My late great aunt Toby is the muse for my explorations of opulence, excess, and artifice.  She was a woman with a large crystal chandelier and two red velvet chairs in her bathroom.  Of her signature orange hair color she’d say, “I’ll dye until the day I die,” and she did.In my artwork, I enjoy subverting 18th century decoration with a dose of American consumerism. There is something touching about the cast-offs from our culture: the second and third-generation copies made in China.  Like the unpopular kid at school, they aspire to be something they are not.  I comb the flea markets and scour ebay in search of 1950’s squeaky toys, souvenirs, corporate mascots, miniature buildings, cartoon characters and dolls.  While one trinket seems a little sad, a florid profusion of them is cause for celebration.  I cast these treasures in clay, reinventing them in sculptures and wall reliefs infused with the spirit of the rococo.  I am interested in examining the nature of consumption and desire in our time.Beth Katleman’s work is included in the collections of the M.H. de Young Museum, San Francisco, CA, the John Michael Kohler Arts Center, Sheboygan, WI, Kohler Company, Kohler, WI and the Archie Bray Foundation, Helena, MT, among others.  Her sculptures have been featured in solo exhibitions in the Barneys New York windows and at the Sybaris Gallery, Royal Oak, Michigan.  She has appeared in numerous group shows at institutions such as the M.H. de Young Museum, the Contemporary Jewish Museum, San Francisco, Garth Clark Gallery, New York, Thomas Healy Gallery, New York, the Storefront for Art and Architecture, New York and the National Building Museum, Washington, D.C.  Her work has garnered critical attention in the New York Times, American Ceramics, the New Art Examiner, Sculpture Magazine and other publications.  She has received a Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation grant, a Kohler Arts/Industry Fellowship, the Watershed Generation X Award, an Archie Bray Foundation residency and a residency in Cortona, Italy sponsored by the University of Georgia, Athens.  Katleman holds a BA in English from Stanford University, an MBA in Arts Management from UCLA and an MFA from Cranbrook Academy of Art.  She has taught at Pratt Institute, New York University and Greenwich House Pottery in New York.  Born in Park Forest, Illinois, Katleman lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.

SOLO
2010 Arcadia, Jane Hartsook Gallery, New York, NY
2000 Beth Katleman: Recent Work, Sybaris Gallery, Royal Oak, MI
1997 *Dream House, Sybaris Gallery, Royal Oak, MI
             *Dream House (A Preview), Barneys New York Windows, New York, NY   

SELECTED GROUP
2010 Bright and White, Mindy Solomon Gallery, St. Petersburg, FL
2009 Selections from the Kohler Company Collection, 798 Art Zone, Beijing, China
      New Works/Old Story, Contemporary Jewish Museum, San Francisco, CA
2008 Handle With Care, Pelham Art Center, Pelham, NY
            The Diane and Sandy Besser Collection, M.H. de Young Museum, San Francisco, CA
2006 From the Ground Up, Linda Ross Contemporary, Huntington Woods, MI
2005 Blue Plate Special, Chester Springs Studio, Chester County, PA
2002 International Infusion III, Sybaris Gallery, Royal Oak, MI
2001 National Ceramic Invitational, Blue Spiral 1, Asheville, NC
             Telling Tales, Craft Alliance, St. Louis, MO
2000 Blown Away, Garth Clark Gallery, New York, NY
  Sculpture and Functional Art (SOFA) Chicago, Leslie Ferrin Gallery
             SOFA New York, Nancy Margolis Gallery, Ann Nathan Gallery
1999 Faculty Exhibition, Jane Hartsook Gallery, Greenwich House, New York, NY
  Sculpture and Functional Art (SOFA) Chicago, Ann Nathan Gallery
1998 Bathroom, Thomas Healy Gallery, New York, NY, curated by Wayne Koestenbaum
             Group Exhibition, Quint Contemporary Art, La Jolla, CA
             From Foundation to Ornamentation, ARC Gallery, Chicago, IL
1997 Tweakville, Catharine Clark Gallery, San Francisco, CA (Catalogue)
             Including Clay, Jane Hartsook Gallery, New York, NY
1996 Incestuous, Thread Waxing Space, New York, NY, curated by Carter Kustera
             The Pull of Beauty, Storefront for Art and Architecture, NY and the National Building    Museum, Washington, D.C., curated by Kiki Smith and Victoria Milne
  Faculty and Artists in Residence Exhibition, University of Georgia, Athens
1995 New Work from Cranbrook Academy of Art, John A. Wilson Gallery, Washington, D.C.
1994 Artists from the Archie Bray Foundation, Holter Museum of Art, Helena, MT and University of Washington Art Gallery, Seattle, WA

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
“Blown Away,” Ken Johnson, The New York Times, Art Guide, August 2, 2000, p. E35
“Beth Katleman,” David D.J. Rau, American Ceramics, Volume 13/1, February, 1999, p. 54.
“Bathroom,” Tom Breidenbach, October, Artforum, 1998, p. 124.
“Bathroom,” Holland Cotter, The New York Times, Art in Review, June 26, 1998, p. E38.
“Bathroom with Lots of Makeup,” Lucie Young, The New York Times, March 20,1997, p. C3.
“A Sculptor’s Paradise,” Lynn Shumow, Sculpture, Vol. 16 No.3, March 1997 p.39.
“Industrial Evolution,” Steven Kapelke, New Art Examiner, Vol. 24, No.1 September 1996, p.21.

BOOKS AND CATALOGUES
New Works/Old Story: 80 Artists at the Passover Table, Connie Wolf, Contemporary Jewish Museum,
  San Francisco, CA 2009
The Diane and Sandy Besser Collection, Timothy Anglin Burgard, Karin Breuer, Jill D’Alessandro,
  Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 2007
Teapots Transformed, Leslie Ferrin, Guild Publishing, Madison, WI 2000
Tweakville, David Hunt, Catharine Clark Gallery, San Francisco, CA ,1998
Handmade Tiles, Frank Giorgini, Altamont Press, June 1994.

COLLECTIONS
M. H. de Young Museum, San Francisco, CA
John Michael Kohler Arts Center, Sheboygan, WI
Kohler Company Collection, Kohler, WI
Archie Bray Foundation, Helena, MT

GRANTS AND AWARDS 
1997 Generation X Award and Residency at Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts
1996 Moravian Tile Works 1996 Residency (Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation Grant)
1995 Arts/Industry Fellowship, Kohler Company and JM Kohler Arts Center, Kohler, WI
             Resident Artist, University of Georgia Studies Abroad, Cortona, Italy
             Artist in Residence, Archie Bray Foundation, Helena, MT

TEACHING EXPERIENCE
2006 Visiting Assistant Professor, Department of Fine Arts, Pratt Institute
2000 Adjunct Professor, Department of Art, New York University
1999    Instructor, Greenwich House Pottery 

EDUCATION
1995 Cranbrook Academy of Art, MFA
1986 Anderson Graduate School of Management, UCLA, MBA - Arts Management
1981 Stanford University, BA - English