Pam Anderson, image by Martha Smith
My vocation (day job) is Clinical Social Work. My own therapy and interest has been three dimensional arts since I was in my 20’s. By 1998 I was making and selling southwestern and wedding jewelry. I have degrees from the Universities of Missouri & Kansas. Raising a family in the mid-west I regularly traveled to the Southwest and the low Country of South Carolina where I found inspiration.
My mother, Marge Parker, was an accomplished portrait & abstract painter who lived and worked in the low country (South Carolina) for over 30 years. Along with that and having lived there for several years myself, my pottery work reflects the influence of coastal life.
Two of my 5 daughters are art educators and one is an interior designer. Amy Major is a ceramic artist who participates in Moon River Pottery and with her sisters has supported and encouraged me as I began exploring ceramics in 2009. I became a member of the Kansas City Clay Guild and 
studied throwing with Elly Biggerstaff and Brian Klapmeyer until July of 2014.
Pam Anderson’s Pottery Chop
My chop is Japanese Katakana characters (used for foreign names) for my initials. I was cared for by Japanese women as a small child during US military occupation of Japan and my mother began studying art in Japan at that time. I have an affinity for Japanese & Native American pottery and white objects.
The other three ceramic artists associated with MoonRiver Pottery support, teach and inspire each other on our creative journeys. A few pieces may have the hands and spirit of more than one potter’s work on them and could have more than one chop to represent this collaboration.
by Martha Smith