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Liturgy is so much more than the words we speak or the songs we sing. In this section, you'll find a variety of resources to help your community to connect the visual arts to worship in powerful, transformative ways.
Click here if you'd like to share your own artistic creations, point the way to other visual arts resources, or offer reflections on the process of incorporating the visual arts more intentionally into congregational life.
"The reconciling power of art calls us beyond our spoken and sung rhythms, and extends an invitation to community that each member of the congregation may receive equally... " — Mel Ahlborn
Read more of Mel Ahlborn's reflection on Art and Worship. Mel is the president of Episcopal Church and Visual Arts.
What's New
Episcopal Café is a new web ministry of the Diocese of Washington that hosts, among other resources, an art blog and stellar multimedia meditations. Do check it out!
Visual Preludes is a two-DVD set of multimedia meditations from the Episcopal Church and the Visual Arts that comes with a guide for useage, and is truly outstanding.
Cerezo Barredo offers some excellent illustrations for gospel stories and the church year, often highlighting themes of liberation.
Hermanoleon provides free downloadable clip art for churches, both black-and-white and very colorful.
ImageBank is a U.K. website providing free background images for worship.
Episcopal Church and Visual Arts
The Episcopal Church and Visual Arts (ECVA), with whom we have partnered, is working with the Episcopal Church's main web site to feature a different artist each month. Click on an item to view more images by the artist, some background on their work, and links to their own sites.
Christians in the Visual Arts (CIVA) is a sister organization to ECVA. They also host exhibitions and galleries on their site, auction artwork, sell books, and run a variety of workshops, conferences, and programs.
St. Gregory of Nyssa, ECVA, and CIVA all collaborated on a recent issue of the magazine God's Friends. Read the beautiful essays and reflections, with images to inspire.
What a blurb! When Rowan Williams says your CD-ROM is good, it must mean something. Images of Salvation: The Story of the Bible through Medieval Art is an acclaimed resource for teaching and learning. Designed for use by teachers, students, and the general public, it is packed with 180 images (from cherished libraries, churches, and heritage societies in the UK) illustrating biblical themes from Genesis to Revelation, together with background material explaining the doctrinal and art historical context. Each section contains a selection of images from medieval stained glass, manuscript illumination and sculpture and includes summaries of the key points and relevant texts from the Bible and later commentators. Individual images are supplied with detailed commentary on important doctrinal and art historical elements. At all points in the CD-ROM it is possible to access an interactive reference section. The images can be viewed on a computer screen, projected via Powerpoint, or printed on acetate for use with overhead projectors.
Why reinvent the wheel? Instead, The Worship Well has partnered with Episcopal Church and Visual Arts, an organization that encourages artists, individuals, congregations, and scholars to engage the visual arts in the spiritual life of the church.
Noted "emerging church" writer Jonny Baker reflects on principles for "Using Images for Worship" on the website for Grace, a monthly service of creative worship in London.
Resonate is a network of communities engaging in creative worship in Canada, and they have posted a free photo pool of images for use in worship and meditation.
Xsn.cc is a nonprofit based in Wiltshire, UK, who offer a searchable image bank for congregations as well as a helpful guide to other sources of free images.
Visions Multimedia Worship in York, England, offers free downloadable songs for worship from their Utopia and Hymns for Visions albums, as well as video downloads and some PowerPoint and Keynote slides here.
The Episcopal Diocese of Washington has a photo essay on the Labyrinth and some truly gorgeous artwork from Dr. He Qi on their Spirituality web page.
Worth the read
The Wabash Center for Teaching and Learning in Theology and Religion has an excellent page of web resources for religion and visual arts: a selection of syllabi, bibliographies, and teaching materials by leading scholars in the field, as well as links to electronic texts and digital image collections, electronic journals, and other websites.Online Arts Resource Centers
A Visual Planet carries an extensive and excellent library of images and backgrounds from a variety of painters, photographers, and digital artists for use in Christian worship. Their library is searchable by keyword, and subscribers get unlimited downloads for $24.95 a month. Their visuals for the keywords "spirit" and "fire," for example, would be particularly appropriate for Pentecost.
The Text This Week has an index of art keyed according to themes related to lectionary readings.
Forministry.com provides this collection of images they recommend particularly for use during the season of Pentecost.
The Pitts Theology Library Digital Image Archive has a very useful collection of images for each Sunday in the Revised Common Lectionary.
One Small Barking Dog is an innovative UK-based seller of media — still images, video clips, and short films (e.g., "Have You Seen God?" — a "man on the street" video of a fashionable guy asking people on the street where God is) — for use in worship and teaching. Those browsing can preview before buying, and then download purchases immediately.