Carolina Crafting

Pat Siler is a studio potter living in Murphy, NC.  Her studio, Back Creek Pottery, overlooks the NC and GA mountains.  She and her husband, Ed, enjoy selling their pottery at festivals in western North Carolina and north Georgia.

Pat‘s love for pottery began in her hometown of Asheboro, NC, just a few miles north of the famous Seagrove, NC area.  She and Ed raised their three sons on Back Creek Road, just west of Asheboro.  They owned and operated Parkway Pottery, a pottery consignment shop representing over 30 area potters, located on the road to the NC Zoological Park in Asheboro.  Pat took a beginning pottery class at the NC Pottery Center in Seagrove and fell in love with the craft.  In 2006, Pat and Ed realized their dream of living in the mountains, sold their home and their business and moved to Murphy, NC.  Prior to their move, Pat was a paralegal while Ed ran the shop.  She could not find a job in the legal field after the move.  At the invitation of a friend, she began dabbling in pottery in his studio.  Pat has had private lessons as well as classes at John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, NC and worked very hard to find her niche in the pottery field.

Nature themed designs and hand built birdhouses were where she was drawn.  Pat enjoys handbuilding all types of slabbed dishes, platters, birdhouses and mushrooms.  Recently, she has been perfecting her wheel thrown bowls decorated with animals and nature designs.  She and Ed exhibit in approximately 25 shows a year.  “It is very rewarding to have customers follow you from show to show and collect your pottery!” says Pat.  “I will always be amazed that I am considered an artist when making pottery just plain old fun.  I am living the dream I never knew I had.  The days of making mud pies out of red clay when I was young have paid off!”