Once freed from the discipline of production throwing, Kelly has moved in the direction of one of a kind pieces and series periodically returning to functional items. Glazes are uncomplicated want the work to speak for itself rather than the glaze being center stage. Pat Kelly graduated from the Rochester Institute of Technology with a degree in Graphic Design and studied ceramics at the School for American Craftsmen with such notables as Frans Wildenhain and Jim Seacrest. In 1970, she founded a pottery, Depot Creek Studio, with her husband, in upstate New York. She was best known at the time for her production functional pieces. She participated in several of the large craftsmarkets, Springfield, Rhinebeck, and Baltimore and sold her work in craftshops throughout the U.S., among them Dean and DeLuca and Tiffanys in New York City. A line of her work was also represented as an accessory line in a furniture show room at the High Point Furniture Market. Her pottery has appeared in House and Garden, House Beautiful and Country Living magazines. Her functional work has been described as showing the clean lines and functionality of Japanese and Shaker influence. In the last few years she has explored using large wheel thrown components in sculpting abstract forms and reforming functional pots into more sculptural pieces. Lately the themes of fish and the sea are becoming prominent in her work.