Introducing: Anastassia Zamaraeva

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  • WHAT DOES A TYPICAL DAY IN YOUR STUDIO LOOK LIKE?

    I enjoy working in solitude, listening to podcasts, and working on a couple of pieces at once. My studio is the one place in the world that feels truly mine and is teeming with possibilities. Sometimes I take a moment to just sit and soak that feeling in. 

     

  • CAN YOU TELL US ABOUT YOUR MAKING PROCESS – PERHAPS, WHAT TOOLS YOU USE TO WORK WITH THE CLAY AND THE PACE AT WHICH YOU WORK?

    I like to have as much direct contact with the clay as possible so I treat my hands as my primary tool. Often, when I start a piece, I am not fully sure what steps I will take to form the idea I have in mind, but my hands often know better than my rational mind and they guide me through the process. 

     
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  • WHO OR WHAT INFLUENCES YOUR WORK THE MOST?

    My work is an expression of all of the things I absorb from the world around me. I’m often thinking about my family roots, the experience of living in a body, and what it means to be a woman in the modern world. 

  • WHY ARE YOU DRAWN TO CLAY AS A MEDIUM?

    I feel a connection to clay that I don’t have with any other medium. From my first time trying it as a child, I loved the hands-on experience and being able to sculpt whatever form I could imagine. I think my early exposure to ceramics meant that clay became a second (or third) language for me, and I still find that it is a tool that helps me to understand both my inner world and the world around me.

  • HOW WOULD YOU SAY YOUR PRACTICE HAS CHANGED IN THE LAST 5 YEARS?

    In recent years, I have shifted from making small, stand-alone pieces, to working in series. This has allowed me to explore ideas in more depth and push them beyond where I could previously have taken them. I have developed more of a focus on life-size parts of bodies, particularly hands, feet and faces. I like the tangible connection this creates to the body of the viewer.