On a four-pronged stool, a young woman sits, preparing a ball of clay to be thrown on the potter’s wheel before her. The quiet studio is dusty; the art residue turning afternoon sunlight into a soft, dawn fog. Nodding her approval she centers the clay on the wheel.
Naomi Woolsey, a Houghton graduate of 2010, has been practicing ceramics in Houghton College’s studio for over 5 years. She did not major in art, but has felt a love for creating ever since she was a child. “Some of my first memories are of playing in the creek here at Houghton when I’d visit my grandparents,” said Woolsey, “I’d make tiny pots out of the creek clay.” She paused, laughing softly, “Things have really come full circle.”
Woolsey is currently the Teacher’s Assistant for Professor Gary Baxter’s ceramics classes including Ceramics 1, Ceramics 2, and Figurative Clay Sculpture. Baxter became acquainted with Woolsey when she took his ceramics classes as a student. He noticed her aptitude for acquiring necessary skills and the joy she derived from creating. Thomas Eckert ‘16, a student in Ceramics 1 this past semester said, “Naomi’s joy is evident from the way she works. That joy is imbued in the pieces she produces.”
When asked about her craft Woolsey explains, “A lot of potters become potters because they fall in love with the material. You’ve got your hands in it. You can really immerse yourself in earth, fire, water, air.” She went on saying, “It records your movement. Even your fingerprint could stay there for tens of thousands of years.”
After graduation Woolsey helped out in the ceramics studio and continued making her pieces. A year later when the TA position became available she was the natural choice. Her responsibilities now include helping students, doing demonstrations, firing the kilns, and constituting glazes. Baxter has been very pleased to work with her and said, “She’s very responsive, willing to help where she can, and reliable.”
While at Houghton, Woolsey studied Theology and Biblical Studies and has used that training in her artwork. In 2012, Woolsey started an online Etsy site because her basement started filling up. Since the foundation of the shop it has grown sustainably. Luminaries – rounded, decoratively porous candle holders – are among her bestselling items. She also specializes in communion sets and liturgical ware.
In addition to these objects, she also produces work on commision. Last year she was hired by a church in Rochester to make a prayer vessel. The church leaders wanted a physical object to be used in the liturgy where written congregational requests could be placed and later incorporated into the pastoral prayer. The main idea to be conveyed by the piece was that God hears our prayers and God’s people hear our prayers.
Woolsey explained, “Thinking about my field in ceramics and imagery in the Bible I created a vessel that brought together the ideas of the golden bowls placed before God in Revelation and the story in Exodus of Moses and the burning bush. Both of these images convey ideas of God hearing prayer and acting on it by enabling a human servant to hear the people’s prayer and act on it.”
The concept of the From Islands to Cathedrals tour is to walk the audience through the entire story of Tenth Avenue North and their music. “Starting real stripped down we will add band members and instruments building bigger and bigger as the story is told,” explained Donehey. Tenth Ave.’s four albums are linear and inform each other in meaningful, philosophical ways. The first album is a call to the Gospel. The next two albums encourage Christians to engage their struggles honestly and courageously and to help each other through life. In Islands, which is a companion of the upcoming full length album, Cathedrals, Tenth Avenue North discusses the ways Christians isolate themselves from community; the last track of the EP, “Just Getting By” speaks about living in an increasingly digitally influenced world. The focus of the music then shifts from isolation to the goodness and importance of being in community with one another. Donehey explained, “Once we become a community we become a place of sanctuary. We no longer have to wait for a sacred space or vocation. We make our vocations sacred. We make every place we walk into sacred because the Spirit of God walks with us wherever we go.” Tenth Avenue North has a distinctly Christ-centered, authentic, uplifting approach to music that a lot of people really enjoy.
While the campus has waited expectantly for this great performance there has been a flood of activity behind the scenes among Houghton College students and faculty working to make the concert possible. Months of planning and detailing involving many offices has lead up to this Saturday’s performance. However, tomorrow the band itself will mainly be supported by Houghton College’s student audio tech team. Professor Jackson who oversees the team said, “Our job as a college and as a tech team is to make the band’s job as easy as possible- that is, to able to minister that night. We are able to do the work of Christ by helping bands like Tenth Avenue North be better musicianaries. I can’t be successful in my job unless the team comes through and the team always comes through.” Concerts like this Saturday’s are not only a chance for the campus to experience meaningful worship, but also an opportunity for many in the student body to serve alongside a successful worship band to achieve a high goal.
Grace described the purpose of Birds of the Northeast, saying, “This project stands for truth and the understanding of who I am – even the darkest and most true parts of me. I wanted it to sound like how I feel, what my head sounds like. I took what was going on emotionally in my head and translated it instrumentally.”