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Music, Arts & Culture
The Jefferson Exchange

Lifelong artist returns to first love

By Vanessa Finney,
The Jefferson Exchange Team
Published October 16, 2025 at 12:35 PM PDT
Pam Haunschild in her studio.
Pam Haunschild in her studio.

Pam Haunschild rose to the top of her profession, teaching organizational theory at the business schools at Stanford and Texas-Austin. It's a long way off from her original interest, art. Pam had an art scholarship in front of her when she was young, but opted for the other path.

Then she retired from teaching and moved to Oregon. Now she's creating art on a regular basis, finding the joy in returning to an old love. Pam is the focus of the latest chapter of My Better Half, an examination of late-in-life accomplishments with JPR's Vanessa Finney.

Vanessa visits with Pam about her art and her inspirations in nature.

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Vanessa Finney
Vanessa Finney is JPR's All Things Considered host. She also produces the Jefferson Exchange segments <a href="https://www.ijpr.org/podcast/my-better-half" data-cms-id="00000185-836c-dcac-ad97-db6f9cf10000" data-cms-href="https://www.ijpr.org/podcast/my-better-half" link-data="{&quot;cms.site.owner&quot;:{&quot;_ref&quot;:&quot;0000016e-ccea-ddc2-a56e-edfe69b60000&quot;,&quot;_type&quot;:&quot;ae3387cc-b875-31b7-b82d-63fd8d758c20&quot;},&quot;cms.content.publishDate&quot;:1769795468777,&quot;cms.content.publishUser&quot;:{&quot;_ref&quot;:&quot;00000171-329f-d782-af71-f6bfe7650000&quot;,&quot;_type&quot;:&quot;6aa69ae1-35be-30dc-87e9-410da9e1cdcc&quot;},&quot;cms.content.updateDate&quot;:1769795468777,&quot;cms.content.updateUser&quot;:{&quot;_ref&quot;:&quot;00000171-329f-d782-af71-f6bfe7650000&quot;,&quot;_type&quot;:&quot;6aa69ae1-35be-30dc-87e9-410da9e1cdcc&quot;},&quot;cms.directory.paths&quot;:[],&quot;anchorable.showAnchor&quot;:false,&quot;link&quot;:{&quot;linkText&quot;:&quot;&lt;i class=\&quot;rte2-style-italic\&quot;&gt;My Better Half&lt;/i&gt;&quot;,&quot;attributes&quot;:[],&quot;attachSourceUrl&quot;:false,&quot;item&quot;:{&quot;_ref&quot;:&quot;00000185-836c-dcac-ad97-db6f9cf10000&quot;,&quot;_type&quot;:&quot;4bea2466-9ee6-3fd3-8a89-acef2455aa6b&quot;},&quot;cms.directory.paths&quot;:[],&quot;_id&quot;:&quot;0000019c-1007-dbc0-adde-f07793aa0000&quot;,&quot;_type&quot;:&quot;c3f0009d-3dd9-3762-acac-88c3a292c6b2&quot;},&quot;_id&quot;:&quot;0000019c-1007-dbc0-adde-f07792da0001&quot;,&quot;_type&quot;:&quot;809caec9-30e2-3666-8b71-b32ddbffc288&quot;}"><i>My Better Half</i></a> - exploring how people are thriving in the second half of their lives - and <a href="https://www.ijpr.org/podcast/the-creative-way" data-cms-id="0000018f-1b9b-dc88-ab9f-dfdb89620000" data-cms-href="https://www.ijpr.org/podcast/the-creative-way" link-data="{&quot;cms.site.owner&quot;:{&quot;_ref&quot;:&quot;0000016e-ccea-ddc2-a56e-edfe69b60000&quot;,&quot;_type&quot;:&quot;ae3387cc-b875-31b7-b82d-63fd8d758c20&quot;},&quot;cms.content.publishDate&quot;:1769795493758,&quot;cms.content.publishUser&quot;:{&quot;_ref&quot;:&quot;00000171-329f-d782-af71-f6bfe7650000&quot;,&quot;_type&quot;:&quot;6aa69ae1-35be-30dc-87e9-410da9e1cdcc&quot;},&quot;cms.content.updateDate&quot;:1769795493758,&quot;cms.content.updateUser&quot;:{&quot;_ref&quot;:&quot;00000171-329f-d782-af71-f6bfe7650000&quot;,&quot;_type&quot;:&quot;6aa69ae1-35be-30dc-87e9-410da9e1cdcc&quot;},&quot;cms.directory.paths&quot;:[],&quot;anchorable.showAnchor&quot;:false,&quot;link&quot;:{&quot;linkText&quot;:&quot;&lt;i class=\&quot;rte2-style-italic\&quot;&gt;The Creative Way&lt;/i&gt;&quot;,&quot;attributes&quot;:[],&quot;attachSourceUrl&quot;:false,&quot;item&quot;:{&quot;_ref&quot;:&quot;0000018f-1b9b-dc88-ab9f-dfdb89620000&quot;,&quot;_type&quot;:&quot;4bea2466-9ee6-3fd3-8a89-acef2455aa6b&quot;},&quot;cms.directory.paths&quot;:[],&quot;_id&quot;:&quot;0000019c-1007-d2ca-ad9c-36afdb640000&quot;,&quot;_type&quot;:&quot;c3f0009d-3dd9-3762-acac-88c3a292c6b2&quot;},&quot;_id&quot;:&quot;0000019c-1007-d2ca-ad9c-36afd9b10000&quot;,&quot;_type&quot;:&quot;809caec9-30e2-3666-8b71-b32ddbffc288&quot;}"><i>The Creative Way</i></a>, which profiles regional artists.
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The Jefferson Exchange Team
The Jefferson Exchange is Jefferson Public Radio's daily news program focused on issues, people and events across Southern Oregon and Northern California. Natalie Golay is the program's senior producer and Mike Green hosts the show.
See stories by The Jefferson Exchange Team