Art that welcomed us

As Churchwide Office staff prepare to move to Frome Street in the Adelaide CBD, we bid farewell to some traditions. One of these is the ‘rotating gallery’ of the Archer Street foyer.

The changing galleries stemmed from the establishment of the Visual Arts department by the LCANZ’s Commission on Worship.

The department, and later, working group, offered guidance on paraments and vestments, church architecture, sacred dance, and other visual elements used in worship. It was one of the driving forces behind the creation of a patchwork banner that features pieces of fabric embroidered with the names of congregations.

Hanging in the Churchwide Office boardroom, the congregation banner was a sign of unity among Lutheran congregations, with its creation bringing together the different districts of the church and people from across Australia and New Zealand, with city, suburban and regional communities contributing. In addition, it was decided that the Churchwide Office could show visitors a more welcoming face, so Visual Arts instigated a more dynamic form of engagement: rotating galleries.

These were designed to encourage local artists and acted as a space in which artists could showcase their work beyond their local churches.

A special picture-hanging system for displaying the artworks was installed on the entrance walls to the reception bay. But coordinating the galleries wasn’t easy. Contacting artists is one thing – convincing them to show their work to the public is another!

At first, exhibits rotated monthly, later shifting to a bi-monthly schedule.

The driving force behind those early years was Rae Kempe, then a secondary art teacher at Cornerstone College in the Adelaide Hills. Rae doesn’t claim to have a favourite art medium (though she once painted a wedding dress!) but seems to approach them all with extraordinary ability.

In 2022, Rae handed over the reins to Heather Waring, a fellow artist who joined the Visual Arts working group the previous year. Heather is a self-taught artist who likes experimenting in a variety of mediums, her favourite being paper crafting to create 3D artworks.

Over the past four years, many talented artists have contributed their work to this unique ministry. These include Carmen Isbel, Fiona Castle-Schmidt, Marianne Lange (née Mibus), Carmel Tajnikar, Jacqui Dowden (Morton), David Mibus, Christine Davis, Libby Krahling, Helen Sherriff, Leanne Stahl, Lynlee Walter and Sarah Moller.

Earlier contributors also include Helen Mickan, Margey Knapp, Chris Thiel, Lyle Bartel, Ros Thiele, Trevor Schaefer and Linda Bromley.

The LCANZ is deeply grateful to every artist who has made walking through the doors of the Churchwide Office such a visual delight.

The new Church House will present new opportunities for visual arts. If you would like to see your congregation or church represented at Frome Street, consider sending us high-quality images of your church, its paraments and/or features such as stained-glass windows. We’d love to consider them for use in the exhibition space. It’s your Church House, and we’re keen to include contributions from across the LCANZ.

Email your high-resolution JPEGs (preferably 300 dpi) or a link to your files with information about the pictures and your contact details to lca.comms@lca.org.au