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 documentary photography—which dramatically shifted her understanding of beauty—and metalsmithing, and took up pottery as a hobby. During that time, she joined Etsy, Inc. and went on to become the company's first Senior Maker Specialist. In that role, she researched the production processes that allow artists and makers to earn a living from their craft. In 2017, she transitioned to a career in ceramics. 

Today, Any's work centers primarily on clay and metal. Beyond her primary media, she cultivates a wide vocabulary of traditional crafts, from glass and fiber to kintsugi and fileteado porteño. This body of knowledge has shaped her path as an artist and informs her daily studio practice.

She is currently an MFA candidate in Ceramics at Cranbrook Academy of Art, where she was awarded a Gilbert Fellowship. She has lectured in the United States and Brazil, exhibited in juried and invitational shows, and completed residencies with an emphasis on wood-fired ceramics. 

Outside of the studio, Any enjoys taking her pots on long road trips to wood firings around the country. Her passion project is Flash & Ash, a crowdsourced directory of wood kilns.

My art, like me, is at once rooted and reaching. I was forged by dissonance and convergence, raised in a conservative community within the expansiveness of my native Brazil, growing up in one language and living in another, being a citizen of two countries. I am touched by the heartache and the gift of my history.

Surrendering my architectural training to the chaotic agency of clay, I create objects that assert presence through heft and gravitas—sculptural pieces that record the gesture of my hands, and vessels with creases that suggest arms and rims that evoke the movement of hair. Often wood-fired, their surfaces manifest the path of flame and the accumulation of ash in the kiln. I address the fragmentation inherent in detaching from one’s origins—and the urge to reintegrate—by combining clay with disparate materials like water-cast metal.

My process is one of introspection and layers. I ask my work for assurance that one can exist alone and in a tribe, affirm agency while reconciling with mooring, and hold incongruous truths to be made whole.

Résumé

Education

2027 (expected) – MFA Ceramics – Cranbrook Academy of Art – Bloomfield Hills, MI
2024 – Clay Cohorts mentorship – Lisa Orr
2022–2023 – Clay Cohorts mentorship – Simon Levin
2012 – Documentary photography – International Center of Photography, New York, NY
2008–2010 – Metalsmithing - Jewelry – 92Y, New York, NY
1995–2000 – Architecture and Urban Planning – Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Paraná, Brazil

Work

2019–2020 – North Seattle College – Continuing Education Instructor, Small Business for Artists workshops – 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

Fellowships, AWARDS & Residencies

2025 – Gilbert Fellowship in Studio and Critical Studies, Cranbrook Academy of Art
2025 – Maxwell/Hanrahan Foundation Materials Award
2025 – Resident Artist, short term - Red Lodge Clay Center – Red Lodge, MT
2024 – Resident Artist - Starworks – Star, NC
2023 – Artist in Retreat - Mendocino Arts Center – Mendocino, CA

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 – The 6th Annual Cup Show at Jansen Art Center – Lynden, WA

Lectures, Interviews and Articles

2025 – Lecture, Woodfire NC, Starworks – “Shoko Suzuki and Her Brazilian Noborigama”
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

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