Starbuck Tile - About the Artists

About The Artists

Beth Starbuck and Steven Goldner have been designing and producing tile together since 1980. Beth made tile for her first permanent installation in 1973 while still an undergraduate at Philadelphia College of Art. In 1974 she became the first Head Ceramist at the Moravian Pottery and Tile Works in Doylestown, PA. It was there that she met Steven, who had studied clay while receiving a degree in Philosophy at Swarthmore College. After three years at the Tile Works, Beth moved on, receiving a Ford Foundation fellowship to pursue a Masters degree at the University of Illinois in Champaign. Steven soon followed and taught ceramics at the University for two years. In 1980 Beth received an NEA Building Arts Grant to explore surface texture and repetition in tile. It was also in 1980 that Steven and Beth returned to the east coast to start their own tile business in Bethlehem, PA.

Since that time, although often designing for local installations, Starbuck Goldner Tile has been nationally commissioned, exhibited and published. Using embossed, mosaic and flat tile, they offer distinctive solutions for any residential, commercial or historic setting. Whether designing a tile column for Ambassador Bank (19th St., Allentown), tile table tops for Touchstone Theater (321 E. Fourth St., Bethlehem), or a building facade for PEI Genesis ( Verizon Headquarters, NE Philadelphia), Starbuck and Goldner strive for integrity and individuality in all their projects. They use tile in traditionally functional ways while approaching design with innovation.

Beth Starbuck

BFA, crafts, Philadelphia College of Art, 1973
Head ceramist, Moravian Pottery and Tile Works, 1974-1977
MFA art and design, University of Illinois, 1979
Art & design faculty, University of Illinois, 1979-1980
National Endowment for the Arts, Building Arts Grant, 1980-1981
Art faculty, Kutztown University, 1987-1988
Partner, Starbuck Goldner Tile, 1980-present

Steven Goldner

BA, philosophy, Swarthmore College, 1973
Training at various production potteries, 1970-1973
Manager, Atlantic Stoneware, 1974-1976
Ceramist, Moravian Pottery and Tile Works, 1976-1978
Ceramics faculty, University of Illinois, 1978-1980
Ceramics faculty, Philadelphia College of Art, 1982-1985
Partner, Starbuck Goldner Tile, 1980-present..

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