PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. — Potter Pam Mabery prepped clay as she sat in her garage that had been repurposed into an art studio, complete with a pottery wheel and kiln.
“I started sculpting in high school,” she said. “I put it away for 30 years.”
Mabery became an engineer, and then one day a coworker reintroduced her to clay.
“First class I was hooked,” said Mabery. “It came right back to me. It was the most wonderful therapy for work. And I can’t stop now. I really can’t.”
Mabery sat behind an electric potter’s wheel, and she threw the ball of clay down hard.
“That’s the first step, centering the clay.”
But it’s this full-contact art form, which centers her.
“It brings a sense of peace to you. It’s very calming,” she said, adding that the clay wants to be uniform.
“Uniform wall thickness, very much like my previous career with sheet metal, you really want to have equal thickness in all areas,” said Mabery. “It makes the best possible shapes.”
Mabery used what she spent an entire career learning, to help her have a successful second one.
Events like IndieFaire in Gulport give her a chance to meet her public, see what other artists sell and gather with other creatives.
“Find the passion, I think, that you held anytime in your life and pursue it,” said Mabery. “This really appeals to me, and the fact that they sell, that’s really a bonus, hah!”