ABOUT ANNA LAMBERT
Born and raised in Amsterdam, Anna Lambert is one of the few real Amstrdammers still living and working in the city. As both her parents were architects, she grew up in a creative environment. Since her childhood, together with her twin sister, their parents would let them color, paint, and mess around with arts and crafts. These memories are still vivid in her mind, like when she was 8 years old and went to the Artist Atelier at the Amsterdam Zoo and fell in love with drawing animals. Despite this, her path to reach a creative career got deeper throughout the years.
ACADEMIC YEARS
After high school, a curious Anna decided to enroll in the Art Academy in Venezuela. She couldn’t imagine at that time how the country’s political rallies were about to transform everything. So Anna had to leave Venezuela before accomplishing her studies. Overall, it was a great experience, she says, as she got the opportunity notwithstanding this to travel all over South America. Anna still considers that trip a great source of inspiration. Back in the Netherlands, she was now enrolling at the Art Academy in Eindhoven. But Anna left after only one year. Her vivid and free temper is what today makes her a remarkable artist. Anna is not one that can be said what to follow without investigating the reasons for doing so. She needs more. Exploration brought her later to apply for three years at the KABK in Den Haag in furniture design. During her 3rd year, she left for set design at ArteZ theater academy in Arnhem, accomplishing the course. During those years, she had to spend lots of time at her parents’ house due to an injury. She began modeling clay with her mom during her permanence, like when she was a kid. Falling again for this craft, she began using her spare time of recovery depicting pooping dogs! This says a lot about Anna and her humor.
As an extrovert persona, Anna can look for details of daily life one is usually unaware of.
Resembling pooping dogs soon became a hobby, and her people started requesting one of their dogs. She indeed made quite a lot so far. This is where everything began with Only Animals. Anna had to go back to that little girl at the zoo who loved to draw animals t find her path. She spent time exploring other forms of self-realization, which she feels grateful for. But depicting animals is truly what best expresses her inner soul. What excited us while interviewing her, is her energy in telling stories and facts. She is filled with enthusiasm and is one of those people who doesn’t easily give up. She believes in how life has the power to bring you where you need to go. “Life happens!” she says.
ONLY ANIMALS
Her career with making animals began with a glass store in Amsterdam. While completing her first pieces for commissions – the mentioned pooping dogs –, she thought of beginning seeling them in stores. With no big plans, she just went straight to her favorite store with one of the dogs under her arm. This store was selling mainly glass objects, so at first, they were quite reluctant to Anna’s proposal of selling her clay dogs there. But she insisted on leaving the dog there as a trial for a few days, and they just accepted without great expectations. The dog sold quickly, and the store owners asked Anna to produce more. Today she is quite recognized in Amsterdam, broadly selling to International tourists. Her pieces are all one of a kind, “as every animal has a unique soul, they develop like me,” as she says. It will take her a month to make one piece, as only the drying process lasts an average of 2 weeks. Though, the technique she follows is quite the same for each element: Kneading the clay, Molding an animal, Drying of the sculpture, Firing in the kiln, Glazing the animal 6. Firing on 1100 C.
Anna wants people to engage with hr work with a genuine smile and possibly a laugh. “Animals are joyful, and they can be fun. To me, they make the world breathe,” she says.
During this current Covid, Anna had to stop running her store and started producing for herself.
Anna is part of st-Art Amsterdam.
Go here if interested in buying or commissioning.
For other information, visit her website.
