Waterfall Update: River Theme for a Northwest Church

A few weeks ago I introduced you to a current project and promised to keep you in the loop as it develops (see earlier post).  The theme for this project is a vision from Ezekiel 47 (and repeated in Revelation 22), of the river of the water of life, flowing from the throne of God, bringing healing, wholeness and life to all. We are starting with a 30 foot long painting of a waterfall.

This is a congregation of immersion baptism, and a baptismal pool will be behind this waterfall. !!!  For a baptism, the lower 12 feet of the banner will be drawn to each side, like curtains, to expose the pool and the drama of the baptism.

I like how the vertical water, flowing from the throne of God, is powerful and mysterious. This congregation has pushed me into a more abstract interpretation of “waterfall”…my painting tends towards realism when I work with landscape. As you can see below and to the right, which is my first attempt at the design.

When I brought this first and more realistic design into the sanctuary and we imagined it 30 feet tall it became readily apparent that the image would be overpowering. It’s a nice little sketch, but that white cone of a waterfall is just too strong, and too literal. “No scope for the imagination” as Ann of Green Gables would say. Just like a good poem, you don’t want to say it all, but instead leave room for the text to work, for instance, or the Spirit.

My clients, a pastor and a worship leader, asked for more abstraction, so I went home and tried my hand at it. I actually did about 6 of these, trying to make it work. But they all ended up pretty wimpy looking.

In the end, not happy with any of the second batch, I went back to a sketch originally for the 26 sound panels that are to be covered with silk also (more on this later). I put those together and turned them vertically.  It worked! Powerful, majestic and magical, in my humble estimation.

This original design simply “came” to me, for the sound panels. If you look back at the first picture, you can see the waterfall is made up of several horizontal pieces of paper. The one shown to the left here is the 3rd panel from the top, in the waterfall. Can you find it? Each of these pieces is to potentially be a covering for the 26 sound panels, 8′ x 4′ each, that surround the walls of the sanctuary. We shall see if the project continues into this chapter. For now, it’s enough to make this big waterfall!

In the next days I’ll post pictures of what it looks like in my studio when I actually  start making these. As you can see, there’s a lot of planning that goes into the design process. It’s actually the hardest, and most important, step of the whole process.

Here’s the Ezekiel 47 text:

“Then he brought me back to the door of the temple, and behold, water was issuing from below the threshold of the temple toward the east (for the temple faced east). The water was flowing down from below the south end of the threshold of the temple, south of the altar. ^2 Then he brought me out by way of the north gate and led me around on the outside to the outer gate that faces toward the east; and behold, the water was trickling out on the south side.

^3 Going on eastward with a measuring line in his hand, the man measured a thousand cubits,^[a] and then led me through the water, and it was ankle-deep. ^4 Again he measured a thousand, and led me through the water, and it was knee-deep. Again he measured a thousand, and led me through the water, and it was waist-deep. ^5 Again he measured a thousand, and it was a river that I could not pass through, for the water had risen. It was deep enough to swim in, a river that could not be passed through. ^6 And he said to me, “Son of man, have you seen this?”

Then he led me back to the bank of the river. ^7 As I went back, I saw on the bank of the river very many trees on the one side and on the other. ^8 And he said to me, “This water flows toward the eastern region and goes down into the Arabah, and enters the sea;^[b] when the water flows into the sea, the water will become fresh.^{[c] 9Â} And wherever the river goes,^[d] every living creature that swarms will live, and there will be very many fish. For this water goes there, that the waters of the sea^[e] may become fresh; so everything will live where the river goes. ^10 Fishermen will stand beside the sea. From Engedi to Eneglaim it will be a place for the spreading of nets. Its fish will be of very many kinds, like the fish of the Great Sea.^{[f] 11Â} But its swamps and marshes will not become fresh; they are to be left for salt. ^12 And on the banks, on both sides of the river, there will grow all kinds of trees for food. Their leaves will not wither, nor their fruit fail, but they will bear fresh fruit every month, because the water for them flows from the sanctuary. Their fruit will be for food, and their leaves for healing.”

“Isn’t that an awesome picture of the church?  That the Spirit and Word of the Lord flows from the throne and gets deeper, providing sustenance and healing to all! ”