‘A Neighborhood for Tough Times’ exhibit displays themes of togetherness, strength

Susan Sternlieb is a multi-disciplinary artist with extensive experience in fiber art and ceramics. She has been making art for over 50 years, developing a variety of works including ceramic sculptures, rugs and encaustic paintings.

Sternlieb’s current pottery exhibit, “A Neighborhood For Tough Times,” encapsulates the intimacy of a close-knit neighborhood. The exhibit is located in the Directions Gallery at the Colorado State University Visual Arts Building and will be open until March 4.

Growing up, Sternlieb’s parents collected prints from the Ashcan School, an American artist movement in the early 1900s focused on depicting the realistic details of life in New York City. This collection of art is what inspired Sternlieb to start her own creative journey.
“There’s something magical about pottery. … It can be a lot of different things.” -Susan Sternlieb, CSU alumna and artist 
“I just got it in me that art was a really good way to be honest about the world around you,” Sternlieb said.

The journey through Sternleib’s professional art career took many turns, as she attended then-named Philadelphia College of Textiles and Science — now Thomas Jefferson University — where she earned a bachelor’s degree in textile design. Sternlieb earned a master’s in fiber art from the University of California, Berkeley and eventually moved to Colorado and started a family.

Sternlieb was struggling with her textile designs and decided to earn another graduate degree. During her time at Colorado State University, a professor guided her toward ceramics, leading to a new love for pottery making.

“There’s something magical about pottery,” Sternlieb said. “It can be a lot of different things.”

Sternlieb’s “A Neighbor For Tough Times” exhibit allows for magic and creative elements of pottery to be seen as anything.

When creating the ceramic sculptures for the exhibit, Sternlieb started out by making spheres, a difficult ceramic technique. As she created them, they kept lengthening. Embracing her sculpture’s new form, Sternlieb said she began to realize the clay resembled a torso. 

Several distinct mediums are showcased throughout the exhibit, including ceramic sculptures, handmade rugs and encaustic paintings — a new medium Sternlieb is experimenting with. 

The pieces are laid out throughout the floor of the gallery, displayed on rugs designed by Sternlieb. The peculiar arrangement of the sculptures adds to the connectivity of each piece.

“It just felt right,” Sternlieb said. “I had it like this at home, and it just felt right.”

Each piece at the exhibition brought a sense of uniqueness while still fitting in with its neighboring pieces. Similar to how a true neighborhood functions, the art belongs together in spite of its differences. 

“I wanted some of the neighbors to not be quite so sweet,” Sternlieb said. 

Sternlieb said the sculptures aimed to represent the honest features of a neighborhood, encompassing both the good and the bad. She made a point to create differences in the appearance of the sculptures, as there are in individual beings.

During the creation of the exhibit, Sternlieb said she found herself singing a song from the television show “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood.” As she continued to work, she held on to the phrase, “Won’t you be my neighbor?” and from there, the idea of a neighborhood was born.

“I began this body of work during a time when the world felt unsettled and uncertain,” Sternlieb wrote in the exhibit’s artist statement. “It made me think about how people find steadiness in moments like these and how important it is to strengthen our relationships with one another. I was drawn to ideas of kindness, respect, care and the simple act of being a good neighbor.”

Kim Ferrer, the curator of the Directions Gallery, told Sternlieb that she hopes the gallery can be used as an alumni space once a year to display Colorado State University graduates’ artwork.

“There are a lot of alumni who are living in the area who do art and don’t really have a place to show,” Sternlieb said. “I hope that that’s what this ends up being.”

Reach Sam Whitted at entertainment@collegian.com or on social media @RMCollegian.