Advent 2019

This is from Advent 2019. I had this on Facebook but never got it here. Our alternative worship space is set for a dinner at the moment, but this is the visual installation for Advent-Christmas, a representation of "immanence" with stars coming near to the earth. This is three hues of toile fabric, with small lights interwoven. A group of youth made the stars several years ago.

 

Pentecost 2019

We went with something of a variation on a theme this year. We've used toile hung from the ceiling in the sanctuary before, but it was more abstract, from point to point.

This year I used a central nexus for the fabric, so the long pieces shot off in various directions. It was hard to get the rack centered and level at height, but the end effect was fine.

We also used toile for the lectern and pulpit paraments, and one of our member's large stained glass made a return appearance.

In the fellowship hall I went with a single strip of toile from ceiling to floor, and then laid more fabrics on top of it to continue under the table all the way to the lectern/podium.

Fabric strips on the table puddled on the floor. The idea was to symbolize the flame engulfing all of the liturgical furniture.

Art Installations Lent 2019

To begin, our art installations this year were characterized by two very different formats for our two worship spaces. We envisioned a set of five pieces for the sanctuary that spanned the (liturgical) east wall of the nave, the lectern, table, pulpit and were complete on the opposite wall. Thematically it was one large-scale piece, in 5 segments. The idea was that over the six weeks of Lent, elements of the pieces would be let go as we passed them in the Sunday readings. We used a similar color scheme in the fellowship hall, and used a six-part plan, but the panels were much more closely configured on a single pole hung on a wall. For the thematic elements we selected vivid images from any/all of the weekly lections though in reality most Sundays we actually hear only the gospel lection read in worship. Because of the peculiarities of our worship life we switched Lent 2 and Lent 3 this year. What follows is based on how we executed everything. From the Bible readings we got, in order of the weeks: eagle/wings (Psalm 91); water (Isaiah 55); stars (Genesis 15); fence (the prodigal son story in Luke and the imagined fence that must have corralled the swine with whom he dwelt for a time); oil/pitcher (when Mary anoints Jesus in John 12). Finally the tree will be removed to reveal a cross that will carry us through Holy Week. Here are some pictures of the final products. We are much-indebted to the many hands that helped bring this off!

The sanctuary:

The fellowship hall:

Folk immediately noticed the missing eagles in the sanctuary. With the blue (water) gone for the second week, things look rather stark already. Some folks have had a bit of a hard time wrapping their heads around "letting go" of certain Bible images, but we hope that repetition of the concept that we are letting go for a time as an act of spiritual discipline will begin to resonate more fully with them.