Asked and Answered: Potter, Educator and Local Businesswoman Jan Pacifico

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“I’m usually thinking about issues that are current in my life and trying to find resolutions. I often plan my day or think about what to cook for dinner. Sometimes I play the radio with loud oldies music and sing along, savoring the memories that classic rock and folk music bring up. I think a lot about my kids and grandkids and plan for getting together with them. I think about my work, especially any orders I might have or projects that my students are working on.”

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“I was very timid and shy in high school, and very conscientious about studying. I went to a Catholic girls’ high school, Our Lady of Mercy Academy for Young Ladies. My dad was very strict, and I think he thought he could make a ‘lady’ out of me. However, I really loved sports and art and wearing jeans, so the white-gloved-lady type part of my education didn’t really stick. I was on the basketball team, and we played games all over Long Island. We had so much fun on the bus rides to and from games, singing silly songs like ‘100 Bottles of Beer on the Wall.’ But I think you could safely say I was very innocent and sheltered.”

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“That’s a hard question to narrow down to just a few people. There are so many women who have put their lives on the line to secure equal rights for women and secure better lives for themselves and their families. I think of everyone from the suffragettes to Ruth Bader Ginsburg to women who traveled thousands of miles with small children to emigrate to a place where they can start a new life in a safe place with better opportunities. I especially think of all my grandparents who left behind family and friends in Italy and traveled in steerage on steamships to New York to start completely new lives in a place where they were not really welcomed, where they didn’t speak the language, but where they had hopes and dreams that they thought could be fulfilled. I think that took incredible courage and I am in awe of them.”

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“The only free time I usually have is after dinner. I love to knit, and I love to garden. I also love to cook and have family over for dinner. This year, I sustained several fractures, so I haven’t been able to work very much in my studio. Instead, I have spent a lot of time working on a family cookbook. It contains stories and pictures of my family members and includes lots of recipes and pictures of food in my pottery. I enjoyed writing it and I think I’d like to do more projects like that in the future.”

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“This is kind of a hard question to answer because I’m pretty much an open book. Something I think most people don’t know about me is that for a while in the late ’60s early ’70s, I worked doing textile conservation for the Brooklyn Museum and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. I was sent to Washington, D.C., to learn how to wash and mount ancient textiles. I then worked on the Coptic collection at the Brooklyn Museum for an installation of Coptic art. I wrote a monograph on the project which was published by the museum. The process included stitching the fragile textiles to backings by inserting a needle between individual warps and wefts. It was tedious and very hard on my eyesight, so I gave it all up to concentrate on my pottery.”

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 “This is a really hard one to answer. There are so many people to whom I am close and who are such an important part of my life. But when it really comes down to it, I would say my husband, George, is my very best friend. We have been through thick and thin together, sickness and health, good times and bad times. I know that I can tell him anything and he’ll never judge. He is a very quiet man, definitely a man of few words.

“But I especially remember one day when we were in pre-op, waiting for my surgeon to arrive. She was very late, and I was very nervous. He talked to me non-stop for an hour and a half to keep me calm. I have no idea what he talked about, or that he could possibly talk that much. He always listens to my rants and only gives me advice if I ask for it. Any advice he does give is always on the mark, practical and thoughtful. We could not be more different, but we often seem to read each other’s minds. We never feel compelled to talk, but I feel safe and comfortable with him, always.”

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“Yes, in 1989 I took a workshop with 96-year-old Acoma pottery treasure, Lucy Lewis and her two daughters, Emma and Dolores. The workshop was held in Chaco Canyon, and with two of my friends from Brooklyn, we camped there for 10 magical days. It was my first visit to New Mexico, and I immediately felt as though I had come home. I decided then and there that this was where I would spend the rest of my life, making pots and helping to keep traditional methods of making pottery alive.”

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“I’d have to say there were three. The first was my third grade teacher, Miss Malone who made me feel comfortable in my own skin as a human being. The second was John Blackley, my sophomore theology professor in college. He brought theology past the confines of organized religion and into the realm of spirituality and forever changed my views on religion and the spiritual. And third was Felipe Ortega, who taught me to work with micaceous clay. He learned his craft from his great aunt and dedicated his life to keeping the ancient process alive. He taught us how to dig and process the clay, to build pots in the traditional coil and scrape method, and how to do pit firing.

“We collaborated on many workshops here in New Mexico, Brooklyn, Vermont, Baja, Calif., and Belize. In Belize, we worked with potters in a Mayan village and helped them re-establish traditional methods of building and decorating pots with local clays and mineral paints, and how to do pit firings.”

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“This question always brings to my mind a scene in ‘An Affair to Remember’ with Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr. Cary Grant is waiting for her on the observation deck of the Empire State Building. They had met on a cruise and fallen in love. They agreed to meet in six months at the top of the Empire State Building if they still felt the same way. He waits all day, but she never shows up. He has no idea that rushing to meet him, she has been hit by a car and taken to the hospital. I think I love this scene because it always reminds me that what seems obvious isn’t always true. We should never jump to conclusions.”

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“I would love to have dinner with Ruth Bader Ginsberg, AKA the Notorious RBG. I have great admiration for her principles and her ferocity in fighting for them. I would like to ask her about how she was able to become close friends with another justice who held such opposing views from her, and how they built a friendship based on their mutual love of opera. I think our world is in need of that kind of wisdom right now, where we can respect and enjoy each other in spite of our differences.

“I would like to discuss with her how she thinks the fight for women’s rights will unfold over the next few years. And lastly, I would like to tell her how much of an inspiration she is for so many, overcoming illness and the constraints of age, to continue doing her job until the end.”

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 “I am incredibly proud of our children and grandchildren. Every single one of them has a kind heart and loving nature. I don’t think there is anything that could make me prouder of them. I am also proud of the Tomé Gallery and our place in the community. Our Soup R Bowl event is currently funding five $1,000 scholarships every year for arts and humanities students at the University of New Mexico-Valencia campus. We built this event from grass roots, with potters donating thousands of bowls over many years, and volunteers from the gallery, the campus and the community donating soups, breads and desserts. As a faculty member, I am acutely aware of the impact these scholarships have had for students. It’s a legacy that will continue long after I’m gone.”

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“I would like to be remembered as a kind and loving human being who used the talents I was given to make the world a little better than I found it. I hope that as a wife and mother, I have made a warm and welcoming, safe and fun home environment for our family. As a potter, I hope my work will bring beauty and joy to all the homes it lives in. As an educator, I hope that I added a new dimension to others’ lives and have enriched and changed them for the better.