Call for Artists
Kalamazoo First Congregational Church is excited to announce an open call for artists for six pieces of art that will enhance the education spaces for the children of our church.
Our Sunday morning education programs focus on helping children learn about worship and prepare to participate fully in worship each Sunday. We want their classroom space to feel like a sanctuary. The art we seek to commission will fill the walls in a way that echoes the stained glass windows in a traditional sanctuary, but with colors, symbols and interactive elements that teach children about the seasons of the church year.
Funding for this project has been secured through a grant from the Michigan Conference of the United Church of Christ. Budgets for selected works will be determined based on: Artist experience, Materials required, Estimated time and labor. First Congregational Church is committed to offering equitable compensation for all selected artists.
We invite artists to review the specifications for each piece of art, and complete an application for the specific season (or seasons) for which they would like to be considered. A small palette of required colors is listed for each season, as well as 2-3 specific symbols that must be included clearly enough that elementary children can identify them. Concrete images are preferred over abstract images. Within those specifications, we welcome bold interpretations, unique materials, and creative storytelling. We strongly encourage artists to include an interactive element in the bottom third of the panel that invites children to play with, add to, or explore the piece. For example, a mirror in which kids can see themselves as part of the art piece, a laminated component on which kids could add temporary markings with dry erase markers, or a textured area that kids are invited to touch.
The piece may be any medium, or mixed media, but must be completed on an arched GatorBoard panel of (48” wide by 58” tall). These panels will be provided to the selected artists.
Successful applicants will incorporate the symbols for a season in a way that elementary children can easily identify them, will incorporate the season’s palette in order to provide visual continuity with other commissioned pieces in the series, and will also reflect personal creativity and expertise with the chosen media. The symbol guide and palette guide are a starting place, not limits on what colors, hues, textures or images may be incorporated into the final design.
Applications must include:
- Artist Statement and bio
- Concept description
- Preliminary sketches
- Example of a prior work in the same medium
- Material list
- Budget proposal
Application Deadline: May 15, 2026
Commissions Awarded by: June 15, 2026
Completed pieces must be delivered to the church by:
Advent Panel: Nov 1, 2026
Christmas Panel: Dec 1, 2026
Ordinary Time Panel: Dec 15, 2026
Lent Panel: February 1, 2027
Easter Panel: March 1, 2027
Pentecost Panel: April 1, 2027
Download a Paper Application Here
Advent Panel
Advent prepares us for Christmas by calling us away from consumerism and into mystery. Advent stories focus on endings and beginnings, troubles in the world and the promise that God is with us. Advent revels in mystery–the mystery of conception and birth, the mystery of incarnation, the mystery of God’s timing. Because Advent spans late November and most of December, Advent also evokes winter images like evergreens, snow and starlit nights.
Symbols:
Candle flame
Spiral
Color Palette:
Prominent Color–#3A44CD
Accent Colors–#FFD10F, #F474C5, #FFFAEB
Christmas Panel:
The Christmas Season is the shortest of our church seasons, from December 24 to January 6. We want our Christmas panel to capture attention and focus it on the story of Christmas—Divine love made present in the humble experience of a marginalized family. In addition to the color palette, liberal use of gold—metallic and/or iridescent—is encouraged. The gift of God’s presence in the Christmas story holds together a tension between the transcendent and the mundane: angels and shepherds; guiding stars and a humble stable.
Symbols:
Bethlehem star (eight points with an elongated point in the six-o’clock position)
Angels
Color Palette:
Prominent color—#FFFAEB
Accent colors—#008944, #FFD10F, #B51F1F
Ordinary Time Panel:
The time between holidays may be “ordinary,” but it is not stagnant. Ordinary time includes portions of winter, spring, summer and fall. Growth happens in these seasons. These “ordinary” times include baptisms and communion celebrations; births and deaths; hospitality and mission. We gather together to experience the sacred in the ordinary and we disperse to share God’s love in the ordinary rhythms of our lives. This panel will be central for the longest spans of the year. It will anchor the education space, and we want it to be dynamic and rich with new details for kids to discover.
Symbols:
Communion Chalice
Wheat
Water
Rainbows
Color Palette:
Prominent Color—#008944
Accent Colors—#FFFAEB, #723299, #3A44CD, #FFD10F, #FF751F, #B51F1F
Lent Panel:
Lent is an old word for “spring.” Lent is a season when we practice stillness, like seeds buried in cold earth, just beginning to set roots and crack open with fresh life. Lent calls our attention to mortality and limitations, to imperfection and the gap between intentions and impact. When we are tempted to feel self-sufficient, Lent calls us back to our dependence on grace from God, from each other, and from ourselves.
Symbols:
Flower bulbs (not blooming)
Stone cairns
Desert/dirt
Color Palette:
Prominent Color—#723299
Accent Colors—#FFD10F, #008944, #FFFAEB
Easter Panel:
Easter is love that is stronger than hate; life that is stronger than death. Brimming with the colorful blossoms of spring, Easter stirs us out of fear and complacency into courageous engagement with the world. Hate cannot divide us—love has secured the victory. Fear cannot confine us—love has set us free. Free to imagine a world where every person belongs, every person is beloved, and all people thrive.
Symbols:
Empty tomb
Flowers (especially spring bulbs)
Butterflies
Color Palette:
Prominent Color—#FFFAEB
Accent Colors—#723299, #F474C5, #008944
Pentecost Panel:
The Spirit stirs like the wind and alights in flames. Communication barriers dissolve and outsiders find themselves included and centered in an ever-expanding community of action and love. Pentecost is the energy that births community and binds people together across differences. Pentecost season converges with the celebration of Pride in our community and we celebrate the ways that the LGBTQ+ community in and around our church helps us draw the circle of belonging wider each day.
Symbols:
Flame
Dove
Rainbows
Color Palette:
Prominent Color—#B51F1F
Accent Colors—#FFFAEB, #FFD10F, #723299, #3A44CD, #008944, #FF751F