Cottage Glassworks: Color and creativity come alive in Pine Creek
Cottage Glassworks: Color and creativity come alive in Pine Creek
Tioga County | Pine Creek Valley & the PA Grand Canyon of the Pennsylvania Wilds
By LaKeshia Knarr
Even on a drab and dreary day, inside Cottage Glassworks color and creativity come alive.
The quaint workspace is Kathleen Schnell’s fused glass art studio, located just outside of Wellsboro, PA, a.k.a. home of the Pennsylvania Grand Canyon.
“All my life I have worked with art and creating; this has been my dream,” she said.
Kathleen, now retired from another industry, enjoys sharing her passion for glasswork with others. Out of the cottage on her property, she offers a beautiful showroom for her finished products, as well as a studio where she is able to offer classes throughout the year.
The largely self-taught artist began working in stained glass over 35 years ago.
“In the early 2000’s I transitioned to fused glass and studied at the Cape Coral Art Studio. I see fused glass as stained glass without the lines,” the artisan shared.
About four years ago, Kathleen and her husband moved to Wellsboro, where she found herself “blessed to have a studio.”
Kathleen says she is grateful to be able to “create glass in such wonderful natural surroundings as the Pennsylvania Wilds.”
TIMELY TIP
Kathleen Schnell is participating in the virtual Art in the Wilds Exhibit. See her work here.
She will also be participating in the inaugural PA Wilds Makers Market on July 11-12.
Learn more about Cottage Glassworks at cottageglassworks.com/, or check out this feature article on the PA Wilds Are Calling blog.
*Photos used in this article were taken by Bill Crowell / Budget Artist as part of the Creative Makers of the Pennsylvania Wilds – A Traveling Public Art Show, which was partly funded by the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts.
RECENT MEMBER SPOTLIGHTS
- Full Circle Bioconversion LLC: Turning food waste into a businessAs a child, the Pennsylvania woods were Aubrey Fornwalt’s playground and the stream was her pool. After a life change in 2016 led her back to her childhood home in Lycoming County, Fornwalt took a risk and bought some black soldier flies for a composting business, taking inspiration from the woods and insects she loved as a child. Two years later, it grew into what would become Full Circle Bioconversion, based in the city of Williamsport in the Pine Creek Valley and PA Grand Canyon landscape and I-80 Frontier landscape of the Pennsylvania Wilds region.
- Blackbird Distillery: Making shine and making friendsNot too many businesses can say they create their product completely from start to finish, but the folks at Blackbird Distillery can! Located in Brookville along the I-80 Frontier landscape and the Cook Forest and the Ancients landscape within the Pennsylvania Wilds, Blackbird Distillery is a one-of-a-kind place that takes pride in showing visitors the magic of how their product is made.
- Judy Schrader: Creating small, but very mighty artJudy Schrader’s love for art began when she was just a child, and it soon grew into a lifetime of creation. Based in Warren County in the Allegheny National Forest and Surrounds landscape of the Pennsylvania Wilds, her art has ranged from boundless wilderness scenes to miniature details of the wonders of nature.







