ACAF Scholarship Alumna Chloe Kottwitz Keeps the Art of Neon Alive

Bolivar, NY native and Uptown Neon owner Chloe Kottwitz reflects on local scholarships, finding her craft, and bringing new opportunities home to Allegany County.

Chloe Kottwitz in her small business, Uptown Neon, in Richmond, VA. Photograph by Annie Frazza.

Even hundreds of miles from her hometown of Bolivar, Chloe Kottwitz still finds memories of home making their way into her art.

Her passion and talent in neon bending have taken her far beyond Allegany County, but Kottwitz’s connection to her home community has remained strong.

“Allegany County still feeds into the artwork that I make now,” Kottwitz said.

Kottwitz is a full-time neon artist and owner of Uptown Neon — Richmond, Virginia’s last full-service neon shop. There, she creates custom signs & artwork, repairs historic neon, and carries forward a craft passed down through generations of Richmond artists.



For a recent solo exhibition, two of her main pieces depicted goldenrod and a peony — flowers she remembers growing in her backyard as a child.

From left to right: “Goldenrod” and “Peony” crafted by Chloe Kottwitz. These pieces were exhibited in her solo exhibition, “Surroundings,” at The Black Iris in Richmond, Virginia in September 2025. Photographs from uptownneon.com.

Kottwitz attended Alfred University’s School of Art and Design, where she earned her BFA in Art and Design in 2021.

As a student, she received three scholarships from the Allegany County Area Foundation (ACAF): the Belva A. Waite Memorial Scholarship in 2017 and the Dr. Robert Hutter Scholarship in 2018 and 2019.

“I think my very first semester of school was covered through scholarships,” Kottwitz recalled. “That was huge for me to then be able to start planning for the future. I remember just the relief [those scholarships] gave me.”

At Alfred, students in the art program explore different mediums rather than immediately choosing one concentration. Kottwitz took classes in various concentrations like photography, graphic design, sculpture, and glassblowing.

Neon, however, almost didn’t make it into Kottwitz’s schedule. A conversation with her father prompted her to give the class another thought.

She enrolled and quickly realized she had found something different.

“I immediately fell in love,” Kottwitz said. “Neon just lent itself more to my personality.”

Unlike glassblowing, which often requires multiple people working together, neon gave Kottwitz the independence to spend time in the studio practicing on her own.

“I could see that there was going to be this set of skills that I could learn and get really good at,” she said.

By her senior year at Alfred, neon had become the focus of her work.

Chloe Kottwitz bending glass in Uptown Neon. Photographs by William Vuong.

After graduating in 2021, Kottwitz wanted to learn the commercial side of neon bending. A connection from one of her professors eventually led her to Douglas Solyan, founder of Uptown Neon in Richmond, Virginia.

Solyan opened Uptown Neon in 1987 and spent decades crafting neon signs for the Richmond community. Kottwitz began apprenticing under him in August 2021.

“He was pretty sick when I met him, so he wasn't making a lot of work himself,” Kottwitz said. “But I’ll always be really grateful for when I got here. He put everything he had into teaching me.”

Left: Douglas Solyan and Chloe Kottwitz working together in Uptown Neon in 2021. Photograph by Natalie Kottwitz | Right: Douglas Solyan in Uptown Neon circa 1990s. Photograph from uptownneon.com.

Solyan taught her to hold her work to a high standard, while also giving her room to make mistakes and learn. One piece of his advice has stayed with her: the work will never look better than the day it leaves the shop.

“Doug needed someone to make the neon immediately, but he didn't put pressure on me that it had to be perfect the first time,” Kottwitz said. “But he did say, ‘I need this done and work through it however long it takes.’”

His mentorship extended beyond technique. Near the end of his life, Kottwitz remembers Solyan reminding her that a difficult craft like neon bending needed to remain enjoyable.

“Towards the very end, I remember having a conversation with him on the phone,” Kottwitz said. “He told me, ‘It has to be fun … this is way too hard of a craft if you are not having fun with it.’”

After Solyan died in 2022, Kottwitz eventually purchased Uptown Neon in 2023. Today, she creates commissioned pieces, makes her own artwork, repairs existing signs, teaches classes, and maintains the extensive collection Solyan left behind.

At one time, Richmond was home to several neon shops. Today, Uptown Neon is the city's last full-service shop bending, processing, and finishing traditional neon in-house. The history of neon in Richmond — and across the country — makes preserving the craft especially important to Kottwitz.

“There’s a need for neon, but there isn’t really a place to go and learn,” she said.

While Kottwitz has built a life and career in Richmond, her next chapter also brings her back to where she started.

“Because I love neon so much and it's done so much for me in my life, I was looking for a little space back in Bolivar where I could come home and make my own work,” Kottwitz said.

In 2023, Kottwitz purchased the former Steuben Trust Company bank building in downtown Bolivar, located at the corner of Main and Boss streets. 

Left: Chloe in Uptown Neon. Photograph by Justin Chesney | Center: The day Chloe bought the old bank building in Bolivar. Photograph by Natalie Kottwitz | Right: Chloe showing customers art in Uptown Neon in 2023. Photograph by Justin Chesney.

“This idea started wanting a little space [to work on neon when I visit home],” Kottwitz said. “But now, there is this really big building that I could grow into. And I can start to think about if this a space that could [help people] learn how to bend neon. There's a need for neon, but there [are not many places where people can] go and learn.”

The former 1800s vacant bank building — now aptly named Boss Street Neon — could give others in her hometown the time, space, and equipment needed to learn the specialized craft. 

“You just need time in the flames,” she said. “It’s so much muscle memory that it just takes time.”

When Kottwitz is back in Richmond, she envisions the building as a multi-use facility for other artists. Boss Street Neon could be a local creative gathering space, with opportunities for other artists to teach classes.

Reflecting back on her college years, Kottwitz encourages Allegany County students to not underestimate themselves or the value of where they come from.

“I think it’s important not to count yourself short,” she said. “Whatever choice you make is completely valuable, and you will have a place wherever you land.”

She also encourages local students who leave the area to remember home.

“Being able to love where you are from can make the world feel so much more connected,” Kottwitz said.

As she reflects on her path, Kottwitz remembers the support she received from ACAF as an important part of beginning her artistic journey. 

“The way it let me leap forward — I can’t express enough that it did have a huge impact on me,” she said. “Everything that ACAF is doing is exactly what everyone hopes for Allegany County … and giving back makes a huge difference in how we can all show up for each other.”

Watch the Full Conversation

Hear more from Chloe about discovering neon at Alfred University, becoming a full-time artist and business owner, the mentorship that shaped her career, and her plans to bring neon bending to Bolivar on ACAF’s YouTube channel.

To learn more about how you can support local students through scholarships with ACAF, visit our Donate page or contact Executive Director Bruce Campbell at 585-296-5616 or director@acafny.org.