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Visual Arts

The Calvin Institute of Christian Worship seeks to serve as a catalyst for the study and practice of using visual arts in worship by promoting grass-roots development of visual art to enhance worship in Christian communities. We hope these resources will help enable your community to proclaim the gospel.

Articles
• list of articles, papers, lectures, and other resources to stimulate conversation on a range of issues related to the visual arts
• Discussion starters for church renovation projects
• Learning from the Art Is Everywhere conference

Books
• Reading for reflection and inspiration of ideas geared toward
  worship committees, church libraries, pastors, and visual artists
• Visuals for Worship
  by Betsy Steele Halstead

Art for the Season
• Pentecost
• Easter
• Lent
• Epiphany
• Christmas
• Advent

archive of featured artists

Portfolio
• Slideshows of visual arts in worship
  visual arts at various churches throughout the Christian year
• images to integrate into your liturgy visuals
• PowerPoint backgrounds for Advent from the Calvin College Chapel

Other Links
• websites of artists, organizations, and churches

Worship Spaces
• Worship spaces for the Calvin Symposium on Worship:
  Calvin College Chapel/ Woodlawn Christian Reformed Church
  Fine Arts Center at Calvin College
  
  
• Worship spaces of the Reformed Churches in America
  Classis of Southwest Michigan
  photographed by Bennet Young
  
  
• Worship spaces for Passion Week Worship
  from St. Olaf Conference on Worship, Theology and the Arts 2002

Events
• See Calendar of Events for a complete listing of upcoming events hosted or sponsored by the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship


• Q & A: Art Meets the Heidelberg Catechism exhibit
  March - May 2008. Reception and gallery talk, March 9, 11:30 a.m.
  Second Christian Reformed Church, Grand Haven, Michigan

Vital Worship
Feature stories ... for inspiration, learning, and group discussion
• Art that Preaches
• Epiphany in Missional Churches
• Good Taste, Bad Taste, and Christian Taste
• How Congregations Create Worship Visuals
• Visual Arts in Worship: From either/or to both/and
• more...

“God did not have to make rainbows. God could have said it black on white, ‘I will keep covenant with the earth,' just as God wrote in stone the Ten Words. And why, do you think, did Christ teach men and women in parables? Couldn't he have been more straightforward, so there wouldn't be any misunderstandings? But it pleased God to tell the story of the Good Samaritan and it pleased God to make rainbows in the sky.”
–Calvin Seerveld, Rainbows for the Fallen World (Tuppence Press, 1980), p. 8.

To submit artwork, photos of installations and environments for worship,

or to learn more, please contact Betsy Steele Halstead.