By Anne Groebner

Pam Morris was a New York Trooper and an investigator for 22 years. Eventually, she and her husband, also a Trooper, whom she met on the job, moved to Tucson where she developed a love for the Southwest. Everything made her happy, from the culture and the art to the Talavera tiles she loved. She was away from the regiment of rules and regulations, uniforms and arrests. She was preparing to start a new life as an artist.

She had so much time on her hands that she started taking jewelry classes and stained glass classes, trying to get her hands into different forms of art. She fell in love with steampunk, too. An eclectic art form, rooted in the 19th-century Industrial Revolution, the Victorian era, and the Belle Époque. It combines formal Victorian clothing (corsets, top hats, waistcoats, and tailcoats) with adventurous or utility accents like aviator goggles, fingerless gloves, and tool pouches. The inspiration came from early literary pioneers such as Jules Verne (20,000 Leagues Under the Sea) and H.G. Wells (The Time Machine), alongside later historical/speculative works like The Difference Engine by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling. It’s all about music, fashion, art and books, using gears, glass and crystal and other industrial elements. It got her juices flowing.

She loves mixed media and works with crystal, gourds, leather, tile, and wood. It’s her favorite medium. She goes to yard sales and thrift shops and junkyards looking for things with good bones to make something with. Whether it’s a silver sugar bowl or a teapot, or a broken-down table. She tells me, “Upcycling is the only way to go.” She loves old things. Vintage clocks, old kerosene lanterns. Things with history and beauty, from a time when things were simpler. 

In the vintage items she finds, she gets inspiration. She looks at something for a while and thinks, “What are you going to be next? “ Are you still going to remain a table, or are you going to become something like a chair or pot stand? What am I going to do to make you beautiful and usable again?” Not only is it a hobby, but it’s also a passion. “It’s like I am the total opposite of what I was in my first life.” It keeps her happy, it keeps her busy, and if she makes a little money on the side, that’s great too.

During the 13 years she lived in Tucson, she sold her creations there until the store closed, and she also sold her art in Lake Havasu until that store closed. She was fortunate to find Jill and Richard, owners of Made in Greer in Pinetop. She brought a few items in, and she has been selling her art there for at least three years. Her desire is to build a fan base.

At the end of October, she takes her things back home, returning the next spring with some additional art. Her husband Walt, whom she calls a big handsome dude, is a tremendous supporter. They’ve been married for 40 years.



And then there’s Penny...She went to Alta Sierra Animal Clinic to buy some cat food for her cat named Katie, who has kidney disease, and spotted tiny Penny in a small kennel in the back. They told her the story about finding her in a box along with her three dead siblings, rescued by Tails of Love. After losing her previous dog to cancer, she decided to adopt Penny. She tells me, “She’s a beauty and a joy.”