Pat Kelly

There is something comforting about Hyannis based potter Pat Kelly. You first notice it in her southern Pennsylvania accent.


As she invites you into her home to talk about work and art, you feel relaxed, as with a neighbor.

As you watch her work and see the finished product of her labors, it becomes clear that Pat is a devoted artist. Her ceramic work shows the care, precision of technique and quality of emotion that is missing in many other potters wares.

Ten years after graduation from high school she enrolled in college. Then she passionately pursued an undergraduate degree in fine arts from Seton Hill College, Pa. Then followed a Masters in fine arts from Indiana University. She studied painting, drawing and sculpture extensively in Lucca, Italy while a graduate student.

Today Kelly hand builds in stoneware and hand casts in porcelin. She shapes unique forms by using common objects found in every day encounters. They take on new meaning through her careful use of design and her studied use of color. Her work is refreshing as it blends her rural innocence and honesty with an intellectual concept of form. Her pieces are both beautiful and functional. They celebrate the "simpler" things while taking artistic notions one step further.

Throughout the years Kelly has developed all of her own clay and glaze formulas, hand mixing in the studio. She wants to be sure the pieces are safe for table use and artistically pleasing at the same time. 

Aside from being a full time artist, Pat is on the board of the Barnstable Cultural Council, Vice-president of the Cape Cod Artisans' Guild, and a member of the Society of Cape Cod Craftsmen. 

For the past twenty years Pat has exhibited her work throughout New England, Connecticut, New York, and Pennsylvania. She also has works in collections overseas. 

"I intend to continue working in clay for at least another twenty years. I have only just begun to make a statement."

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All art shown is a creation of Pat Kelly