Kathy Sterngold
About Kathy
About Kathy
Kathy has been a studio potter and art educator for most of her life. She grew up in the small town of Muncy, Pennsylvania, where she learned how to use the potter's wheel in her high school art class. She's been throwing, coiling, and handbuilding clay every since.
In college, Kathy studied ceramics and art education, earning a B.A. from Kutztown and an M.S. from Alfred University. Straightaway, she joined The Clay Studio in Philadelphia as one of its first resident artists. A few years later, Kathy returned to Muncy to care for her mother. She set up a pottery studio in her family's unheated garage and built a large gas-fired kiln on the foundation of an old chicken coop. Kathy became a regular at art shows and festivals throughout Central Pennsylvania, including multiple showings at the annual events in State College, Lewisburg, Williamsport, Eagles Mere and Muncy. During this time, she also taught pottery workshops at the Bucknell University Craft Center and art classes in the Muncy public schools, where she eventually gained tenure as a full-time teacher. Kathy took a break from teaching to raise two sons, but she missed working with students. When her boys became teenagers, she joined the Lycoming College Art Department as an Adjunct Professor in Ceramic Art, where she taught ceramics and managed kiln firings for 25 years. |
Kathy creates a diverse blend of functional pottery, ceramic art, and contemporary clay. Her works range from large abstract sculptures to tableware and jack-o-lanterns. Her style is to work with the clay so each piece has its own character and appeal. She creates strong natural shapes colored by warm earthy glazes, a distinctive style that ties together her diverse body of work.
During most years, Kathy shows her latest creations at the Lycoming College Art Faculty Show and at the Muncy Historical Society's Annual Art Exhibition. Her work has also been shown at the LH Horton Gallery in California, The Clay Studio in Philadelphia, the Pennsylvania Guild of Craftsmen Gallery in Bushkill Falls, the Packwood House Museum in Lewisburg, and the Radius Art Gallery in the State Museum of Pennsylvania. Until it closed in 2016, Kathy was a board member and an active artist-partner of the The Eagles Mere Art Gallery, which was founded by photographer Terry Wild to showcase the works of Central Pennsylvania artists. In 2014 and in 2016, works by Kathy were selected for the “Visions in Clay” Exhibition in Stockton, California, named by the editors of Ceramics Monthly magazine as one of the top ceramic art shows in the nation. In 2014, Representative Garth Everett hosted an exhibit of Kathy's work in the Pennsylvania State Capitol. |
Each spring, Kathy and her students made soup bowls for the Central Pennsylvania Food Bank's annual fund-raising events in Harrisburg and Williamsport. In 2013, Kathy was invited to create a line of commemorative bowls bearing the agency’s mission and logo. That year, the Susquehanna Health System (now UPMC Susquehanna) acquired some of Kathy's ceramic tiles for its new medical center in Williamsport.
Kathy handcrafts her ceramics one piece at a time and gets to know each pot personally. Her work is available as it's removed from the kiln and produced in small quantities. For this reason, she does not sell online or make custom orders. You can find her work at local galleries and shops in the Williamsport and Muncy areas. |