Incorporating non-digital art...

[pianomandan]

I am curious how many of you use or have used pictures of non-digital art (paintings, drawings, stained glass,etc) as a part of your service? Attached are two that we have used. In both cases the artists were thrilled to have their work on the big screen. In both cases we found great ways to incorporate them.

[[Director] Joseph B]

I'd incorporate a chorus of barking dogs if it enhanced the message. (Please no sermon suggestions).
Seriously though if you've ever listened to Jason Moore - Stained glass and paintings were the original church media, you just went full circle!

[Gene]

We use paintings occasionally, more often around Christmas. I'd be thrilled if anyone in the congregation offered up such things for use, but in 5+ years of doing church media, what goes on screen is pretty much stuff I've created or gotten from the MXC.

[pianomandan]

Stained glass and paintings were the original church media, you just went full circle!

Cool... I like the 'full circle' concept.

Music has come full circle as well... in the Bible, David played the lute (basically a guitar). I'll skip the music history lesson & say that churches started using the organ once they became popular. Now most churches are headed back to the guitar. To any person who claims the guitar doesn't belong in church - and that only organs are appropriate for church, just point to the Bible. Yep... full circle.

As a side note - John Wesley was against the use of the organ, as they were a symbol of wealth, and he felt that church should be for all.

[BSiler]

We have had a sculpture, an artist and dancers. Each at a different service througout the year and each very closely related with the message. It made service very interesting!

[Dean]

Originally Posted by pianomandan

I am curious how many of you use or have used pictures of non-digital art (paintings, drawings, stained glass,etc) as a part of your service?

Just this past Advent season my wife did a series of original watercolor paintings that were on display at the front of the church. It caused quite a bit of anticipation each week to see what the next painting would be. The six paintings are now hanging in the Gathering Area as reminders of that series.

[pianomandan]

Just this past Advent season my wife did a series of original watercolor paintings that were on display at the front of the church.

Dean - that sounds great! Are you planning to use digital copies of those paintings in the future as part of your media ministry?

[[Admin] osborn4]

I guess it depends on what you mean by "use."

Every time anyone enters our sanctuary, they see all the stained glass.

However, that is not directly referred to in the worship service. Very few know the stories behind all the windows.

However, if I want an illustration of a Bible story, quite often I will find an old painting or a stained glass representation that I will use.

[WilliamR]

My wife volunteers with our children's ministry. We were discussing just a few days ago with getting the 3-5 grade kids to do drawings around a central theme. I was thinking of using them on the screen over a few weeks either as "welcome" images or perhaps images displayed while the pianist plays while the offering is collected.

We got the idea basically from our local TV station that features one weather-related drawing at the end of their weather cast. It seems like a cool way of involving the kids.

[Dean]

Originally Posted by pianomandan

Dean - that sounds great! Are you planning to use digital copies of those paintings in the future as part of your media ministry?

Actually, we worked together on this series. I normally create the graphics for the services anyway, so she added her input to that process. After the graphic was finalized she would create a painting based on that graphic. So, on Sunday mornings the matted watercolor was on an easel on stage and a matching graphic was displayed on the screen. The amusing thing was that folks assumed that I merely reproduced her painting to make the graphic when it was actually the opposite. Do I plan to use reproductions of the artwork in graphics? I'm not sure. If the opportunity arises, yes. But I have no current plans to do so.

The question now is "What do we do with them?!"

[Gene]

Talking about actual paintings and not just reproductions of them reminds me of a worship conference I went to a while back. I missed it on the Friday night, but at the worship service they had, an artist painted a picture during the service, with her design driven by how the service moved her. It was off to one side of the sanctuary, so if people found it distracting they didn't have to look, but it's a pretty cool idea if you've got a painter in the congregation who doesn't mind having people watching.

[pianomandan]

William R - Here's one way we included Sunday School artwork...

I have found that using the kids' artwork gets everybody excited about the media... especially the grandma's & grandpa's!