Let There Be LIGHT Paper Lace Banners for Advent
The feeling was visceral—people gasped when they walked through the double doors to worship that first Sunday of Advent. I (Lisle Gwynn Garrity) worked with a small team at Black Mountain Presbyterian Church to blow up our Advent banner designs to 30' and suspend them above the congregation, allowing the light above to pour through the shapes cut away. The result was breath-taking, transcendent, majestic. Our Advent theme, "Let There Be Light" became known and felt beyond simply cerebral conviction.
I know what you may be thinking—"That's amazing and beautiful but we don't have the ____________ (time, expertise, interest, materials, etc.) to do that." Would you believe me if I told you the entire project took no more than 8 hours with 5-8 people helping at a time?
The process began with projecting and tracing the design. Hannah Garrity designs the banners to be 102" long and 26.5" wide, but you can create them to be any size following these dimensions. We were quite an ambitious crew, so we set out to create banners that were 30' long and 9' wide. To be honest, we weren't quite sure if it would even work at this scale, but we let our idealism and a healthy dose of Advent hope lead the way.
We ended up developing a highly sophisticated (aka bootstrapped) system of shifting the roll of paper upward and eventually resting it on the ladders you see in the photo above. We could only project about a sixth of each banner's design at a time, so we developed a rhythm of tracing and shifting, a process that sharpened our team-building skills along the way.
{This step is MUCH simpler for smaller banners. As you will see in our written instructions included in the download & tutorial video, we recommend projecting and tracing the banners horizontally}
Next, we laid the banners across tables (placing layers of newspaper underneath to protect the table from our blades) and cut away the shapes we had traced using x-acto knives. We developed a similar process of cutting and shifting. This part of the process moved swiftly—many hands makes light work!
In case you were wondering, the banners are, indeed, made of paper. We use photography backdrop paper for paper lace, which you can order from Amazon.
And finally, the install. Our sanctuary already has ropes suspended from different positions in the ceiling, so we were able to hoist the banners up using a simple pulley system. If you do not have ropes installed in your sanctuary, you can easily install smaller banners by displaying them vertically against a wall or along a balcony. Each sanctuary has unique possibilities!
If you're intrigued but still wary of the process, feel free to email us with your questions. We're happy to consult via phone or Skype to walk your community through this creative process.
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[This resource is 1 of 7 in our 2018 EMBODIED Lent Bundle of resources]
DIGITAL DOWNLOAD FOR ONE-TIME LICENSE
This Lent, create beautiful sanctuary art to illuminate the embodied theme. These designs by Hannah Garrity feature abstract imagery of mind, body, heart, and soul. We hope these designs (and our instructional materials) can simply be a starting point for you to create art and beauty that is uniquely your own. Gather a group and create together, for the creative process is just as meaningful as the final result.
[These banner designs are included in our Pentecost Bundle of resources]
DIGITAL DOWNLOAD FOR ONE-TIME LICENSE
Banner designs by: Hannah Garrity
There is no better season than the weeks leading up to Pentecost to welcome the Holy Spirit with art, preparing a beautiful space for God’s presence. These two designs, inspired by Pentecost imagery in Acts 2:1-21, capture the energy and wildness of the Holy Spirit let loose like a wildfire and poured out like water upon all people. There are several ways you can bring these hand-drawn designs to life in your congregation. Choose the option below to best fit your needs and context.
The photos on the left show the designs as paper lace cut out banners and also as printed 36x48 coloring posters. Both are options for bringing the designs to life. See below for more info.
[This resource is also included in our 2017 Advent Bundle of resources]
DIGITAL DOWNLOAD FOR ONE-TIME LICENSE
This Advent, create beautiful sanctuary art to illuminate the themes of the season. These designs by Hannah Garrity feature light breaking into the world through the bursting forth of the cosmos and the birth of Christ. If you use them to create paper lace banners (see more below), light will quite literally break through the negative shapes you cut away. We hope these designs (and our instructional materials) can simply be a starting point for you to create art and beauty that is uniquely your own. Gather a group and create together, for the creative process is just as meaningful as the final result.
[This resource is one of many in our 2017 Lent Bundle]
DIGITAL DOWNLOAD ONLY
Banner designs by: Hannah Garrity
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