Bio

Any was born in Curitiba, Brazil. There, she became an architect and urban planner. 

She spent a decade in New York, where she studied ceramics, metalsmithing and documentary photography, and worked at Etsy, Inc. in communications, policy, seller education and community. She went on to become Etsy's first Senior Maker Specialist, researching the creation and production processes used by designers and makers to scale their independent businesses. 

While focusing mainly on clay and metal, she has also studied an array of traditional Crafts, from glass and fiber to kintsukuroi and fileteado porteño. This body of knowledge colors her path as an artist and her studio practice.

As of 2017, Any works full-time with clay, with a focus on atmospheric firings. She lives in Seattle.

Artist Statement

My art, like me, is at the same time rooted and reaching. By choice or by force, dissonance and convergence forged me—born into a conservative religious minority within dominant Catholic and African cultures, growing up with one language and living with another, being a citizen of two countries. I am touched by the heartache and the gift of having roots.

I make vessels with creases that evoke arms, and rims that suggest the movement of hair. They stand individually or in relation to one another, considering the opposing dynamics of belonging—being known and invited, or rejected and estranged; protected or exposed; belligerent or soothed. I draw from their rims to create robust functional objects such as bowls and dishes, with sculptural carved walls that reflect the gesture of my hands.

My work is often fired in wood kilns, sometimes more than once. I am particularly attracted to dry surfaces and the crusty textures achieved by the accumulation of ash and embers in the fire box. Detaching from one's foundational systems means accepting a certain measure of inner fragmentation, and I give in to my urge to reintegrate—as well as a primal need to adorn my body and my space—by combining metal and clay. The metal components are cast by pouring molten silver into buckets of water, or molded by hand using metal clay.

My process is one of introspection and layers. I ask my work for assurance that one can, at the same time, exist alone and in a tribe, affirm agency and reconcile with mooring, hold incongruous truths and be made whole for it. In turn, I commit to believing it.

Résumé

Work

∙ 2025, winter – Resident Artist - Red Lodge Clay Center – Red Lodge, MT
∙ 2024, fall – Resident Artist - Starworks – Star, NC
∙ 2023, spring – Artist in Retreat - Mendocino Arts Center – Mendocino, CA
∙ 2018–2019 – North Seattle College CE – Small-business Instructor – Seattle, WA
∙ 2014–2017 – Etsy, Inc. – Senior Maker Specialist – Brooklyn, NY
∙ 2010–2014 – Etsy, Inc. – Manager, Community – Brooklyn, NY
∙ 2001–2008 – Architect – Private practice – Curitiba, Brazil

Education

∙ 1995–2000 – Architecture and Urban Planning – Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Paraná, Brazil
∙ 2008–2010 – Metal smithing - Jewelry – 92Y, New York
∙ 2012 – Documentary photography – International Center of Photography, New York
∙ 2017–present – Ceramics – Independent study
∙ 2022–2023 – Clay Cohorts – Mentored by Simon Levin
∙ 2024 - Clay Cohorts – Mentored by Lisa Orr

Selected Exhibitions

∙ 2024 – Small Favors at The Clay Studio – Philadelphia, PA
∙ 2024 – Kindled Spirits at Good Earth Pottery – Bellingham, WA
∙ 2022 – Introductions at Rain City Clay – Seattle, WA
∙ 2021 – Rat City Studios Past & Present at Good Earth Pottery – Bellingham, WA
∙ 2018 – The Teapot Show at Good Earth Pottery – Bellingham, WA
∙ 2018 – Bountiful – Elensburg, WA
∙ 2018 – The 6th Annual Cup Show at Jansen Art Center – Lynden, WA

Lectures, Interviews and Articles

∙ 2020 – Ceramics Ireland Magazine – “Ling Chun - What Belongs with Clay” – Issue 44
∙ 2019 – Lecture, NCECA – “Etsy & Clay: An Insider's Perspective” – Video
∙ 2019 – Lecture, CONTAF (Brazil) – “A Cerâmica Online: Como divulgar e vender suas criações na internet”
∙ 2018 – Interview, The Potter's Cast – “Etsy From an Insider’s Perspective” – Episode 392
∙ 2018 – Lecture, Washington Clay Arts Association – “Selling Online: How to Find the Right Platform For Your Business On the Web”

Community

∙ Board of Directors, Washington Clay Arts Association (2017–2023)
∙ Creator of Flash & Ash – Directory of Wood Kilns For Potters and Ceramic Artists