Art at church continues

It’s 2024 and the art installations at our church have continued, and I have continued to manage the team. 

In 2023 we made installations for Easter and Christmas. 

For easter we made very large semi-abstract artworks out of paper, inspired by Matisse. It was lovely to see the other ladies of the team come up with the idea and enact it. As manager I primarily concern myself with building and caring for the team, starting each project with enough time to complete it, and providing an administrative umbrella under which the other members of the team can use their creative gifts to serve God and their church community.

Christmas 2023 involved five cardboard/paper cutout layered artworks lit up inside boxes. We ‘unwrapped’ one each Sunday of December, with the final one being unwrapped Christmas Day. I actually did more drawing for this project than I had for any of them, which was enjoyable. Each artwork paired scenes from Christmas stories with titles of Jesus.

And for easter 2024 we decided to do something completely different and built an almost-life-sized tomb out of donated and recycled materials. It was a hit!

As this installation was the most robust out of everything we have made so far, there is talk of lending it out to other churches for their use in coming years.

Art installations at church

This year brought a significant gear shift on the art front, as I took a maternity leave of sorts from illustration - welcoming my daughter Bonnie at the end of January 2022.

My husband and I also started at a new church (Kurrajong North Richmond Anglican), and the change brought new ministries that I came to be involved in. One of these was starting and managing a team of artists to make meaningful art installations in our church hall - installations that were to compliment and enhance whatever was going on in the life of our church. 

Each of these installations was very much the product of collaboration - I can't take the credit for how well they each turned out. But I am proud of what we managed to do - especially since all contributors were volunteers and busy women.

The first installation was for Easter. We decided to make a crown of thorns, with the artwork changing slightly between Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday. 

Alicia making finishing touches

Good Friday 

Updating it for Easter Sunday - Rianna had the idea of adding flowers.

The term after Easter we further adjusted the crown of thorns to turn it into a grapevine for a sermon series on 'Peace and Rest'. 

The grapevine (Ruth and Alicia did a lovely job of the grapes and leaves).

After installing a wooden cross as a 'default' (Thanks Ray/Grandad/Bonnie's babysitter), the next big project was a giant advent calendar for Christmas. This was themed as a town of Bethlehem, where eight buildings would have doors that would open on eight consecutive Sundays from the start of November leading up to Christmas. I came up with the initial idea but intentionally kept my ideas vague and the three other artists on the team for the project ran with it and gave it life and definition. We ended up making the town out of cardboard, paint and sand, and having silhouette pieces for a nativity scene being found each week - with a poetic clue hidden inside each door which indicated what the piece for the week was and where it was to be found in the church hall. It was intentionally interactive and kid-friendly. In addition to this, we managed to get members of church dressed up in biblical costume and filmed doing Christmassy bible readings - with a video being shown each week in conjunction with the advent calendar. It was a lot of fun, and our church community really enjoyed it.

Hanli figuring out composition

Multiple making sessions

The finished town

Silhouettes!

Towards the final week

Myself, Gaye and Alicia posing for a shot (Hanli also worked on this project but is missing here).