CALIFORNIA: The 43rd annual Columbia Fine Art Show, sponsored by the Columbia Chamber of Commerce, will be held Sunday at Columbia State Historic Park. The show was started by the late Esther Allison, a Columbia College art teacher who wanted to have a venue for her students to sell their art. This year’s featured artist is Sifu Berchtold.
She was born to Swiss parents in Pennsylvania in the early 1950s, and at the age of six they moved to Switzerland, where she lived for the next 15 years. In her 20s she started traveling, working and studying in various countries. Inspired by the beautiful Renaissance angels in Italy she began working in clay.
“My functional stoneware pottery is made to be used in the rhythm of daily life,” she said. “A handmade piece of pottery is always unique and hopefully inspires the user to cherish life’s precious moments with the same focus that was used to create it.”
Berchtold now lives in Twain Harte with her family. She teaches pottery classes to students of all ages at her studio and is an adjunct instructor at Columbia College. She recently went back to school at California State University, Stanislaus, in Turlock where she earned a bachelors degree in studio art.
