Chotsani Elaine Dean is an artist and assistant professor of ceramics at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis. Born in Hartford, Connecticut, Dean received her BFA in ceramics from Hartford Art School in Connecticut and her Master’s of Fine Arts from Sam Fox School of Art at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. In the summer of 2021, Dean will be in residence at the John Michael Kohler Art Center. In 2014, Dean was the inaugural MJ DO GOOD resident at Red Lodge Clay Center in Montana. She was also awarded a nine-month Teaching/Research Fulbright Scholar grant in India 2012 – 13. Her host institution was Banaras Hindu University in Varanasi, India. She has lectured and exhibited widely, selected for the 2019 South Carolina Biennial at the 702 Center for Contemporary Art, Columbia, South Carolina. In 2010, Dean was awarded a Connecticut Arts Grant from the state of Connecticut, and she has taught at various institutions, including the University of Connecticut and Hartford Art School.