Anke Holm, Peer Gallery
Anke Holm was born in Hamburg, Germany, studied economics and had a
business career as auditor at a chartered accountant company and
manager in the oil trading industry. In 1995 she made the life
changing step to immigrate to the South Shore of Nova Scotia. Here
she reassessed her lifestyle with the emphasis on exploring life
quality outside the corporate world and expressing her creative
side. She always loved photography had an affection with modern
art and design. Since moving to Canada she graduated at the Sheffield
School of interior design, experimented with watercolors and made
various projects with wood.
Her fascinations with glass lead her to express her creativity working with this unique seductive material. The nature of glass is both rigid and delicate. It is a wonderful, fluid substance and its colors and shapes and textures play with the light. The attraction of working with glass is the versatility of this medium which has “a mind of its own”, leading to the desire to further learn and experiment to understand its nature and to explore the infinite possibilities which are only limited by the imagination. She enjoys the demanding creative and technical challenges. Inspiration for her art glass pieces come from everywhere. They can originate in shapes and colors of nature as well as the designs of modern society, moods and countless other influences. (Click to view Anke's Gallery).
The process of creating a glass piece generally contains assembling multiple layers of glass and sometimes other materials. These are fused together in a kiln at various temperatures depending on the desired effect, annealed for strength, cooled slowly. The glass panel is placed over a mold and in another firing cycle subjected to controlled heat causing the glass to gradually soften and conform to the shape of the mold. Glass is quite temperamental; there are frequent surprises when unloading the kiln. If not Stress fractures, unwanted bubbles and breakage, some of these surprises enhance the organic nature and beauty of the piece.
In many pieces function and art meet in a harmonious union... “The passion of making a piece in glass is reflected in the passion of the person who takes it home”.
Anke's page at Visual Arts Nova Scotia
Anke Holm
574 Oakland Rd., RR#2
Mahone Bay, NS
B0J 2E0