Kathy Venter was born in South Africa where she received her M.F.A. in Sculpture, Port Elizabeth School of Art and Design and immigrated to Canada in 1989.

She builds her life size ceramic sculptures by hand using the extended pinch method – similar to large vessel building. No molds are used as the hollow, completed wet clay sculptures are 15% larger than life size to shrink to the desired scale after firing.

An exhibition of 36 of her sculptures originated at the Gardiner Museum, Toronto from 30th May 2013 to 15th September 2013. This exhibition travelled to the Bellevue Arts Museum, Wa., U.S.A. in 2014; Sacramento State University; Deuthebank/Circa Museum, Johannesburg, South Africa; and IMA, San Juan Islands, Wa., USA. Part of this exhibition will be shown at the Vancouver International Sculpture Biennale 2014-2015.

Kathy currently lives and works on Salt Spring Island, British Columbia, with her husband, painter Deon Venter.

She is currently represented exclusively on Salt Spring Island at Gallery 8.