Special Event Design

Throwback: Sun

Paul Smollen from La Croix United Methodist Church in Cape Girardeau, MO brings us this creation-y stage design. (Originally posted June 2012)

This design was inspired by Willow Creek Arts Conference 2007.

To represent a new creation they painted some bare trees bright colors. Then they painted a large vine and some purple birds onto painted canvas and cut them out. They hung the vine on black netting and pinned the birds to their back cyc.

The sun was 16′ across and made from 1.5″ pink foam board used for home insulation. After cutting out the circle, they glued and screwed a framework to the back of it. They used construction adhesive and flat wooden tabs to attach the rays to it. Next, they taped the seams and sealed them with three coats of drywall mud. They applied two coats of yellow paint and painted the details with orange and red latex spray paint.

They lit the cyc behind the sun with Elation TriBrick fixtures, then lit the front with a dot of yellow in the center and orange around the entire sun. The rest of the props, trees and vine were lit with intelligent light fixtures to make them pop and add depth. The total cost of the set was less than $500 in materials.

They began the service with a single spotlighted singer in the dark and when the lyric said “let there be…. light” every light in the place went full on including 6 1000w white cyc lights at the front of the stage for ‘blinders’. They showed a video of a creation explosion timed to the light cue so every eye in the room was dazzled by the hugeness of the event.

Most Popular Stages – June 2020 Cartoon Words

4 responses to “Throwback: Sun”

  1. Steven Hall says:

    Looks beautiful guys! Great job. Keep up the amazing art for the kingdom.

  2. Really beautiful design!!! Continue with all of this creativity to Him.

  3. paul says:

    Thanks for the encouragement, guys. I honestly believe God inspires us to create for His purposes. This stage had a big effect on some people who came to worship at Easter. I’m grateful to be a part of God’s plan of redemption and it’s great to be a part of this community where we urge each other to continue giving our very best for the cause of Christ. Please share some of your ideas!

    Paul

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