To retired nurse Pam Fockler, one woman’s trash is another woman’s art supply.
“It started with friends at the hospital,” she says. “They would bring in a piece of a shell, sea glass or something they wanted made into a piece of jewelry that they had found, … and I would make sea glass jewelry.”
Originally from Wooster, Fockler and her husband Earl moved to the Outer Banks, North Carolina, in 2003 when Outer Banks Hospital was in need of nurses experienced in telemetry to work in its new telemetry unit, and Fockler answered the call.
During her days off, Fockler walked the beaches, collecting sea glass, pieces of broken shells, driftwood and whatever else caught her eye, and she began to make ocean-inspired jewelry first for her friends and co-workers and then to sell or consign at local shops.
“My car was always full of sand, shells and sea glass,” she says, laughing.
It wasn’t until Fockler moved back to central Ohio, settling in Pickerington with Earl in 2014, to spend time with her grandchildren that she began creating sea glass art.
“When I got back to Ohio, I brought a huge pile of sea glass with me,” she says. “One thing led to another, and I started making sea glass art, and that seems to be more what I do now than glass jewelry.”
Fockler draws inspiration from her neighbors, nature and, especially, her two dogs, Reesee and Rubee, who have inspired many of her sea glass artwork.
“My dogs are my favorite pieces, I would say,” she says. “They inspire me.”
A typical piece of art takes anywhere from a few hours to a few days to create. Fockler starts by spreading her thousands of pieces of sea glass across the floor.
“I have a desk, but I find myself on the floor many times,” she says, “just to see what I can make.”
Fockler starts with picking a color and begins to select pieces from the array of shards spread across the floor, almost like putting together a complex puzzle.
“It’s a very long process,” she says. “One of my pieces I do that people love is hummingbirds. So, I try and create something that looks like a hummingbird. I might put a piece down and start creating it, and then I add this or take that away.”
One of the most interesting things about creating sea glass art, Fockler says, is the uniqueness of each piece.
“It’s not like paintings. You have to go with the pieces you have,” she says. “No two pictures are ever the same.”
While the artwork Fockler creates primarily features sea glass, she incorporates other found objects in her pieces as well when they fit the shape or color of her project.
“I’ve done wedding (gifts) where they want a bride and a groom, and if I can find the right shapes, I might make the backdrop to that,” she says. “I use pebbles, sometimes, that they might be standing on, or driftwood. I use whatever I can find.”
The best part about creating her artwork, she says, is the soothing nature of the creative process.
“I’ve recently retired, I was a nurse, and that was pretty intense at times, so retiring and doing something I enjoy has been a blessing,” she says. “It satisfies my need to work with my hands, and I just love the creativity that goes into each piece I create.”
Sarah Robinson is an editor. Feedback welcome at srobinson@cityscenemediagroup.com.
