For Advent, we put up a new stage background and added eight large canvasses around the room.

The window design is a paper cutout of the same design found in st. vincent de paul (the cathedral sojourn is likely going to purchase on shelby street).

The canvasses going around the room hopefully makes the room a little more unified rather than just being a separated stage and 'audience'.  The same canvasses will be reworked four times a year when we change the stage background.

The design was made by Tyler Deeb, who runs pedale design.  The digital, diamond-shaped design was turned into a silkscreen and printed with metallic gold ink.

This is what the front of the room looks like.  The light pattern on the green wall is created using the existing track lighting shining off of mirrors, which were hot glued to the ceiling.  There are also lights shining from the floor onto tree branches, creating shadow patterns on the wall.  The concept for this was generated by Katherine Groce and was based on the idea that in Christ becoming a human baby, heaven met earth.  The shadows moving up the wall, and the mirrored light are meant to reflect this truth.

Sunday, January 17th

9:15 a.m. in Room 310

Psalms Meeting #4 will be the one where we start dividing up tasks for the 'Prayer & Wisdom' installation that will open at the 930 on Feb. 26th.  So, you don't want to miss this one.  If you don't show up we might just assign you a really tough job nobody wants, like figuring out how to submerge a couch in a large aquarium (Psalms 6:6).

Here's the idea list and notes from our meeting this past Sunday:

PRAYER EXHIBIT IDEAS

IDEAS BASED ON PSALMS CONTENT

A TREE PLANTED BY STREAMS OF WATER (1) – A modified tree, hung with ribbon and fruit.  Covered white maybe.  Make a seat that looks like water so kids can sit there under the tree.

2 PATHS (1) – Two paths made on the floor.  One crumbled, maybe including broken teeth of the wicked.  The other path clean and straight.

THE HIGH AND THE LOW (2) – Depictions of kings, movie stars, politicians.  Somehow show how God is much bigger than them and their plans.

SHIELD + SUN (3, 84, 91, 115) – A shield hung from the ceiling with an inscription: “Thou o Lord are a shield for me, the glory and lifter of my head.” (3).  Have arrows in flight as well.

QUESTIONING CLOCKS (4) – “How long O Lord?”  Hang clocks on the wall, each covered with a question mark.

PROUD CAN’T STAND (5) – Depictions of prideful and powerful people, but with their legs cut off.

OPEN GRAVE THROAT (5) – A mouth with a coffin in it.

I DRENCH MY COUCH WITH TEARS (6) – Submerge a couch in a tank of water.

FINGER-PRINTED STARS (8) Stars imprinted with finger prints.

LION IN WAIT (10) – Nail drawing or photo collage of a lion in wait.  Potentially place in relation to a deer panting for water (42:1)

IT’S RAINING TRAPS (11:6) – A silhoutte figure ducking to get out from under the heavy rain of bear traps falling from a dark cloud overhead.

LIP GRID (12) – Psalms references lips and tongues a ton.  Have a wall full of lips pictures in different expressions.  Alternatively, arrange lips and ears randomly around the space and connect with lines.  Hang written prayers from these lines.

JESUS CAN STAND IN THE SANCTUARY (15) – An interactive puzzle piece making up an image of Jesus.

HEAVENS DECLARE (19) – Stacked televisions all showing cosmic images.

POURED OUT LIKE WATER WITH BONES OUT OF JOINT (22:14) – “I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. My heart has turned to wax; it has melted away within me.” Make a small pool of water.  A cross on the bottom in paint or mosaic.  Bones floating on top, kept moving by a water pump.

HE MAKES ME LIE DOWN IN GREEN PASTURES (23) – A regular bed except the mattress is made of grass.

CUP OVERFLOWS (23) – using a fountain pump, have grape juice continually overflowing a cup.  Label cup salvation (116).

TASTE + SEE (34) – Have a cake made.  With icing write on it, “Taste and see: The Lord is good.”

WHY SO DOWNCAST (42:5) – A looping video with two separate scenes, one showing a soul in difficulty, the other showing the same person happy.

BE STILL AND KNOW THAT I AM GOD (46, 19, – A large suspended cone.  Viewers would need to stoop down to step inside.  Once inside they’d see a view of outer space, possibly backlit paper cutouts or maybe a projection.  On the floor, a print of animals put under feet.

LIST MY TEARS ON YOUR SCROLL, JARS OF TEARS (56) – A scroll with numbered tear drop shapes covering the entire surface. Shelves with tears labeled with names.  Accounting log books too maybe.

REFINED LIKE SILVER (66:10) Place silver pieces on the wall in the shape of a human figure.  Or black pieces that fade into silver, like charcoal to diamond.

FORTRESS (71:13) – On a stack of bricks, spray paint images of a sword and/or shield using stencils.  Alternatively make the image moveable for kids to put together on the floor like a puzzle.

BREAD OF HEAVEN (78)  - Create a plywood cloud from which hang loaves of bread or angel food cake.  People are instructed to ‘take only what you need’.

UNDER THE SHELTER OF GOD’S WINGS (17, 36, 57, 61, 63, and 91) – A plaster of paris wing set with feathers and lit in such a way to cast a large shadow on the floor.

GOD’S FEATHERS (91) – hundreds of feathers hung by strings from the ceiling.

FUTILE THOUGHTS (94) – A headpiece contraption that looks like it might read brain waves, hooked to a monitor.  When someone puts it on the word ‘futility’ scrolls on the monitor over and over again.

TURN YOUR EAR TO ME (102) – A wall-mounted sculptural ear is attached to the wall with pivoting brackets.  There is a hole in the ear.  Visitors are encouraged to write a prayer for their needs and place it through the hole and it’s caught in a fish bowl.

I EAT ASHES (102) – A table with one place setting.  A plate full of ashes.  A cup full of tears.

AS FAR AS EAST FROM WEST (103) – At the furthest spot east, put a small figure labeled ‘me’.  At the furthest point west, put some symbol representing sin, and label ‘my sin’.  Alternatively have a conveyor belt that moves some object representing sin to the farthest part of the room.

WRAPPED IN LIGHT (104) – Make a suit out of lights or weave a blanket out of Christmas lights.  Display the actual thing or just show a photograph.

CALENDARS (118) – “This is the day the Lord has made.  Let us rejoice and be glad in it.”  Have that quote on each block of a March 2010 calendar.  People can take a copy.

HIS LOVE ENDURES FOREVER (136) – Use a heart border around the entire gallery.

LIPS DOORWAY (141:3) Transform the main entrance into a giant set of lips that everyone must walk through.

LET EVERY BREATH ANIMALS (150) – Animals cut out of tin.  The animals heads are turned up towards heaven with mouths open.  The text of Psalms as the background.

LET EVERY BREATH MIRROR (150) - On a mirror, smudge the words ‘praise the lord’.  When someone breaths on the mirror,

IDEAS BASED ON MATERIALS/PROCESSES

STICK FLOW – Like Eric Scholtens has done before, make many sticks available for a tinker toys sort of abstract sculpture that fills a corner of the room.

CABINETS WITH PROJECTIONS – Mount cabinets to the wall and inside have baby projectors customized to project psalms text or themes from the psalms, maybe reflecting the creation psalms.

POWER CORD TEXT – anything that gets plugged in could use an orange extension cord wall mounted and arranged to spell words with the cord.

LIFE SIZE PHOTO COLLAGES – Use the laser printer and recombine to make large photo-based prints.

FRAMES – A large area of wall space full of framed images.

IDEAS BASED ON SOUND

BASKETBALL CHIMES – Make a basketball and goal available.  Instead of a regular net, have chimes.  Possibly connect to the piano underneath the chimes, so that the ball hits the piano.

SING PRAISES KARAOKE PSALMS – Have a karaoke machine show Psalms.  Provide the microphone and a small amp so people can try singing the psalms.

RECORDED AMBIENT - Records lots of different types of drones and ambient styled music without beats or distinct tempo. Record them all in the same key, so that there is harmony between them. Set up speakers in various corners of the gallery. Some can be aggressive. Some can be somber. Some can be tranquil.

This Sunday, January 3

9:15 a.m. in Rm. 310

We'll go over all the project ideas and start working on the how-to for this massive exhibit.

AND HERE ARE THE PAST NOTES::::

PSALMS / PROVERBS INFO MEETING #2

December 20, 2009

ABOUT THE PSALMS PROJECT (title to be determined)

We’re making a wild, stream-of-conscious installation filling the gallery walls floor to ceiling using whatever materials we can come up with.

This is your project.  This is our project.

ABOUT THE BOOK OF PSALMS

“The Book of Psalms represents a rich tapestry of prayer and praise. Some psalms reflect a texture of deep despair, others glow with a deep peace in the Lord's strength, still others bubble with an exuberant exaltation of the Most High God. They cover the range of human emotion and experience. What they all have in common is prayer, a reaching out to God from every imaginable experience.” – Ralph Wilson

Themes

Lament Psalms

 Community

12, 44, 58, 60, 74, 79, 80, 83, 85, 89*, 90, 94, 123, 126, 129

 Individual

3, 4, 5, 7, 9-10, 13, 14, 17, 22, 25, 26, 27*, 28, 31, 36*, 39, 40:12-17, 41, 42-43, 52*, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 59, 61, 64, 70, 71, 77, 86, 89*, 120, 139, 141, 142

Specialized Lament Psalms

Penitential

6, 38, 51, 102, 130, 143

Imprecatory

35, 69, 83, 88, 109, 137, 140

Thanksgiving (Todah) Psalms

 Community

65*, 67*, 75, 107, 124, 136*

 Individual

18, 21, 30, 32*, 34, 40:1-11, 66:13-20, 92, 108*, 116, 118, 138

Specialized Thanksgiving (Todah) Psalms

Salvation History

8*, 105-106, 135, 136

Songs of Trust

11, 16, 23, 27*, 62, 63, 91, 121, 125, 131

Hymnic Psalms

Hymn and Doxology

8*, 19:1-6, 33, 66:1-12, 67*, 95, 100, 103, 104, 111, 113, 114, 117, 145, 146, 147, 148, 149, 150

Liturgical Psalms (for Public Worship)

Covenant Songs

50, 78, 81, 89*, 132

 Royal/Enthronement

2, 18, 20, 21, 29, 45, 47, 72, 93, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 101, 110, 144

Songs of Zion

46, 48, 76, 84, 87, 122

Temple Liturgies

15, 24, 68*, 82, 115, 134

Specialized Types

Wisdom Psalms

1*, 36*, 37, 49, 73, 112, 127, 128, 133

Torah Poems

1*, 19:7-14, 119

PROJECT TIMELINE

January 1 – IDEAS FOR PSALMS PROJECT DUE

January 3 – 9:15 a.m. Meet in Rm. 309.  IDEA CONCEPTUALIZATION

January 17 – 9:15 a.m. Meet in Rm. 309. HOW TO - SUPPLIES

January 31 – 9:15 a.m. Meet in Rm. 309.  WHO’S GOT WHAT - DELEGATE

February 14 – 9:15 a.m. Meet in Rm. 309. TIMELINE, REFINE

February 18 – WISDOM ENTRIES DUE

February 21 – 9:15 a.m. Meet in Rm. 309. REHEARSAL, SCHEDULE

February 22 -25 – FRANTIC INSTALLATION

February 26 – EXHIBIT OPENING

After – LOOK FOR A PUBLISHER

Why so many meetings?  We need to work steadily up until Feb. 26 or we’re going to be overwhelmed and the exhibit will be bad.

NEXT STEPS

STUDY PSALMS. Read or listen to the Psalms and pay special attention to the imagery being used.

GENERATE IDEAS FOR PSALMS (DUE 1-1-10). Write down concepts, processes, materials, and exhibit titles that might be good to include in the gallery installation.  Bradley Speaks and Michael Winters will select the best ideas that will go together for the final install.  These core ideas will provide the framework for everything to connect with.  The exhibit can only be as good or as bad as the ideas we put together.

CONTACT INFO – Send Michael (mwinters@sojournchurch.com) addresses for out-of-town people who you think would like to participate in the “Wisdom” project.

Now at the end of the year, the 'B.C. - From Creation to the Cross' series is complete and can be seen here. Over 20 artists made it come together.  Now moving into 2010 we'll be responding to the New Testament, Psalms, and Proverbs.  More to come on those projects soon.

Do you have any favorite B.C. devotional cover images?

Any testimonies out there about how the Spirit taught you something with the images?

Entries Due Feb 18^th 2010

Exhibit opens at the 930 Art Center in Louisville, KY on February 26, 2010.

“Like apples of gold in settings of silver, is a word spoken in right circumstances.”

ACTION: Pick a single proverb from the book of Proverbs and illustrate it.

The biblical book ‘Proverbs’ is not only a collection of sayings and observations for wise living, but it is rich in powerful visual language.  Proverbs offers moving insights that confirm our own observations about the world and call us to clearer vision and action as well.

Sojourn Visual Arts is inviting individual artists, classes, and churches around the country to explore the rich wisdom of the proverbs and respond by making images. Sojourn Visual Arts will be displaying 300 selected entries in an exhibit on the Psalms and Proverbs at the 930 Art Center, a gallery owned by Sojourn Church.  The entries will be displayed together in the gallery to demonstrate the diversity of topics in proverbs and the diversity of responses to its wisdom.  Every entry submitted will be displayed on our website.

Any 2-dimensional method of image making is acceptable.  Everyone will work on the same 4x5” mat boards that we will be happy to send to you in the mail with detailed instructions.  There is no cost to participate and you can contact Sojourn Visual Arts to have mat boards and info sent to you directly.

To request a project packet, email mwinters@sojournchurch.com and just let us know how many blank project panels you would like.

All work must be at the 930 Art Center by Feb 18th to be considered for inclusion in the exhibit.

Do you have a favorite image from the BC Devotional covers? Wish you could have one in your home or office? Or give as a Christmas gift?  Starting this Sunday, SVA will have reproductions of this year's BC Devotional images for sale.  The images will be 8x10 prints matted to an 11x14 for $30 ($20 goes to the artist, $10 to SVA). Look for the prints at the booktable or online. If the image you want is not available at the booktable, you can order by emailing mwinters@sojournchurch.com

2nd Psalms Project Planning Meeting

Sunday, December 20

9:15 AM in Room 309

You are invited to come to our second planning meeting for the Psalms Project.

The Psalms Project (yet to be named) will result in a main gallery exhibit at the 930.  We'll study the Psalms, brainstorm ideas, gather materials, and fill the gallery with a wild, stream of conscious response to the Bible's prayer and song book.

Here are the Notes from the first meeting this past Sunday:

ABOUT THE PROVERBS PROJECT, “WISDOM”

ACTION: Pick a single proverb from the book of Proverbs and illustrate it.

The biblical book ‘Proverbs’ is not only a collection of sayings and observations for wise living, but it is rich in powerful visual language.  Proverbs offers moving insights that confirm our own observations about the world and call us to clearer vision and action as well.

Sojourn Visual Arts is inviting individual artists, classes, and churches around the country to explore the rich wisdom of the proverbs and respond by making images. Sojourn Visual Arts will be displaying 300 selected entries in an exhibit on the Psalms and Proverbs at the 930 Art Center, a gallery owned by Sojourn Church.  The entries will be displayed together in the gallery to demonstrate the diversity of topics in proverbs and the diversity of responses to its wisdom.  Every entry submitted will be displayed on our website, www.sojournvisualarts.com.

We’ll also have a night for sojourn adults to participate in making the artwork.  We’ll also have times for the quest kids, and a Sunday for Sojourn Kids.  We’ll also be sending out project panels across the country to individual artists, churches, and other arts ministries.

ABOUT THE PSALMS PROJECT (title to be determined)

We’re making a wild, stream-of-conscious installation filling the gallery walls floor to ceiling using whatever materials we can come up with.

This is your project.  This is our project.

SHOW SWOON VIDEO – Distance Don’t Matter (a good example of a similar process, though not in biblical response)

BRADLEY SPEAKS SHOW INSTALLATION EXAMPLES PPT

COLLECT CONTACT INFO

CCB DISCUSSION BOARD

PROJECT TIMELINE

December 6 (today) – INTRODUCTION

December 20 – 9:15 a.m. Meet in Rm. 309. STUDY PSALMS

January 1 – IDEAS FOR PSALMS PROJECT DUE

January 3 – 9:15 a.m. Meet in Rm. 309.  IDEA CONCEPTUALIZATION

January 17 – 9:15 a.m. Meet in Rm. 309. HOW TO - SUPPLIES

January 31 – 9:15 a.m. Meet in Rm. 309.  WHO’S GOT WHAT - DELEGATE

February 14 – 9:15 a.m. Meet in Rm. 309. TIMELINE, REFINE

February 18 – WISDOM ENTRIES DUE

February 21 – 9:15 a.m. Meet in Rm. 309. REHEARSAL, SCHEDULE

February 22 -25 – FRANTIC INSTALLATION

February 26 – EXHIBIT OPENING

After – LOOK FOR A PUBLISHER

Why so many meetings?  We need to work steadily up until Feb. 26 or we’re going to be overwhelmed and the exhibit will be bad.

NEXT STEPS

STUDY PSALMS. Read or listen to the Psalms and pay special attention to the imagery being used.

GENERATE IDEAS FOR PSALMS (DUE 1-1-10). Write down concepts, processes, materials, and exhibit titles that might be good to include in the gallery installation.  Bradley Speaks and Michael Winters will select the best ideas that will go together for the final install.  These core ideas will provide the framework for everything to connect with.  The exhibit can only be as good or as bad as the ideas we put together.

CONTACT INFO – Send Michael (mwinters@sojournchurch.com) addresses for out-of-town people who you think would like to participate in the “Wisdom” project.

Sunday, December 6, 2009

12:45 p.m. in the Listening Room

RSVP required, email mwinters@sojournchurch.com

By February 26, 2010, we're aiming to complete our most ambitious visual arts project yet. We'll be creating a whole main gallery exhibit installation collaboratively.  The inspiration for the exhibit will come from the books of Psalms and Proverbs, which we'll just be wrapping up in the sermon series.  We'll be getting together to eat pizza, cast vision for the project, show examples of work to emulate, and start the whole process.  Bi-weekly meetings will carry us up through until the time of installation, steadily filling out what aims to be the wildest installation the 930 gallery has yet shown.

We'd be happy for anyone to get involved.  We need idea-generators, fabric crafters, construction-minded folks, etc., etc., so RSVP and join us.

Title: 'Merry...Homeless..(O'Mulligan)' by Mark Anthony Mulligan

The Homeless exhibit keeps traveling around the country.  Right now, it's got an extended stay at Convergence Center for the Arts in New Orleans, a project much like Sojourn's the 930.  Convergence is operated by a New Orleans Church also called Sojourn.  Yes, it does have some ties to the Louisville Sojourn.

Last week, the big paper in New Orleans wrote a great review of the show.  You can read it here on nola.com - 'Homeless Art Show Visits New Orleans'.

There is some talk of Sojourn Visual Arts again partnering with the folks at Jefferson Street Baptist Center in 2010 to make new artwork with and for the homeless, so keep your ears peeled for that.

A big thanks to Jesse Eubanks for continuing to put so much work into getting the Homeless exhibit in front of new audiences!

Rethink Mission, a blogging project led by Jonathan McIntosh, just brought together four leading church-related art centers to answer some thought provoking questions.

I was happy to be invited to participate representing the 930.  The others included are Joanna Taft from Harrison Center for the Arts in Indianapolis, James McAnally with The Luminary Center for the Arts in St. Louis, and Grace Hwang with the new Salt Art Space in New York.

It was really cool to be able to compare and contrast the various missions and philosophies of ministries and how they've each worked themselves out for our own contexts.

You can read the interviews on rethinkmission.org in two parts:

The Church and Artists Roundtable Part 1 (vision and philosophies of ministry)

The Church and Artists Roundtable Part 2 (how to and pitfalls to avoid)