Visual arts
Visual arts include banners and other types of textile art, painting and posters, sculpture, installations, worship centres, and flowers, as well as the whole area of film, photography and audio-visual displays. These can all be used to inform or shape your worship and prayer experience, from bible studies and meditations to discussion groups. Here we offer a growing resource of ideas, reviews, recommendations and more.
The summer 2024 edition of ArtServe magazine includes an article about the Holy Week Pathway held at Bath Road Methodist Church in Swindon. This resource document provides further useful details, including suggested readings, quotations, photos and reference documents, websites and books.
We hope you find these notes useful. The additional photos at the end may also help to explain some of the pathway notes.
Michelle Pickering and Gill Barrett
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An article in issue two of ArtServe magazine tells the story of an exhibition in Tavistock during Holy Week 2011 that invited visitors to 'imagine Easter' through art. Here, the organiser shares some of the practical lessons learned from the experience.
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A strange title for a piece on flower arranging! But imagine planning to decorate your church for Harvest Festival with flowers that the congregation are donating, and settling yourself to wait for them to arrive; a few people come and bring greenery but no-one brings flowers.
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Banners & textiles
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We review a book on banner-making, which has experienced a revival in UK churches; find out about Jacqui Parkinson's remarkable textile exhibitions; and Michelle Pickering has instructions for making blessing quilts, which was one of the activities at the 2023 ArtServe festival.
Film and photography
Ideas for using film in church, suggestions for using film and TV programmes in discussion groups, and more. Good photography can be as poignant and as powerful as any other art form. You may already use images for meditation of as a focus for prayer. Have you considered hosting a photography exhibition in your church?
Glass art
Glass art includes stained glass in all its forms, fused glass and similar techniques.
Installations & worship centres
This area of the website covers installations, worship centres, sacred spaces, and labyrinths.
Painting
Paintings are not only for looking at: they can be used to inspire group discussion; as a focus for prayer, either on their own or linked to a display or installation; as a focal point in workshops to inspire other art forms; or to link parts of a sermon.
Have you considered using your church to host an exhibition of paintings with a Christian theme?
Posters
Have you ever walked past a church and not even realised it was open? Have you caught sight of a striking poster that made you stop and wonder?
Sculpture
Sculptures can be immensely powerful and moving works of art. For those with limited or no eyesight, the opportunity to touch and feel a sculpture can speak volumes. Have you considered using sculptures as centre pieces for your worship, or for a meditation?
