Sanibel resident Chris Christian has had a 35+-year career as an architect designing and building multi-national projects. Now retired, he is able to spend more time pursuing his interests in pottery, cycling, volunteering with SCCF, and enjoying Sanibel community events.
“I was originally introduced to ceramics as part of a broader based education in the arts to complete my graduate degree in Architecture and was immediately taken with the simple nature of a medium that transforms and reacts to heat and fire ,from something that washes away with water, to something that can last 1000 years in contrast to the complexities of building design. I enjoy the visualization of a piece before I begin and the directness of the movement of clay in response to the hands.
I work with both Raku and electric kiln firing methods on wheel thrown and hand formed pieces to produce an array of items such as bowls, vases, platters, canisters and hanging vessels and will often carve, texture and deform pieces, drawing inspiration from our island environment while attempting to avoid being derivative. I am interested in form, texture, positive/ negative figure ground studies, and experimenting with color through a combination of glazes and clay bodies.”