kiln and fired to 1085°C. The kiln is controlled by a small computer so that the firing can proceed slowly and evenly - about twelve to fifteen hours.
After the 'biscuit' firing the pieces, which are now hard and white, are rubbed down and any little shrinkage cracks are filled. I then dip each piece in a bluey black glaze and sponge it off again, leaving inlaid colour in all the cracks, modelling and surface textures. Then, when the pieces are dry, I paint them with underglazes, mixed with gum arabic to form washes, and metal oxides. The colours I choose reflect the seasons and tones of the landscape.
Finally the pieces are sprayed or dipped with a shiny clear glaze and fired in the kiln again to 1090°C (earthenware temperature). This firing is quicker - about eleven hours - but care must be taken when cooling or the glaze will craze.