Name: Hilde Lambrechts

Medium: stone and clay

Background: PhD in Biology. Studied life drawing with Pamela Cockcroft-Lasserre and ceramic sculpture with Jim Thomson at the Ottawa School of Art

How long have you been a sculptor?  I started sculpting in stone in 1999 and in clay in 2009. I started selling my work in 2004.

Why did you start sculpting?  I started sculpting by coincidence. My son, age 6 at the time, wanted to give it a try and a befriended artist gave him a piece of soapstone and some tools, which I ended up using. Carving stone became a passion. Physical limitations forced me to look for another medium and a friend insisted on taking Jim Thomson’s class at the Ottawa School of Art. And so it happened that I fell in love with clay.

What inspires you?  My inspiration comes from nature in the broadest sense. Everything can be an inspiration. I love structures, textures, colour, rhythm, and patterns in materials either dead or alive. I take from stories I hear to feelings I sense, thereby not fearing autobiographical content.

What is your favourite sculpture?  I do not have a favourite sculpture, a favourite painting, a favourite dish, or a favourite colour. I do not believe in ‘favourite’; there is a time and place for everything. But I am attached to Jim Thomson’s inverted yellow vase, which I proudly own. Jim died in April 2012 and I enjoy having one of his best pieces (his own words) in my home, so he is always present in some way.

Which sculptures will you be exhibiting at Dimensions 2013?  I will exhibit three ceramic sculptures: ‘Still standing’ with two dragon blood collectors’, 2013, stoneware; ‘You can come out now’, 2012, stoneware; and  ‘Treasure anemone’, 2012, stoneware and glass.

What will you be working on in the coming year?  In the coming year I am planning to take a couple of weeks off to recuperate from 12 shows I had in 2013, including three international ones and one big solo show in November. And want to work on glaze development and continue to work on collections I have already started this year. I have three projects on the go with the following working titles:

– ‘Renaissance’, a collection of autobiographical pen and ink drawings and ‘psychoceramics’;

– ‘Hocus Pocus’, a collection of pots and vases with dynamic glaze concoctions; – and I just started a new project that involves more clay.