Watch the Artists At Work
Downtown Pocahontas features the wonderful Black River Beads and Pottery, where Jamie and his wife Mandy, a couple in their mid-thirties, put on a real show as you watch them produce hand-thrown pottery, blown glass, and their original product, the glass beads that have been sold worldwide via their website.
Living upstairs over their gallery and gift shop, Jamie, Mandy and their children can be considered pioneers in the redevelopment boom taking place in downtown Pocahontas. When Jamie’s factory job was “shipped to Mexico” a few years ago, he and Mandy decided to take the plunge into turning their hobby of hand-made glass beads into a full-time job, and things have turned out amazingly well.
Their shop, in the old Depression-era former City Hall building just around the corner from The St. Charles, even features a wonderful glass-blowing gallery in the old jail cell! And when the weather’s nice, Jamie often sets up his potter’s wheel outside on the sidewalk in front of the building, where you can watch him work in the fresh air. Don’t miss it if you visit Pocahontas.
