Kathryn Gremley

Gallery Director, Penland Gallery at the Penland School of Craft in Penland, NC

Kathryn Gremley has been the director of the Penland Gallery since 1996.  In that capacity she is the curator for the John & Robyn Horn Gallery special exhibitions and oversees the Lucy Morgan, Focus, and Penland Visitor Center galleries. 

She has curated and installed over 100 invitational group and solo exhibitions for the Penland Gallery. Off-sight projects include Penland: Mind, Hand, Materials at SOFA Chicago (2004); Iron: A New Vocabulary, a traveling exhibition of contemporary iron (2004-2005); Identity: Narrative explorations by four Penland artists, at the Milton Rhodes Center in Winston-Salem, NC (2010); curatorial assistance for 0-60: The Experience of Time Through Contemporary Craft at the North Carolina Museum of Art and Penland School (2013); Penland School: The Art of the Brooch, at Kobe Design University and Gallery C.A.J. in Kyoto, Japan (2014); Mokume: 300 Years of Tradition, Innovation, and Influence at Tsubame Industrial Metals Museum, Japan (2016); and co-curated Tradition of Excellence: Japanese techniques in contemporary metal arts, Penland Gallery and the Metal Museum, Memphis, TN (2019-2020). 

Kathryn has also served as a consultant for other arts organizations, assisting with curatorial projects, exhibition design, grant evaluations, exhibition juror, community arts projects, and arts writer. On campus she works with Penland instructors and staff, lecturing student groups on business practices and providing one-on-one assistance for artists. 

Her relationship with Penland School of Craft spans 39 years; beginning as a textile student in 1982, Penland resident artist 1983-1987, textile studio coordinator 1986-1993, textile instructor, and presently as staff member.