About Purnima
Welcome to Purnima Creations, the live gallery and archive of Purnima’s professional ventures across the arts and education industries.
Purnima Ghogar Ruanglertbutr
THE PRACTITIONER
Purnima is an artist-educator: her career intersects these professional realms, in which she thrives on her specialisms as an artist, writer/published author, curator and teacher.
As a Thai-Australian, Purnima has lived and worked in Melbourne, Sydney, London and Bangkok – her unique heritage of Indian and Thai, along with her extensive international experience allows her to interact with a range of individuals from English and non-English speaking backgrounds to deliver personalised arts and education experiences.
She holds a Master of Art Administration from the University of New South Wales (Sydney), a Master of Teaching (Secondary – Art, English, ESL) and a Bachelor of Creative Arts (Honours, first class) from the University of Melbourne.
THE ARTIST
Working across multiple mediums, Purnima is an interdisciplinary artist whose works are influenced by her rich Indian and Thai heritages. Her art depicts an aesthetic fusion from the wealth of both heritages – something that is uniquely Purnima. She participates in gallery exhibitions internationally, which have recently included Asia Pacific, Asia and America.
THE EDUCATOR
TEACHING
Purnima is a dedicated teacher of English Language and Literature to Key Stage 3, IGCSE and International Baccalaureate students, and has taught the subject in Australia, the UK and now in Thailand. Purnima’s advocacy for interdisciplinary learning and teaching, stems from her prior roles as museum educator at the National Gallery of Victoria and The Ian Potter Museum of Art (Australia), during which she conducted Professional Development programs for English educators using artworks, creative writing workshops for students of all ages and published education resources to advocate social inclusion, accessible arts education and cultural diversity.
RESEARCHING
Purnima’s research focuses on her interests in museum education pedagogy, teacher-artist issues and the relationship between visual art and literacy. Her peer reviewed research papers and books have been published in reputable journals internationally, including: Australian Art Education, English Australia, The Canadian Review of Art Education, IGI Global and The Journal of Artistic and Creative Education. She was co-researcher and lecturer within the Melbourne Graduate School of Education where she administered the ‘Teacher as Artmaker Project’ and lectured the Master of Education subject, ‘Teaching and Artistic Practice’. Appointed manager of the 2013 Art Association of Australia and New Zealand conference on the theme of ‘Inter-discipline’, Purnima convened a panel on ‘Inter-disciplinarity in Art Museums’.
THE WRITER & AUTHOR
POETRY
A passionate poet, Purnima is garnering attention for her spoken word poetry performances and is currently writing her debut poetry book. She has won awards for her creative writing and has published selected works in magazines and newspapers in South East Asia and Australia.
BOOKS
Purnima has edited art exhibition catalogues with distinguished art museums and published educational textbooks with prestigious publishers globally. Notably, her English textbook series published by Macmillan Education Australia, is aimed at improving Secondary English students’ creative writing and critical thinking through art.
Art's Writer
A skilful writer, Purnima has written for art, culture and travel media titles as a freelancer. Her articles have been published in magazines worldwide, including Indian Link, The Melbourne Review, Arts Hub Australia and Expat Weekend Thailand.
THE CURATOR
Purnima has curated exhibitions in Melbourne and Sydney that received wide media coverage for their innovative representation of interdisciplinary practitioners. She is passionate about conceptualising and organising art exhibitions that supports established, emerging artists and artist-teachers globally.
Purnima Creations advocates the inter-disciplinary nature of careers, innovatively leading by example with her ethos: ‘those who can do teach’, changing perceptions one word, one book, one artwork and one exceptional service at a time.
