Whenever in my sculpture career that I have created design proposals, I have always considered the architecture as primary. My visual contributions always try to respond to the building and, if possible, make its expressive character clearer and more emphatic.

The changes that we are making in the chancel area follow this same rationale and I consider the following to be important aspects of our building that I have responded to:

• Our building has a unique diagonal axis which is dramatized by the large diagonal wood beam which divides and supports the ceiling of our sanctuary.
  
• The sanctuary space rises along this diagonal axis and reaches its climax in a modern take on a steeple which has clerestory windows.
  
• Our building has generally a crisp, straight lined, modernist character.
  
• We have a stained wood ceiling which has a yellow, ochre cast.
  
• Our sanctuary side walls are white and textured.
  
• A strong interior feature is a projecting light soffit which illuminates the side walls and the ceiling in that area.
  
• There are exposed, stained wood upright supports which frame our chancel area.
  
• Our pulpit, baptismal, and altar are all made of oak and have some carved texture.
  
• We have a large and prominent suspended oak wood cross which hangs over the altar.
  
• With the change of worship format we have drums, keyboards, speakers, and mics generally occupying our chancel area.
  

With these attributes in mind, I developed our proposal which seeks to do the following things:

• The large wood dove is made of oak and has a carved texture and a white color. Its diagonal wings respond to the corner location and relate to the textured diagonal side walls.
  
• The dove is placed above and behind the cross to relate symbolically and in placement to the interior climax of our space.
  
• The dove’s wings create some softer curved lines to relieve the angular severity of the chancel space.
  
• The white carved cross that is connected to the darker suspended cross highlights the cross and reinforces its "empty cross" meaning.
  
• The change of color beneath the chancel soffit and bordered by the exposed wood uprights seeks to create a clearer and more unified focus in the altar area and to relate to the stained ceiling color.

While all of this visual analysis is necessary to create a unified look to our sanctuary, it is intended to serve a larger expressive and symbolic purpose. That purpose is to create a stronger yet softer focus. The dove is a critical element because of its size, color and position, yet its purpose being behind the cross is to highlight and emphasize the cross. Finally, what is happening here, especially with the change of color behind the altar, is a more visually complex symbolic interaction between heaven and earth.

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