Workhouse Artist of the Week: Pam Eisenmann

What do you get when you combine an old fork, a miniature propeller, a hunk of clay, a little whimsy and Workhouse ceramics artist? An aquatic duck-like creature on a motorcycle, of course.

Why a fork? “It makes for a great kickstand,” said Pam Eisenmann, Patch's Workhouse Artist of the Week, with a sly smile.

Pam’s “Aquatic Pretender” is one of several in a series of curious and unusual sculptures currently showing in the lobby of the Workhouse ceramics building. Her creature-themed artwork, inspired simply by every day things (and a twist of the fantastic) has made her a favorite among children and like-minded individuals over the years.

The daughter of a cattle rancher and artistically inclined mother, Pam spent a lot of time with family painters. “I think I knew from the time I was in elementary school that I wanted to be an artist,” said Pam. “So I painted and drew in elementary school and high school and then when I went off to college, I discovered clay. I liked the material. It was tactile, it felt good and I could make things from this amorphous material. I was really intrigued with the sculptural possibilities of clay.”

With a degree in art education and a studio major in ceramics from Ohio State University, Pam went on to teach art in the public school system. But after three years of teaching in Ohio, she was still thinking about working with clay. She was accepted into the University of Tennessee, where she decided to pursue a degree in “Related Arts, Crafts and Interior Design”, with a major in ceramics.

According to Pam, her creatures developed in graduate school, purely by chance. “One of my professors was showing us how to make ribbon handles from clay,” she said. “So I was making these flowing things… one day I looked at them and thought, ‘That looks alive!’ That’s when I started making these creature-based things. Initially they were not like real animals or real creatures, they just they had noses and mouths, ears, claws and legs and things, but they weren’t anything recognizable. They were just creatures. And then as I went on, I sort of refined them.”

Pam took her degrees and creatures with her when she moved to Korea as a civilian for the Army Arts and Crafts program. For two years she had a small shop and supervised six craft shops just seven miles from North Korea and the demilitarized zone. After another assignment in Heidelberg, Germany, where Pam met her husband Larry, she moved back to the states where she settled in the Washington, DC. area and changed careers. 

“I found a job at Walter Reed Army Medical Center managing their craft shop,” said Pam. "But after a while, it became more of the same. It was time to try something else.”

Pam’s government connections helped her migrate into her new field. Her 19-year-long career at the Smithsonian’s American Art Museum and Portrait Gallery as an Occupational Safety and Health Specialist ended last year. “I’m a Federal retiree,” she said, with a grin. “I get to do this full-time.”

Pam has been teaching at the Workhouse since its first semester in 2008 and has been a resident artist since 2009. “I’m in heaven," she said.

With no children of her own, Pam teaches ceramics to a crew of kids at the Workhouse. “I like to share what I do, what I know. I like to facilitate that creative process," she said. "Kids are really fertile little minds for that sort of thing. Kids love clay!”

As for her creatures, the kids are definitely drawn to them. Her students’ recent creations line the shelves of the ceramics studio classroom, emulating her style in all its fanciful spirit. “They wanted me to show them how to make their own creatures,” said Pam. “I love what they come up with.”

When Pam isn’t teaching, she’s throwing clay on the wheel and sculpting her artwork 30-40 hours per week at her studio. When she’s not a work, she says she’s always thinking about something. “I absorb images and ideas and words and concepts—and when I’m back at work, I think they sometimes come out unconsciously,” she said about her process.

Pam is serious about her art and serious about her process, but the running theme of her work leans toward absurd and playful notions. Cats and dogs in airplanes, and dragons and tiny warriors ready for battle are some of the subjects currently on display in her studio. “I suppose my work is unexpected, but it makes me happy,” said Pam. “I like to make people smile.

"Sometimes I’m not sure who my audience is,” said Pam. “There are men and women who buy my work, and sometimes they make a connection with what they see. I like to call it the aesthetic dialogue. I may have a particular purpose or message that I want to express, but the viewer comes with their own background. They’ve experienced something or seen something happen in their world, so there’s a conversation that goes on with them and the piece. And sometimes it’s not what I intended…and that’s what makes the experience richer.”