Costume and scene design by Robert Innes Hopkins. Lighting design and photo by David Martin Jacques.
Scenic elements and lighting are generally the first things that the audience will see on stage, so it is important to make the right first impression. It sets the stage for everything else that is going to happen. It can have the power and ability to make people to cry, to laugh, to be inspired and to create amazing memories. So in a church context, the scenic designer has an enormous responsibility and opportunity to create amazing visual designs.
When asked to explain the type of work a scenic designer does for a church, most people will just give you a blank stare --- like a deer in headlights. What we do is unique. We tend to exhaust all available resources to try to learn as much as we can. We live for the day, capturing every moment and trying to understand what makes it so special or inspirational. We're insatiably curious, exploring the beauty of things and asking the question why does it make me smile or sad or in awe? As artists, we search our very soul to understand why certain emotions are created when lines, curves and colors are placed a certain way? With that said we try to build on our own experiences and memories by referencing familiar lines, shapes, colors and emotions while trying to keep things new and interesting. We can put all of that together like a chef, or like a short order cook.
It truly is a special kind of skill that extends beyond a business or a science.
Unlike some other “artists,” a scenic designer is working in the service of a collective goal: the telling of a good story using the art of illusion. Even the most naturalistic approach, if done correctly, is transformative and allows the audience to exist in and believe in what's happening on the stage. We often have the luxury of making our own decisions about what idea or feeling to explore or convey. As a scenic designer for a church, this choice comes from within the context of the Great Commission. But we have the ability to apply our personal intellect, craft, and visual poetry within the boundary of the space, budget, and the delicate balance of collaboration. It truly is a special kind of skill that extends beyond a business or a science. When we rid ourselves of convention and open the floor to the free exchange of ideas, allowing them to flow while focusing on the goal, there is a moment when the connection—the ability to crawl into someone's mind, to share their mind and heart—begins. Experience has merit but when given the privilege to be someone's artistic eyes, you need the ability to erase what's in your head and allow each idea to take a new direction.
One of the most difficult challenges in scenic design is creating elements that generate an experience of awe and wonder. A truly great design will help produce an experience that engages the heart and mind of people. It's the punctuation marks or exclamation points. It can allow the audience to surrender and to embrace another kind of reality. It can create a bridge to the imagination. It can open the mirror to our soul where unforgettable memories and emotions live. It can help create value.
Recently, there was a study by the Art Edge Group of Chicago on how art affects people's ability to learn. The findings were remarkable. Individuals placed in a room with visual art had significant, positive effects on their desire to learn, and their ability to recall emotions and memories associated with the art.
Sooner or later, everyone involved in ministry asks the question, “How do we generate creative ideas that are effective?”
Sooner or later, everyone involved in ministry asks the question, “How do we generate creative ideas that are effective?” The most consuming part of expanding our horizons toward scenic concepts is much more than witnessing God's creativity, and creative people. It starts with us opening our mind to the possibilities --- to have an attitude toward learning, seeking, and engaging in creativity and to be willing to be adventurous, inquisitive and curious. Our imagination is highly visual. Whether indoors or out, looking at colorful trees or experiencing a concert, viewing a star-lit sky or the architecture of a great building, scenic design is a process of discovery ---a discovering of what will best clarify and support the story, looking at the details, searching for evidence.
I'm reminded when I see my image in the mirror and notice a few gray hairs that the greatest artists did their best work as they became much older. The drive, the passion to create an ambience, an atmosphere, a unique concept, a unique design that creates a genuine connection to the Holy Spirit is an ambitious goal that all church scenic designers should move toward. At the end of the day it is what keeps me going, what keeps me searching, it is what gives meaning to my craft and with what I can hopefully touch and move the audience for Christ.
