The Visual Arts group met in the Parish Hall yesterday (Saturday, July 26), with our newest associate, John Bonsey! The rest of the group includes Buddy Patten, Norine Meyer (Weekly) and yours truly, Jan Hanson. We viewed a visual version of vespers (a work in progress) by Jan, a wedding documented by John, and several of the meditations from the Visual Preludes by ecva.org.
Here is the description of the Visual Preludes:
The Visual Preludes 2-DVD Set contains a series of nine multimedia meditations for private and public viewing. The work of 123 visual artists and 10 musicians comes together in nine contemplative presentations. Each meditation is 10-12 minutes in length. Titles include Gracious Spirit, Bread of Life, and All Things into Christ. 116 minutes.
We plan to use each of the 9 preludes within the framework of Vespers/Evening Prayer. Norine is looking at the New Zealand Prayer Book as well as the BCP and will have a specific suggestion for liturgy at our next meeting. We agreed that we would need someone at each service to welcome and introduce the service, and should use a variety of voices for the "officiant" and readers. I think we had consensus on beginning with all lights on, then dimming after the welcome, and using a table of candles (with small icons and works of religious art?) for prayers, using the DVD prelude followed by silence, and departing in silence after the closing prayer.
We discussed the role of words, especially printed or projected words, in visual meditation. I think there was consensus that it was generally a distraction from contemplation. We also discussed the role of music (recorded or "live"). I don't think there was any definitive conclusion to that discussion, but, outside of the music that is part of the "Visual Prelude" I don't think we have any plans for music as yet.
Assuming this service becomes an ongoing thing, we will continue to work on our own creations to use after we have exhausted the material in the Visual Preludes.
We agreed to meet again on August 27, 7 p.m. in the Parish Hall, to "rehearse" the service. (This will be 10 days after the larger group meets) The dates for the Visual Arts Meditations are: September 21, October 19, November 16 and December 21. Please add comments or recollections I've forgotten!
Next Meeting
Wednesday July 30th
7:00 St. Stephen's Parish Hall
Over the break we will be working in small groups to plan the half hour sunday evening services for the Fall. We will reconvene in July to check on the progress of this and to share our experiences with field trips to experience other alternative services.
We welcome everyone who is curious about the new service or interested in being involved in the planning of it to join us for our weekly discussions.
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P.S.: We thought we would start with a short (1 or 2 minutes) period of silence, which would gradually increase over time.
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