Divine Intersection ~ Chris Gold

Pitt Fired Deep Bowl by Chris Gold ~ Pots O Gold

This month's Divine Intersection artist is Chris Gold. Below she shares how she goes vertical with her creativity through beautiful pit fired pottery. To see Chris' work in person, stop by the Gallery @ Common Grounds Coffee Bar at Living Word Community Church. She is part of the current "Into The Wilderness" exhibit.

The Perfect Potter

"Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use?” Romans 9:21

"So I went down to the potter's house and I saw him working at the wheel. But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him. Then the word of the Lord came to me: 'O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter does?...Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand'..." Jeremiah 18:3-6

Clay was brought to me later in life. After we moved to York in 1993, my daughter was blessed with the opportunity to work with pottery in high school. She brought her finished products home to share with us and I became fascinated with the thought of how she took a formless piece of "stuff" and molded it into something useful. Since she enjoyed her classes so much and I was clearly drawn to it, we decided to explore this form of art/craft together and began taking classes from a local potter, Jill Pelligrino.

I grew up in a Christian home, and our congregation frequently sang this old hymn with the lines, "You are the potter, I am the clay...Mold me and make me after thy will... " I sang that song in church without really thinking about the words because I didn't know what being a potter was all about. As I began working with clay, that hymn would creep into my mind and I started thinking about the real meaning behind the song writer's words. The more I meditated on the subject, the more parallels I could find between the whole process of making a pot and our relationship with God. I'm sure any Christian who has worked with clay has had the same line of thinking.

You Start with a Lump of Clay....
There are different types of clay or "clay bodies." Some potters make their own from scratch digging it right out of the ground and processing it so that it can be used. Most potters I know use clay that is commercially available. Each clay body has unique properties. The potter chooses the type of clay based on what he/she wants to do with it and the finished product
desired. Sometimes clay bodies become contaminated with certain impurities that may not be known to the potter until the final phase of production. These impurities can have an undesirable impact on how the wares turn out and ruin the finished product, leaving the artist very frustrated!

We are God's clay! He created us from the ground up (Genesis 2:7) and uses us in unique ways as He sees fit. We all have our own clay properties. Some of us are made to be around people and are extroverted. Others are more introspective and shy. There are people who express their emotions openly and others who are more reserved. Some of us are driven and won't stop until we drop and others are laid back and easy going. God can use us as His clay to mold us into anything He wants.

We also have impurities! Our "clay body" can become contaminated with anger, jealousy, addictions, selfishness, and other sins that ruin us. However, God is the perfect potter and He knows how to use those impurities to His advantage. God's glory can be displayed when we give Him credit for helping us rid ourselves from sin. Of course, the ultimate cleanser of our clay body is Jesus!


We Are Made For a Purpose...
When I first stared working with clay, sometimes I would just put some clay on the wheel and whatever shape I was able to get was what I worked with. There are so many different things you can do with the medium of clay! I wanted to try it all. Now, before I even put the clay on the wheel, I usually have a plan for it. The plan may be for a mug, bowl, plate, or decorative piece. As I gain more experience, I am learning that "functional" pottery isn't my gift as a potter; functional being a term we use to denote pots that can hold food and water. More bowls, pitchers, plates, and tea pots have made their way from my studio to the trash than to people's kitchens! Instead, I use a set of techniques that lends itself to more decorative purposes.

As the perfect potter, God takes our clay and knows from the get go what he needs from it. He shapes us into who He needs us to be (and He can do it all). This is why everyone in His kingdom is important, from the person behind the scenes of a church congregation to the one up front in leadership roles.

Just as I've struggled with the type of pottery I create, I have struggled in recent years to find what kind of pottery I am. What is my role in His kingdom? I've prayed for God to show me what He needs me to be, and some of my confusion is most likely my resistance to His hands that are trying to shape me. I have faith that He's a patient potter and that He will eventually mold me into what I'm supposed to be if I allow it to happen!


The Stress of the Fire...
After the clay is shaped on the wheel, the excess clay is trimmed from the form when it dries to a "leather hard" stage. There is still enough moisture in the clay to allow fine tuning the shape or carving designs into the surface with various tools. As the pots dries further it gets to the "bone dry" state where almost all the water is gone from the clay. This is called "green ware" and has very little use because it would break so easily. For my decorative pots, I add another step at this bone dry stage called "burnishing." I rub a smooth stone over the entire pot that gives a shiny smooth coat to the surface. Then I do an initial bisque firing in my electric kiln, followed by a second firing in a 50 gallon oil drum with different chemicals and hard wood scraps. The purpose of the first firing is to make the brittle green ware stronger so it can take the harsh environment of the primitive barrel firing. If all goes well (and MANY things can go wrong for the less-than-perfect potter) my pots don't crack or explode and the result is a vessel with a varied, smoky, satin smooth surface that is strong enough to withstand decorative use.
Life happens and it's the fires in life we encounter that can make us stronger. If there were no challenges in our lives, we'd be as weak as the green ware pot, able to break with the smallest insult. All of us have been through fires of varying degrees. It may simply be the change of our daily routine as we set out on vacation or as devastating as divorce, being laid off from our job, or loosing a loved one. One of the blessings we have as Christians is the choice we have to lean on God when we're going through the kiln of life. If we have enough faith and we allow Him to hold us up, He gets us through the fire and we don't come out a "cracked pot." Instead, we come out stronger, able to stand and serve whatever purpose He has for us.

Chris Gold, “Pots O Gold” Pottery
to contact Chris email potsogold@comcast.net

Terra Sig Swirled Bottle by Chris Gold ~ Pots O Gold