One of two hand-embroidered banners for the Church of the Transfiguration in Dallas, TX. Hand-painted, hand-embroidered, and hand-stitched by our specialist craftspeople, the banner represents the idea 'To the Ends of the Earth', drawing on the imagery and style of the St John's Bible Heritage Editions.
For this ‘Space Banner,’ we took images from the Hubble Telescope and anchored them to Earth, encased within the geometry of the Chartres Labyrinth. Our design process was led through the awe-inspiring shapes of our universe: a celestial geometry of contrasts between spherical planets and stars against expanding, mutable giants of gas and dust. Traversing lightyears of space, the Pillars of Creation cradles our planet like the hand of God, guiding humanity for eternity. Constellations, too, encircle Earth, each star depicted as a golden cross, glowing with golden light just as Christ brings light to humanity.
Crafted in an utterly unique, hand-painted silk fabric, our artisans embroidered the banner with a variety of techniques and threads to create a rich tapestry of textures, as if the silken Earth is teeming with life in a kaleidoscopic galaxy. Spangles and Japanese Gold thread become stars amongst the colours of the universe.
Rev'd Casey Shobe, from the Church of the Transfiguration: “The folks at Watts were absolutely wonderful to work with; they were brilliant and skilled. The deeply intentional work that they did researching and reflecting was wonderful because that is so connected to how The Saint John’s Bible and its illuminations came about too. It was a long careful process of discernment. They understand the sacred nature of this, which made them such a joyful partner for us.”
