The Promise of Abraham

The promise of Abraham was that his descendants would outnumber the stars. We couldn't find the stars that we were looking for so we decided to improvise. We cut out over 200 stars by hand out of small gold dinner plates:




The DOMA team spread the stars out throughout the stage and surrounding area to create an subtle atmosphere of the promise:





We also set out prints of some pretty amazing celestial photography:

Genesis - Hieroglyphics

This week the creative team created faux hieroglyphics in a graffiti stencil style to create an atmosphere for Abraham's small stint in Egypt. Here's a look at the results:

In the Gospel We Stand

This creative element was for the Living Stones services this Easter. The message was, 'In the Gospel We Stand'. We decided to plant flowers and plants into shoes to represent the life that the Gospel brings coming from where we stand, our shoes. Here are some pictures:

Easter Rocks!

For our Easter services this year we decided to 'go big' and really to try to 'spell it out' (the gospel) for the city. Well, we just went literally. About 300 large sized rocks were collected and moved to the side of a hill on the churches facing Robb Drive. (A fairly popular street, one of the handful of exits along I-80) and painted red at first and then rearranged and repainted Saturday evening.

From Wednesday to Good Friday the hill read, "HE DIED FOR YOU" Here are some photos:



Then we rearranged the rocks and repainted them white on Saturday evening before Easter Sunday to read, 'HE IS RISEN' Here are some photos:



After all of our Sunday services we gathered up all the rocks and built an Ebeneezer at the foot of the hill. A pile of rocks to represent what God has done for us as a church and as a people. Here are some photos of the altar:

Featured DOMA Artist - Gina Peraldo

Gina Peraldo is one of the dedicated DOMA artists that helps with projects each week. She is currently attending the University of Nevada, Reno pursuing an arts degree. Here is an artist statement from her:

Making art has been a challenge for me. I had quit my pursuit of the arts for several years believing it to be frivolous, but He’s opened my eyes to see that it can speak to people on a different level and that it is relevant. It can be very exposing to create, but it’s a gift. He was and is the ultimate Creator. He is my inspiration and the reason I have moved forward in this area of my life.

I enjoy most forms of art and have more recently taken up working with video. I’m hoping to do more collaborative work with musicians and dancers upon graduation and am excited to see how He’ll incorporate the arts into this next phase of life!

Gina has created some incredible works over the years, here are a few examples:

These three pieces are part of a series I’m currently working on which are based off a published photograph of me dressed as Sleeping Beauty in “Fairytale News” a newspaper project that I was involved with as a child. I have used the printed photograph of me dressed as Sleeping Beauty, the bride of my Charming Prince (and real life fourth grade crush!), and expounded upon it to explore ideas of death and life; being covered and revealed.

Crown, Spring 2009

Covered: The Two, Spring 200

Beauty, Spring 2009

This next portrait addresses our worth in Christ. I chose to depict this reality through a self portrait filled with symbolism that relates to scripture and symbolism which I relate to on a more personal level.

Of Great Price, Summer 2008

Rain Room - Series of Photos

This piece was done as a collaboration with another digital media student, Fall 2008. We found our inspiration in the works of Olafur Eliasson, James Turrell, and Hans Arp. My personal inspiration was in using water to “wash”. Water brings growth and newness.

The piece, which could be seen through a small window in the door, brought the outside in. We played with light through the use of a strobe and left our requirement to incorporate sound to the spattering of rain on our board. We had a pump running throughout the day which kept the flow of water coming down from two inconspicuous shower heads.

STORY - The Living Stones Retreat

Living Stones just recently returned from an amazing weekend of fellowship and worship. DOMA created some interactive art pieces for the event as well as some creative stage panels.

Large sheets of plywood were plastered with sheets of books, including a Bible and some classical biblical artworks. Here's a few photos of those pieces:



Also, we used plywood sheets for the interactive pieces as well. Each panel was taped off and painted into small story board type layouts. Here's some photos of the process:



Finally, words were applied to encourage story telling using phrases like, 'In the Beginning' 'Suddenly...' and 'God said to me...' Here are some photos of the panels:

Genesis - The Tower of Babel

For this creative piece we chose five DOMA artists to each create a letter of the word 'BABEL'. The purpose was to reflect the story of the tower of Babel in which each of the letters was in its own unique 'language' or art style. The results were just as amazing:



Here are some close ups and individual shots of the letters:



In the South Venue at the Robb Campus we also incorporated a steel framed 'tower' to go along with the theme. Here are some shots of that:

Featured DOMA Artist - Rachel Armstrong

Rachel Armstrong is one of the dedicated DOMA artists that helps with projects each week. She is currently pursuing her Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Nevada, Reno. She is currently showing her Midway Exhibition at the Front Door Gallery inside Church Fine Arts at the University. Photos from the show won't be posted until after the dates of the show in order to encourage you all to go and see it in person.

The title of the show is "Journey of Joy" and will be displayed from March 9th - March 12th



The opening reception is Thursday March 12th from 6:00pm - 9:00pm

The Cardboard Rose

For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. (Ephesians 2:10) For this project we decided to create something beautiful out of something not beautiful and essentially useless, something tossed out like trash to reflect the transformation that God does in us. We decided to make a rose out of cardboard.

Here are some photos used for inspiration:



We took used cardboard boxes, cut them into long strips, soaked the pieces in water, and wrapped them tightly around each other, building it up until we got a rose. Here are some photos from the process:



Here are some photos of how it was displayed:

Genesis - Origin of Conflict

"Conflict, murder, religion vs. faith in the gospel, the city, Jesus was killed by his brothers, Jesus builds a new city of righteousness, Jesus is the offspring to come"

We decided it would be a cool idea to build a small city from cardboard boxes along the front of the stage and out in the hall. Keeping them as short as posible to not block sidescreens, musicians, etc. The boxes along the outside edges would have red paint dripped on them to represent murder and conflict but also God's redeeming blood. The boxes in the center would have white paint dripped on them to represent purification. Windows and doors will be cut from each of the boxes, we're thinking a light shining from the center boxes, maybe a portrayal of heaven or redemption.

Here are some of the pictures we used for inspiration including a digital sketch of the idea:


Here are some photos of the process and construction:



Here is the final result, there were different setups at each venue:



Finally, we got to have a little fun with the project afterward. First, stacking them as high as we could and then piling them up and jumping into them like a pile of leaves:

Who wants to exercise a little creativity?

I have a creative exercise for you guys that is purely for the purpose of getting your creative juices flowing. I’d like to see what you’d come up with if you were told to redesign, revamp, or recontextualize the Grace or Living Stones logos. You can email me or post your creations as a comment on this blog entry.

Genesis - Curse and Blessing

This weeks message was on curse and blessing and their implementation in the story of the garden. The DOMA team put their heads together to come up with ideas of how to visually represent the theme through a creative piece. We took the idea of a covering, as Adam and Eve made coverings for themselves out of fig leaves to cover their nakedness. We wanted to portray how a covering could represent both a curse and a blessing as it did in the Genesis story. We decided that a veil was the perfect portrayal of both a blessing and a curse. Here were some photos for inspiration.



The idea is that a veil is worn in both times of sadness and joy, to cover grief and to cover purity. When a loved one passes away, it is tradition for the widow (reference to sin and death) to wear a black veil to cover her face. When a bride (reference to the church as the bride of Christ) is to be wed, it is tradition for her to wear a white veil to cover her face. We had a photographer from DOMA take pictures of faces of people in the fellowship. We took the images cropped them to be just the eyes (the most powerful and emotional part of the face) and printed them out about 1'x3' each and had them mounted on foam core. We bought veil fabric in both black and white and cut strips for each. We displayed the images on stage during the services on music stands and draped the fabric over the eyes as a veil. Here are some images from the services:



We also were lucky enough to have a DOMA artist provide a live snake to display on stage during the services to represent the serpent from the Genesis story. Here are some images of that:

Genesis - Sin and Redemption - The Garden

The story of the fall and original sin is centered around a piece of fruit from a tree in the center of the garden. After the fall, sin entered the world and death followed. The ideas for this piece stem from that phenomenon; dying fruit, vegetables, flowers, etc. Here are some photos and a video that inspired the work:





Boxes and boxes of fruit, vegetables, and flowers were donated from the local Whole Foods Market. They were taken and used to line the stage of each service, to create a garden like atmosphere. From a distance, most of the fruit looked good, but upon closer inspection the produce was damaged, cut, wilting, bruised, and dying. We also had a photographer take pictures of an apple with a bite out of it, in a woman's hand. They were printed on large photo paper and included in the installation. Here are some photos from the services:

Genesis - Origin of Marriage - Color Mixing

This weeks message was highlighting marriage within the creation story. The creative team put together ideas of representing the concept of marriage through the unity of colors. Using the traditional colors for boys and girls, blue and pink (pink from an artists perspective is essentially a shade of red). We all know that when red and blue are mixed that you get purple and that was the idea of color unity. These were some images we pulled for inspiration:



In order to accomplish this idea, we cast a vision for male artists to put together works using blues and female artists putting together works using just reds. Also, having male and female artists working together on collaborative works that use both red and blue or even a purple. We then lined the stage with blue on the left and red on the right with a mix of purple coming together in the middle. Here are some photos from the services:

Genesis - Origin of Humanity

This week in the Genesis series the message was on the Origin of Humanity. Talking about man and his position and role in the creation story. The creative team decided it would be cool to create a sand sculpture of Adam as a play on his creation from the ground. Creating an actual sand sculpture might have been easier but would have been very fragile and therefore not a good idea for transportation and display. These are our images of inspiration and one is a digital sketch of the actual idea.



We put our heads together and decided to use some of the materials we were somewhat comfortable with in order to pull it off. We used Styrofoam sheets, plaster, glue, spraypaint, and actual beach sand. Here are some photos of the process:





Once the basic shape of the body was formed, we used sprayfoam insulation to give him hair, spray paint to color it, plastered him into a single pose, constructed a box of 2x4s and plywood, coated him in spray adhesive and applied actual sand.



He was finally ready for display and placed on stage for the entirety of the services. It served as a great visual for the message and a tool for better understanding humanity from a new perspective. Here are some photos form the services:

Genesis - Origin of Creation - Light Drawing

This was the first part of our long series through the Book of Genesis - This week the message focused on God and his creation. The artists of DOMA decided to represent creation through light - more specifically, long exposure light drawings. It might seem like a new idea, but it's been around almost as long as photography. Recently it had been brought back into the mainstream with commercials like Sprint's new campaign. (see video) But, perhaps Picasso was the first to bring it into the mainstream when he was photographed for TIME magazine. (Featured Below)



From a conceptual point of view, drawing with light is not too far off from the sort of way God chose to bring existence into being by simply speaking it. Along those same lines, light drawing is a continuous movement that can only be seen once captured by the camera's lens. A memory of line, a creation of light. Here are the artists both in waiting and action:



It was the first time we had ever done anything like this, both for a creative element in the church as well as the artists themselves. We spent the first night practicing in freezing temperatures in a 100-yard tunnel north of downtown. The process is simple, a camera is placed on a tripod (very important) in a dark place and the exposure time (amount of time the lens is open to allow light in) is set anywhere from 15-30 seconds. (a longer setting can be used but is not ideal because of the amount of light that is exposed) Flashlights or colored LED keychains are then used to draw imaginary shapes or words in the air.



After we were frozen to the core, we decided to call it a night. We then returned the next night, more bundled up and with somewhat of a hold on the process to create elements and words with our flashlights.



Now that we had countless hours of light play documented in photos, we printed a few dozen of our favorites and hung them with clothespins on twine in the foyer, sort of like a darkroom development line.



Here are a few more photos for you to enjoy:

The Jonah Fishbowl

This project was for a short series we did on the Book of Jonah. On each end of the stage was a fish bowl on representing Reno and the other Nineveh. Each had a goldfish, Reno with stones and Nineveh with sand (and cloudy water). Each also had a backdrop of a skyline of their actual landscape.

Here is a photoshop mock-up of the project:



Here is a photo of the $0.25 goldfish at the store, we bought 20 and 19 survived and all were given away after the services.

The Birds of the Air and The Lilies of the Field

These pieces were created for a series within the book of Luke that deals with worry.

This piece was created for a part of the passage dealing with the birds. It shows them not sowing or reaping or storing up in barns and yet our Father in heaven feeds them.

Here are some photos:



The second element to this series was created to go with the image of the lilies of the field. We placed a vase of lilies and some candles in the foyer outside the sanctuary with the words "do not worry" and other elements from the passage.

Here are some photos:

Three Part Canvas

This piece was created to go along with a message on Luke 8. It was a three part canvas painted on plywood. The imagery in the piece goes along with the images in the passage, much more subtly. There are seeds being scattered, birds of the air eating them up, a lamp on a stand, a mother and her son, etc.

Here is a preliminary sketch:



Each piece represents a different part of the trinity. The bottom represents the Father in it's antiquity and wisdom and bold lines. The middle represents the Holy Spirit ith it's free flowing lines and bright colors. Finally, the top represents the Son with it's physical characteristics and vivid imagery.

Here is a photo of the final piece:

Resurrected

For this project we created an image to go along with a message on the resurrection. A box was constructed of plywood and 2x4s to hold sand as the base. Lights and 'blood' stained linens were placed on top of the sand.

Here are some photos: