Anaïs Gerber (b. 1983, Paris) is an artist whose work is shaped by a lifelong sensitivity to the rhythms, tensions, and quiet forces of the natural world. She studied at the Royal College of Art in London before settling on Thetis Island, BC, in 2013, where the surrounding landscape has become both sanctuary and subject. Her practice is rooted in traditional stone lithography — a demanding and centuries-old printmaking technique in which the artist draws directly onto limestone before hand-pulling each impression.

Lithography allows Anaïs to work with a rare combination of immediacy and subtlety. Her images often begin as fleeting sensations: the pressure of wind on the body, the shifting weight of clouded light, the resistance of a living branch. These encounters spark an inner vision that eventually becomes a drawing, and later a print. For Anaïs, this process is a form of translation — turning momentary impressions into visual poetry.

Her work is closely aligned with the Romantic concept of the sublime: that pulse of awe one feels when faced with the magnitude of nature, and with one’s own smallness inside it. Rather than depict grand vistas, however, Anaïs focuses on the intimate, the near-invisible, the moment between breaths. Through these seemingly simple gestures, she connects viewers to something vast, ancient, and deeply human.

Though grounded in rigorous technique, her imagery carries a whimsical, dreamlike quality. Strange trees lean toward one another as if in conversation; winds seem to lift entire scenes from the page; shadows behave like characters with their own intentions. Working almost exclusively in black and white, she relies on the full spectrum between light and dark — a “rainbow of shadows,” as she often describes it — to shape emotion, movement, and narrative.

Each print is pulled by hand, maintaining an unbroken chain between artist, stone, and collector. This slow, deliberate process ensures every impression carries its own quiet presence. Through her work, Anaïs invites viewers to pause, breathe, and enter the subtle spaces where the world reveals itself.

PROCESS: PRINTING LIKE A BAKER

I was a baker before I was a lithographer, and lithography reminds me in many ways of sourdough bread baking. The most simple ingredients (flour, water, salt) are given life and transformed into an absolute wonder through the hand of the baker and his humble understanding of the materials. Baker and printer are alchemists.

MATERIALS

I discovered stone lithography in 2014 as I was looking for a means to produce small editions of my pencil drawings. I am grateful to my old master Mike Healy for suggesting this medium to me. I immediately fell in love with the process, which in itself connects me to the same raw life force which informs the contents of my work. It is both simple and complex, and requires the artist to enter an intimate dance with the elements: stone, water, grease – and time. As with bread, it requires observation and sensitivity, an awareness of materials and the life within them. Drawing on the stone is my favorite part of the whole process, and is of incomparable sensuality.

PROCESS AND FLAVOUR

I have found that the same way the sourdough makes sourdough bread what it is, the unique qualities of the stone make my artwork. The process itself of stone lithography has therefore become much more than a simple means to produce multiples of my work, I see it now as a constitutive part of my visual world. It has enabled me to take my work further stylistically, i.e. to create greater adhesion between the contents and the form of my work.

MULTIPLES

I do love making multiples. Back when I studied metalwork, I already was making series of objects. When I bake bread, I love to bake in large quantities. I get a real satisfaction out of producing multiples of the same, and I truly enjoy this aspect of printmaking. I started making editions of 20 or 25, but as I have been gaining technical confidence I have been moving towards larger editions (50), which were always my original intention.

HISTORY

Last but not least, my great grand-father Henri Lamy (which I knew) owned a print shop in Paris at the beginning of the 20th century, which his own grand-father had founded. Les Imprimeries Lamy, at 39, rue Censier in the 5th arrondissement, used to produce commercial lithographs for the railway and trade. The print shop was located on the ground floor of the building, while the upper floors accommodated factory workers and members of the Lamy family. My grand-parents used to live in this building, my mother grew up in it and I lived in it until I was 7 (the print shop itself had closed in the 1960’s however). It was with great emotion that I walked passed the building again in 2016, feeling a deep historical connection with my ancestors, and the peaceful sense of a closed circle.

Translator Diploma (Master level) CI3M, France, 2019
Stone Lithography Mentorship, Malaspina Printmakers, Vancouver, BC, Canada, 2014
MA Goldsmithing, Silversmithing, Metalwork and Jewelery, Royal College of Art, London, UK, 2007
BA Metalwork and Silversmithing, Camberwell College of Arts, London, UK, 2005
Foundation Diploma in Art and Design, Ravensbourne College of Design, Chislehurst, UK, 2002
Scandinavian Literature, History and Culture (Bachelor 1 st year), La Sorbonne University, Paris, France, 2001
French Baccalaureate, Lycée Léonard de Vinci, Saint-Michel-sur-Orge, France, 2000

EXHIBITIONS

Drawings, Francophone Cultural Centre, Vancouver, BC, Canada, 2022
53rd Léon Painting Exhibition, Town Hall, Landivisiau, France, 2021
In more ways than one, Maison des peintres, Saint-Jean-du-doigt, France, 2020
Anaïs på Røst, Joker butikk, Røst, Norway, 2019
Miniature Art Show, Excellent Frameworks Gallery, Duncan, BC, Canada, 2018
Lithographs, Excellent Frameworks Gallery, Duncan, BC, Canada, 2017
Painters Guild Summer Art Show, Art Spring, Salt Spring Island, BC, Canada, 2017
Sooke Fine Arts Show, SEAPARC, Sooke, BC, Canada, 2017
2nd Impressions, Art Spring, Salt Spring Island, BC, Canada, 2017
Clouds, CityScape Community Art Space, North Vancouver, BC, Canada, 2017
The Look Show, Bay Centre, Victoria, BC, Canada, 2017
Voices of Women through Canadian History, Bay Centre, Victoria, BC, Canada, 2017
Under the Sun, Cedar Hill Arts Centre, Victoria, BC, Canada, 2017
First Impressions, Salt Spring Island library, Salt Spring Island, BC, Canada, 2016
BIMPE IX, Federation Gallery, Vancouver, BC, Canada, 2016
Sooke Fine Arts Show, SEAPARC, Sooke, BC, Canada, 2016
3rd International Juried Print Exhibition, New Grounds Gallery, Albuquerque, NM, USA, 2015
The Thetis Show, The White House, Thetis Island, BC, Canada, 2015
Animal Farm, CityScape Community Art Space, North Vancouver, BC, Canada, 2015
Sooke Fine Arts Show, SEAPARC, Sooke, BC, Canada, 2015

AWARDS

Sooke Fine Arts Show, Sooke, Honorable Mention, 2015
Royal Mint Medal Competition, London, UK, 2nd Prize, 2007