Last night's session on the Visual Arts at the Worship Design Studio generated ideas among the six First Central members who attended (myself, Joyce Wilson, Bud Cassiday, Carolyn Baldwin, Judy Bouma, and Kendra Delacadena). After some general comments I'll list my takeaways.

Dr. Marcia McFee said that the visuals in worship should immerse us in the story.  Symbols are the first language of worship and allow us to grasp ineffable realities. 

The seven visual elements to consider when designing the space for each series are: light and dark, transparency and opacity, pattern, texture, scale, movement, and color.

In her color discussion I noted two comments that were new and interesting to me: Orange is perfect for calls to action, and Purple stimulates problem-solving.

Now for the practical takeaways. Some were Dr. McFee's ideas and others arose from our group conversations.

• Share as much of story and backstory as you can with your visual artists in order to stimulate their creativity.
• The visuals should be multi-level.
• In a long space like ours the visuals need to speak to the entire room, so more use of visual in the narthex, at the back of the sanctuary, along the length of the room.
• Visuals need to move.  Process them in to set up the altar table. That also connects the visuals better with the back of the room.
• Judy commented how the visuals are often lost on the choir and sometimes even block their view, inhibiting their worship. Make sure that some of the visuals are visible the choir. Maybe hang more things from the balcony, for example.
• Dr. McFee recommended looking at the Worship Design Studio Pinterest page for different series and seasons. Our group discussed how we could use Pinterest in the brainstorming phases of worship planning and anyone in the congregation could pin an idea to our design board.  So, use a virtual design board instead of creating a physical one.
• Dr. McFee recommended purchasing your stock of items you know you'll use a lot--lanterns, vases, material, etc.  Think of them as your "little black dresses."
• But when you want something unique for one series and don't plan to keep it, you can announce that the items will go on sale after the worship series.  She said that this has been successful in churches who have tried it and has allowed them to be more creative without breaking their budget.
• Don't use the word "decorating," so Carolyn wants to change the name of the Chancel Decorating Team.

Maybe the idea I was most excited about was using Pinterest to engage a wider swathe of the congregation in brainstorming design ideas.