Educational Background
- M.F.A., Ceramics, Kansas State University, Manhattan, Kansas, 1997
- B.A., Fine Arts, University of Northern Colorado, Greeley, Colorado, 1994
Professional Background
Sonya M. PauKune received her Bachelor of Fine Art in Ceramics and Printmaking/Book-arts from the University of Northern Colorado studying with Professor Dick Luster, then she received a Master of Fine Arts in Ceramics from Kansas State University, with Professor Yoshiro Ikeda as her mentor. Yoshi had a strong impact on PauKune as artist, educator and individual. Her style of work was directly motivated by Ikeda’s encouragement of their content and aesthetics. After graduate school Sonya was awarded 9-month artist-in-residency at Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts in New Castle, Maine. After that, she eventually made her way back to Colorado to raise a family and begin a teaching career and an art studio.
Personal Interests
As a visual communicator, I always want to tell a story and have been intrigued with cultures from around the globe since the beginning of my artistic journey. My interest is in comparing and contrasting the way in which divergent cultures approach life and death through symbols and storytelling juxtaposed with their basic four chromosome combinations in 23 base pairs, like the concept of nature (DNA) versus nurture (culture).