Today we’d like to introduce you to Chanya (Pim) Ruby.
Hi Chanya (Pim), thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I think my story began when I moved to Egypt to start 8th grade. I was always interested in art but never really had the chance to explore it much growing up in Thailand. I had a lot of time to kill while waiting to start school in Cairo. So I started drawing. Then, I started to think that art might be something that I want to do. We kept moving for a while. We ended up in South Korea, and I took AP art, and It felt really freeing and fulfilling. When I finished my senior year in America, I applied to Herron School of Art and Design in Indianapolis to pursue an Art degree. Got introduced to oil painting and fell in love. Been painting ever since. Made great friends, and after I graduated, I worked full-time as a security rover at the art museum in Indianapolis, Newfields. Made great memories and met the love of my life there as well. We also got married at the 100 Acres and took pictures at the love sculpture. I quit Newfields to travel back to Thailand for a couple of months, and my previous painting professor hired me to be an assistant to his Resplendent Dreams: Room for the Lost Paradise project. The idea for this room is to recreate an imaginary 18th-century Rococo-inspired room entirely out of watercolor. I helped him for one year to complete the project. While finishing the project, he asked what I was going to do after it was finished. I didn’t know what I was going to do, so he suggested going to graduate school and furthering my degree. I applied to three schools and picked Florida State University as my final choice. Tallahassee is where I am now, and I am making paintings and have begun to include ceramics in my practice. I am excited to where this journey down in Florida will take me.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It’s definitely not been a smooth road. Moving provinces and countries is not easy as a child. I grew up in Thailand and moved to Egypt in 2011, which is when the revolution erupted. I saw soldiers with guns and tanks, and we had to move back to Thailand for a year because it got so dangerous. After a year in Thailand, I moved to Korea and stayed there for 2 years. Making new friends every year was not easy. But there were many expats’ kids in Yongsan International School. So they understood and welcomed me. I made great memories and picked up swimming again. We moved to the United States for my senior year to get my citizenship and stayed in Indiana until I moved to Florida in 2025.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I am mostly a painter, but I picked up ceramics around January of 2026. My work explores cultural identity, spirituality, and the tensions between faith and skepticism. It emerges from questioning inherited belief systems and the unforeseen forces that influence daily life. Growing up, I’ve witnessed many things, including family members who rely on the supernatural, from fortune tellers to shrines, which left me wondering whether success comes from effort or faith. This tension of Western skepticism and Eastern spirituality drives my work, and it is not meant to debunk my culture, but to understand the contradictions between the cultures within me. Additionally, I am interested in the role that ancient rituals continue to play in contemporary society. Working across painting and ceramics, I use drapery and fabric as a way to navigate the seen and the unseen, and to explore how these traditions continue to change and adapt to the modern world.
– I am probably known for painting elaborate Thai fabric and scary figures, haha. -I am very proud of the project I helped my former painting professor, Robert Horvath, with. It truly is a one-of-a-kind room. He recently won the Juried Grand Prize at ArtPrize in Grand Rapids. I still couldn’t believe that I helped him with that. I’m very proud of him and our team.
-I think what sets me apart is that I have experienced many cultures growing up.
We’d love to hear about any fond memories you have from when you were growing up?
I don’t remember much about my childhood. I don’t think I enjoyed my living situation as much. That’s why I wanted to move to Egypt to live with my mom and stepdad.
If I have to think of one, it would have to be this story my mom told me about myself. When I was maybe about 5 years old, she would take me to this restaurant that had a boy the same age as me, and we would play all the time. My mom said that when she went to the restaurant by herself without me, the boy asked where “Praewpraow” was? My mom asked him who th(at was, and he said that I told him that “Praewpraow” was the name I gave him. My real name is Chanya Chaonuea; my nickname is Pim. I changed my name when my stepdad adopted me). Apparently, I was telling him a made-up name. So, I use that name as my art name.
Pricing:
- For large paintings 36 x 48 in ~ $2700
- Gouache paintings ~ 100-$600
Contact Info:
- Website: https://pimruby.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/praewpraow_art/
