Pat Mikula calls herself a halfback. After living in New York, she moved to Florida, before finding her home halfway back in the mountains of Sylva. Mikula and her husband, Steve, shared a passion for riding motorcycles. But after an injury that prevented her husband from riding, Mikula traded one hobby for another and bought herself a pottery wheel and a kiln. Now she finds peace behind the wheel with clay in her hands.

Photo of Pat Mikula by Aleah Howell