Biography
Anke was born and raised in Germany’s Rhine valley and moved to Canada as a young adult to take on new challenges.
Between Germany and Canada she spent seven years studying and working in the field of horticulture. This gave her a great appreciation for nature and its grounding impact.
One of Anke’s greatest pleasure is travel, exploring new places and discover new things.
As a young mother, Anke spent several winters travelling in Mexico with her husband and two children, Nina and Bowie. It was at the Casa de la Cultura in Oaxaca where she first experienced the magic of clay.
She followed the new earthy pursuit at her home in Ontario, training with some of Canada’s best and obtained a Visual Arts diploma from Sir Sandford Fleming, Haliburton School of the Arts.
In 2001 she opened her studio gallery in downtown Collingwood where she created maiolica pottery, functional stoneware and tile murals. During that time she also taught pottery classes to children and adults.
The studio was housed in an heritage building that was restored by her husband Rick. This was the first project for the Lex’s that fused the arts and restoration in a heritage setting. This led the couple to use revitalization and adaptive reuse to create studio spaces for local artists. They also started a small theatre and ran it for a number of years.
In 2008 Anke moved her studio into her home in Collingwood in order to be more flexible with her time. Since 2017, Anke includes some encaustic work, a new passion of hers, in her exhibitions. She regularly shows at 65 Simcoe and the Tremont. Over the years, shows included a collection of local landscapes, Sensual Summer 1, 2 and 3, Flowers, Faces, Script and Vessels, Growing Ideas and, Fantastic Ideas. Her newest exhibit ” The Passenger” is showing at the Tremont Hall Gallery September and October 2022.
The Techniques
Maiolica pottery is very dear to my heart. I cherish the bold and vibrant colours you can achieve, a sense of mystery and depth that connects us to a time and people before us.
Maiolica is a technique rich in culture and history. It is a term for white tin glaze on earthenware clay, decorated with coloured stains. It has its roots in the medieval Islamic world and is believed to have come through the port of Mallorca, hence the name, to Spain and Italy and later to the rest of Europe.
Encaustic is a new passion of mine, it is an ancient Greek painting technique. Painting with hot bees wax coloured with pigments. The possibilities are nearly endless. As the wax is layered, each layer is fused with an iron, blow torch or heat gun. Just like in the maiolica technique you can achieve most unusual and vibrant colours. Found objects, photos, leafs and flower can be encased in the wax.In both cases I am fascinated how the process includes elements of fire and heat – mostly in control, leaving parts of the result to chance. At the end of the process I enrich my work with gold; for maiolica pottery I use gold luster and for the encaustic work I apply gold leaf. Vibrant colours, gold and fire are what brings my work together.