The Story of A Commission

Detail of commissioned stole

Client email: I've been reading your blog for some time and I'm excited to now be able to order some stoles! 


The artist is humbled that someone actually reads the blog, she yelps with excitement about the order and then responds: Thanks for your order and we'll be glad to combine the shipping costs to save you a few dollars. 

Adaptation of commission on the website

Client phone message (several days later): Thanks for the shipment...I'm pleased with your work...and I'd like to commission a purple stole for Lent that could also be worn for Advent and might visually connect with the Easter stole that I have. Is that possible? I like the following stoles on the website (number this, number that and number this). Can you translate those designs into purple, and  could the colors be more subtle and could the plant symbols be more indigenous to our environment so the congregation can relate to what they're seeing?

Another version offered on eBay

The artist response via email because inquiring pastor is wearing many hats and can't get to her phone: Absolutely, we can help you! In fact we think you're on to a good idea. See, our pastors know best as to what is needed and we'd like to share your idea with our clients. When this happens we are able to reduce the price of the commission and offer a similar design on our website and to our eBay buyers. Would that be ok with you?


Client email response: That's splendid. Happy sewing! 


The Epilogue
Because one client had become familiar with our style at Carrot Top Studio she was a great encourager so we could help meet her needs but also expand our inventory for you. The commissioned stole is now hanging in that pastor's closet waiting for Lent to begin. Hopefully the congregation will see the connection between the vine of buds and flowers and the ones on the Easter stole that this pastor will wear during that joyous season. The website offers two versions of this stole without the flowered wreath and on Thursday a third version will be auction item #150552169029 on eBay. We love hearing your thoughts and ideas. Have something on your mind? Email us here.

Wrestling With Chocolates, Fabrics, and a Good Book

I am thankful for having a variety choices, assortments of options, and a multiplicity of opportunities. Am I a spoiled American? Probably. I am thankful for these things but am humbled when I realize that the children at the mission my church helps to support in Haiti, eat the same meal of beans and rice almost every day. There is no variety. Yet these little one are so thankful and excited to have this food which is often their only meal of the day.

Recently I was gifted the ability to make a purchase at a beautiful chocolate boutique. I took my daughter with me and we were so overwhelmed with the amount of chocolates and exquisiteness of our choices that the excursion took a crazy amount of time for the small amount we would be purchasing. Then yesterday I had the need to head to my local fabric store. I hadn't been in about a month and had gone with the intent of purchasing one piece of solid purple to complete a new Lenten stole design I'm working on. But here again I felt like the "kid in a candy shop"...overwhelmed with new colors, textures and patterns. The assortment was as scrumptious to me as what the chocolate shop had offered several days earlier. Oh, the privilege of so much variety!

In the midst of all this I've finally gotten' around to reading The Hole in Our Gospel by Rich Stearns. It's been on the nightstand for several months. The promo for the book reads: Two thousand years ago, twelve people changed the world. Stearns believes it can happen again. I'm glad that I'm reading it in this wintry time where I reside in Pennsylvania because with this title it's lovely to have unrushed reading time. There's so much to think about in this book I just have to take it in small chunks. Many days lately have been so cold, icy or snowy that I'm glad to have a book to curl up with instead of to venture outside into the garden. Those days will come (ahhh....the variety of seasons!)

So I'm wrestling with the fact that there is variety in my life. I am artistically motivated to offer a diversity of stoles at Carrot Top Studio. I believe in celebrating the liturgical church year that allows us an array of visual opportunities in worship. But then I have a book like The Hole in Our Gospel in my lap or I hear about what joyous, happy, thankful people our friends, that have so little materialistically, in Haiti are and this gets me wondering. I'm not sure what path God is taking me with all this. A friend once gave me this card that says, "Work your grief up into art and it is gone." I'm going to trade the word "wrestling" for "grief" and head to the sewing machine to ponder and pray about all of this. 


PS-promise I won't get sticky, chocolaty fingerprints on those new stoles we're stitching! ....and thanks for listening.

Words of Wisdom Wednesday

Why do dogs like to roll in the snow?

While my trusty studio companion Abby the labby preferred to romp in the snow today,

The studio is exploding with purple fabrics for Lent.

I chose to sort fabrics for Lenten stoles and clean out the studio book case. The book case led me to discover a notebook I'd compiled many years ago yet haven't opened for quite some time. It contains articles I've found inspirational on the topic of worship and the arts. So on this Wednesday I will share a few bits of this collected wisdom...

• "Focusing our attention on the meaning (of art) helps move our appreciation for an art piece beyond its form or style to our wonderment of God, just as the ark of the covenant once did for those wandering in the wilderness." The author of this statement gives examples of different types of Communion chalices. One vessel is enrobed with thorns. In its use we might imagine in a new way the suffering Christ went through on our behalf. Alternatively there is an example of a vessel that is glass covered in gold. When used for Communion we would see ourselves reflected on its surface enabling us to rejoice more deeply in the resurrection and glory of Jesus Christ. Have you thought about the message your visuals in your church's worship space are saying theologically? -from "Ears that Hear and Eyes that See" by Elizabeth Steele Halstead, Reformed Worship vol. 82

• It is necessary to recognize that art has two lives--first for tis maker, then for its receiver. Making art is the pleasure and mystery of the creative act: the actual experience of technique and process, of freedom, serendipity and discovery. For the receiver art celebrates the beautiful, uncovers beauty that might have escaped unseen, and seeks to show truth even when it is not beautiful.An artist making art is experiencing God. God is never finished creating, never finished redeeming creation. Visual art should not be neglected in Christian worship because it can be a pathway to God. - Brian Fee, "Beauty Glimpsed" for the Calvin Institute

• And lastly, here's one to make you laugh...when working on a project that will involve a committee, such as worship banners, Jill Liddell in The Patchwork Pilgrimage suggests that designs will probably have to be vetted by a number of people, all of whom will have something to say about it. Resist the temptation to try and please everyone. Remember the old saying , "a camel is a horse designed by a committee," Do not let your ideas turn into a camel!

Banks Do It, Coffee Shops Do It, Churches Can Do It Too!

What do banks, coffee shops and even libraries have in common with churches? They all have the ability to encourage the visual arts by hosting exhibits by local artists. Churches should find ways to embrace the visual arts and artists beyond Sunday worship. Reading For the Beauty of the Church this past summer reinforced to me the following stanza from the hymn "for the Beauty of the Earth". We sing....

For the joy of ear and eye,

for the heart and mind's delight,

for the mystic harmony,

linking sense to sound and sight;

Lord of all, to thee we raise

this our hymn of grateful praise.

The art gallery at Westminster Presbyterian Church, Upper St. Clair, PA.

One way to include artists in your community is by welcoming their work into a church gallery. By sharing their work we are helping to complete their ability to be an artist by supplying an audience. Art needs to be viewed and considered! 

What would it take to have a gallery in your church?

1. A space that has foot traffic preferably all week (not just on Sunday).
2. A mean's of hanging the work. As seen in the photo above it's lovely to have a system that is permanent such as these fabric covered homasote boards but this certainly isn't required. There are plenty of affordable professional hanging systems.  Before diving into something permanent you might consider a temporary option such as folding screens covered in chicken wire that a hook on the back of a frame can latch onto. Or if you have art that is matted and not framed you can even use a cardboard refrigerator type box...paint it a solid neutral color and adhere the art with Command brand poster strips.

Things to think about...

• who will be responsible for the space...one curator or a committee?
• how often will the exhibits change?
• how will you find the artists? will it be church members only? will the artists have to be Christians? or will you show Christian hopsitality by opening your doors for any artist in your neighborhood?
• what will the guidelines for the artists be? 
• will the art be for sale? if so, how will the sales be handled? 
• how will the exhibits be publicized?
• will you have artists receptions and/or invite the artists to teach a class or workshop in conjunction with the exhibit?

The galleries in my church aim to exhibit a diverse body of work from a variety of artists--young through the much older, professional and the amateur. As the curator I am overwhelmed with the possibilities and enjoy exploring unique exhibiting potential. For example we have twice hosted the work of our prayer shawl ministry by draping their "art" over dowel rods. This group also knits items that can be dispensed through our food pantry and the photo below shows how the "art" was displayed. The ministry that is usually a quiet behind the scenes group in our congregation received a bit of 'oohing' and 'awwing' over before the items were sent to those in need.

Knit in His Spirit exhibit, Westminster Presbyterian February 2010

We include the visual arts in worship with banners, vestments, paraments, bulletin covers and more. How can you and your congregation think beyond worship to involve and encourage the activity and God given gifts of artists? Lord of all, to thee we raise this our hymn of grateful praise. May the visual become a hymn of grateful praise.

*products referred to in this post are not necessarily an endorsement of that particular item....they are referred to specifically to encourage you that there are products readily available to aid your pursuits.