SYLVIA RAMACHANDRAN SKEEN

Sylvia Ramachandran Skeen was born in Salt Lake City and grew up in Wilmington, Delaware, where she spent a good part of her childhood drawing and writing about fantasy worlds, modeling tiny animals out of plasticine, practicing the piano and flute, and programming sprite graphics on the family's Commodore 64.

 

She went on to earn a B.A. in studio art with a minor in music from Brigham Young University, where she first experienced the thrills and disappointments of transforming clay by fire and was delighted to learn that mixing glazes was like having her own chemistry set. Later she received an M.F.A. in ceramics from the University of Utah, graduating with the Ethel A. Rolapp Award. She now teaches at the University of Utah and enjoys moving between ceramics, one of the oldest forms of silicon technology, and computers, one of the newest. She was invited to return to BYU, Provo, during 2022 as a visiting professor and artist in residence. She now lives and makes art with her husband and daughter in Bountiful, Utah.

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A few of the venues where her work has appeared are the Society of Arts and Crafts in Boston, Pewabic Pottery in Detroit, the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts (NCECA) Convention, the Utah Museum of Fine Arts, the Springville Museum of Art, Finch Lane Gallery, Bountiful Davis Art Center, and Salt Lake Main Library.

 

Recognition her work has received includes an Emerging Artist Grant from the Utah Arts Council in 2008, awards at the 2010 and 2006 Utah Fine Craft & Photography exhibits, and the Florence E. Ware Honor Award from the Utah Chapter of the American Association for University Women.

 

Curriculum Vitae