Our worship and arts team has been transitioning away from floral
arrangements in our worship space for some time. We have had fewer
people sign up to provide flowers, and the committee has been hesitant
to spend money on weekly arrangements that didn't seem to speak to
worshipers in the way they did in generations part. The committee has
taken this as an opportunity to expand what we offer in our worship
space, by including the visual arts. Our first foray into this was
for Pentecost this year.
Member Barbara Brinson has been dabbling in stained glass for some time. As we developed our plan for worship art installations in the sanctuary she shared an interest in creating something in glass. Over the course of several months we shared in committee meetings her planning, design, and execution of the project, as well as the usual emotional work that artists endure as they create something. The end product was ready a couple of weeks ago, and we installed it late last week.
The piece is 28.5 inches square with zinc borders. One piece is chipped which we agreed was part of the charm of the overall work. The piece was well-received by both worshiping congregations yesterday. We intend to have the piece framed and later installed in our facility. We purchased a nice easel to support the piece, as those we had on hand were too flimsy to support. We hope to have other stained glass pieces to display similarly in the future.
In addition to Pentecost festivities, we designated 5/20 to be our own congregation's 110th birthday, so there were balloons and cake to round out the visual feast.
