Chanakarn Semachai was born and raised in Bangkok, Thailand. Punch earned her Bachelor in Art Degree in 2012 from Chulalongkorn University located in the heart of Bangkok City. She is currently an MFA candidate at Edinboro University of Pennsylvania.

 

Before graduate school, Punch was a ceramic design lecturer in the School of Fine and Applied Arts at Chulalongkorn University, which encouraged her to pursue her masters degree and return to teach and develop the ceramics program. She had focused her work mainly in sculpture and shown internationally, but has recently begun exploring functional wares. 

 

Punch States, "My role as an explorer was initiated when I was a child and my doodles were treated as treasures. I have been immersed in an entirely new culture since my recent move to the United States. Living in a totally unfamiliar world, with lasting impressions, has affected my work. In the beginning, I found that I was slowly and unconsciously changing into a new person and trying hard to blend into a new society and culture. After a period of time, I shifted back to myself, although a new, better version of myself. I aim to create sculpture and functional ware that encourages people to be unique, special and themselves."

 

Purchase Punch's work in our online shop and visit her website.

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Janimarie Lester DeRose

Janimarie Lester DeRose is a ceramic artist living in Logan, Utah, a quiet university town, nestled in the Rocky Mountains.

She states, “My studio, Salty Peach Pottery, is the place where I tune all excess out and fully center in the making process. Creating art is a practice that connects artist to land and self. My work references the natural world; the curve of my brush line echos the heavy drape of a berry laden branch, or the curved belly of the bowl cupping the enclosed space like a birds’ nest. My intention is to bring a daily interaction of simplicity, and beauty around the most joyous place in the home, the kitchen table.”

Purchase Janimarie's work in our online shop and visit her website.

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Brianna Shimer

Brianna Shimer is based in Edinboro, Pennsylvania, where she is Studio Technician for the Ceramics Department at Edinboro University of Pennsylvania. Born and raised in Stewartsville, New Jersey, Brianna earned a Bachelors of Fine Arts from New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University in New York. Prior to moving to Edinboro, Brianna worked at MT Burton Gallery, Surf City, NJ as a Resident/Teaching Artist.

As a studio potter, Brianna creates functional ceramics from a practice of repetition. She creates simple forms on the wheel then alters them by pushing the interior and exteriors to create organic profiles reminiscent of floral shapes. Brianna states, “the surfaces I create allude to the idea of landscape and nature at a distance, I use floral elements and lines to relate to the exploration of nature at a closer perspective.”

Purchase's Brianna's work in our online shop and visit her website.

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Sarah Heitmeyer