Anna Shipulina is a ceramic artist currently based in the United States, where she moved from Russia in 2011. Before discovering ceramics, she was balancing family life, homeschooling her son, and contributing to a successful family business — a period she describes as overwhelming and disconnected from her creative side.
However, in 2020, when the lockdown occurred and the world quieted down a bit, Anna began an intensive journey of self-work and self-discovery. She worked on herself through therapy, reading books, and attending various workshops on self-awareness.
It was during this period that she first encountered ceramics, which would soon become a central part of her life and creative identity.
The path to professional practice
Anna is someone who never had a particular connection to art before, although she always gravitated toward the beauty around her. However, continuing her work on herself, a year later, at the age of 41, Anna decided for the first time to take a ceramics class together with her 7-year-old son, and that marked a turning point.
Anna became incredibly connected to the entire process of creating ceramics. ”Every time I went to the studio, it felt like a little adventure. It was something totally new and exciting, and I just couldn’t get enough. I never knew I could actually make things with my own hands like that.’’
After some time, Anna becomes a member of the studio and continues creating ceramics on her own.
”It’s been this incredible journey of discovering what I can do and just having fun with it. It’s like I found this new way to speak without words, just through the clay.”
Although she was uncertain about leaving a stable family business, where she contributed alongside her partner, to start her own, Anna decided to listen to herself and continue creating what she enjoys. ”Ceramics completely changed my life from being a burned-out mom with an extinguished look to a lively and vibrant person as I was before immigration and motherhood.”
After all that exciting and new experience with ceramics, Anna decides to turn her hobby into a business, and after just three months of working with ceramics, she makes her first sale on Instagram.
As the audience’s feedback was successful, Anna decides to expand her sales and begins selling at art fairs and in local stores. Meanwhile, she completes 3 semesters of ceramics at Los Angeles Valley College, where, as she says, she falls in love with hand-building ceramics and thus completely transitions from wheel throwing to hand-building.
In 2023, Anna opened an Etsy shop and, within a year, became an Etsy Design Awards finalist. That recognition led to collaborations with renowned interior designers such as Studio McGee, Marie Flanigan Interiors, and others, and she started shipping worldwide. Her work has also been featured in various publications and exhibitions reflecting her growing presence withing contemporary ceramic scene.
After that, she participated in an online clay residency focused on discovering her artistic voice. The experience led her to explore themes of female identity, self-sacrifice, and emotional burnout. She began creating abstract sculptures representing women, inspired by stories of resilience and empowerment.
Anna’s Shipulina-s Hand-Building Process
Anna practices hand-building techniques such as coiling, pinching, and slab building. She prefers using her hands and fingers to create organic, asymmetrical forms, as she finds them more appealing than symmetrical ones. This process is slower than wheel throwing and provides a meditative experience that strongly resonates with her.
Most of Anna’s ceramics are unglazed because she prefers the textured surface of the clay. She mainly works with stoneware to preserve the raw tactile quality of the material, and uses medium-coarse clay because it is easier for her to model the ceramics.
Through hand-building ceramics, Anna has complete freedom to explore form and a direct connection with the material. This technique allows her greater control over shaping and opens up new possibilities for expression. She recreates her Sculptural Mushroom Vase each time, with each piece gaining a unique shape. It is precisely through the hand-building process that Anna continuously explores new ways to express her creativity.
Artistic Approach
Anna’s work is defined by soft, organic forms inspired by nature and the human body, reflecting her interest in calmness, simplicity, and harmony. She prefers unglazed clay, allowing the natural texture and material to remain visible. The traces of her hands and subtle imperfections are an intentional part of each piece, emphasizing the human presence behind the object. Through hand-building, she embraces unpredictability, creating forms that feel intuitive and deeply personal. The central focus of Anna’s work explores female identity through self-acceptance and the process of embracing one’s true self beyond societal expectations.
Editorial Note
Anna is proof that we do not need to shape our own worth and identity according to external expectations, but rather through a personal process of exploration and creation. Her approach to ceramics shows that growth is not linear, but develops through phases of reflection, acceptance, and trust in one’s own instinct.
Through the hand-building process, Ana does not strive for perfection, but for authenticity, allowing the material and her own hands to guide the form.
It is precisely in that freedom that works are created which sustain inner transformation and personal identity.
Her work reminds us that only when we accept our own imperfections and remain true to ourselves can we create something truly sincere and meaningful, not only for ourselves but also for those who see themselves reflected in these forms.
You can explore more of Anna Shipulina’s work on her official website and Instagram: