Patternscape: Ornate Iron, 2016

Tiffany Schmierer

Tiffany Schmierer is a San Francisco-based sculptor specializing in ceramics. Schmierer grew up in the Philadelphia suburb of West Chester. She completed her BFA degree at the University of Oklahoma in three-dimensional arts, then moved to the West Coast, where she earned her MFA in ceramics from San Francisco State University in 2004.

Schmierer has exhibited in regional, national, and international exhibitions. Her ceramic sculpture is held in private and public collections and has received numerous awards and recognition.

Schmierer is a Professor of Art at Skyline College in San Bruno, CA, teaching beginning to advanced ceramics courses. She has also taught ceramics at San Francisco State University, Merritt College, Cosumnes River College, Cabrillo College, and in workshops and community classes throughout the greater San Francisco Bay Area. Schmierer currently works out of her San Francisco home studio.

Schmierer loves the versatility of clay, along with its physical, tactile, and expressive qualities. Once constructed, her ceramic sculptures become three-dimensional canvases to explore drawing, painting, and printmaking techniques. Formative practices of collecting and arranging, building from found materials, and filling the drawing page have been a continuous influence on her maximalist approach and aesthetic. Patternscape: Ornate Iron captures the forms and imagery of accumulated memories and observations of the city, including intersections of nature, industry, and vitality in the complex urban landscape.

Patternscape: Ornate Iron was acquired in 2023 by the Art on Campus Task Force as part of an ongoing effort to grow the LPC art collection, with a focus on local Bay area artists and LPC student artists.