Anna’s roots originate from St-Petersburg (Russia), the city with an immense cultural heritage that has greatly influenced the artist. Volkova’s father played a major role in the development of her artistry. He was a known talented Russian documentary film maker, who taught at the State University of Culture and Arts and later a photographer liaised to the world famous Hermitage. He encouraged three-year-old Anna to make daily sketches, so she would practice to draw, compose and paint.

Anna obtained both a classical and modern art education, and the combination of the two approaches can be seen in her masterfully executed art works.

Volkova is mainly acknowledged for her porcelain and mosaic works, tiles and window installations which can be found in various museums, public spaces and private collections.

Anna has spent years studying and experimenting with different materials. She developed unique methods in porcelain techniques and polyurethane castings, which enable her to create extraordinary pieces of art. Anna lives and works in Amsterdam.

Education

• 2005-2007
  Sandberg Institute, Amsterdam. Graduated July 2007
• 1998-2001
  Gerrit Rietveld Academy, Amsterdam. Graduated July 2001
• 1992-1998
  St-Petersburg Stieglitz State Academy of Art and Design. Graduated May 1998

Her porcelain artworks are a tribute to the inspiration that flowers have given to numerous artists and designers for hundreds of years. The variety of shapes and colours, brief existence and fragility of flowers fascinate her. She tries to catch their beauty and therefore chose porcelain for its cleanliness, plasticity and translucency. It represents purity as well as luxury and greatly expresses the grace of flowers.

Anna Volkova experiments with porcelain and developed some techniques based on old Chinese recipes that enable her to make extremely thin and translucent objects. Each flower is made by hand and gets its individual look after firing at a high temperature. The curly, almost baroque shape of the flower and its fragile surface make it look like a piece of jewellery.

Each flower is unique in its shape and colour combination. It is hand sculpted from tinted or white porcelain and fired at a high temperature. The non-glazed treatment allows for a gentle matte texture, giving the appearance of a real flower.

From an early age Anna was making sketches every day of what she saw around her. Over the years, making thousands of drawings and studies for her art works, she honed her technique to perfection.

Volkova masterly transforms her detailed sketches into mosaic representations. On the basis of perfectly thought through scenes, she conveys the essence of images in coloured pieces of glass, stones or tiles.

Anna’s first mosaic floor was her graduation project at the Rietveld Academy, titled ‘My Past’. This work immediately made a big impression and was acquired by the Ceramics Museum Princessehof in Leeuwarden. Her mosaic baptismal font and the wall panels for the Orthodox parish of St. Nicholas of Myra in Amsterdam is a deep, soulful, masterfully executed art work. Keeping traditions, Anna, nevertheless, has created very modern and original mosaic – a jewel in the church in Amsterdam.

With her talent for translating stories, cultures or ideas into mosaic still lives she also creates large-scale works measuring over 60m2.

Anna Volkova masters the craft down to the finest details. Her creativity, imagination and talent make her an extraordinary visual artist. This can be seen as well from her unique window and door installations. Anna came up with the original technique based on polyurethane – an innovative and modern alternative to the classic stained glass.

Anna’s exquisite flowers invoke the magic qualities of porcelain. In her other sculptures, such as the series of porcelain wigs for the Vanitas project or porcelain mirrors, the originality and the complexity of the technique are even more striking. But Anna doesn’t stop on what she has already achieved – she is constantly experimenting and expanding the extent of her skills.

Exhibitions

Commissions

Keukenhof
Gemeente Amsterdam
Museum fur Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg, Germany
De Regionale Instelling voor Beschermd Wonen (RIBW)
Zuidelijke Land- en Tuinbouw Organisatie (ZLTO)
Russian Orthodox Church Amsterdam
De Nederlandsche Bank, Amsterdam
AMC hospital, Amsterdam
ArtPartner, Amsterdam
Gemovers Factory Nieuwkoop
MN Services, Rijswijk
One Minute Video Festival Amsterdam
FMO Bank, The Hague
Slotervaart Hospital Amsterdam
Amnesty International
Keramiekmuseum Princessehof, Leeuwarden
Privé installaties en -collecties

WG plein 877, Amsterdam
visit on appointment

e-mail: volkova@xs4all.nl