Chotsani Elaine Dean is an Artist and Assistant Professor of Ceramics at the University of Minnesota. Born in Hartford, CT, Chotsani received her BFA in Ceramics from Hartford Art School and Master’s of Fine Arts from Sam Fox School of Art at Washington University in St. Louis. In the summer of 2021, Chotsani will be in residence at the John Michael Kohler Artist Residency, Pottery. In 2014, Dean was the inaugural MJ DO Good resident at Red Lodge Clay Center in Montana. Also, Chotsani was awarded a 9-month Teaching/Research Fulbright Scholar grant in India 2012-13, host institution Banaras Hindu University in Varanasi, India. During this time Chotsani, traveled throughout India conducting workshops at Sanskriti Kendra in New Delhi, Krishnamurti Foundation/Raj Ghat Besant School, Varanasi, Kriti Gallery, Varanasi, lectures at Faculty of Art History, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi and Faculty of Visual Arts University of Baroda, Baroda and artist-in-residence at Clayfingers Pottery, Thrissur, Kerala. Chotsani has lectured and exhibited widely, selected for the 2019 South Carolina Biennial at the 702 Center for Contemporary Art, McMaster Gallery at the University of South Carolina, Appalachia State University, Kriti Gallery, Varanasi, India, Art Chamber, Goa, India, Aurodhran Gallery, Pondicherry, India, Hans Weiss Newman Space, Manchester, CT, Windsor Art Center, Windsor, CT, Hunterdon Museum of Art, Clinton, NJ, Gallery on the Green, Canton, CT, Silo Gallery, New Milford, CT among others.  In 2010, Dean was awarded a Connecticut Arts Grant from the state of Connecticut. Dean has taught at various institutions, Three Rivers Community College, University of Connecticut, Connecticut College, Quinnipiac University, Hartford Art School and was Studio Manager at Wesleyan Potters in Middletown, CT.