“A Rehearsal of The New Creation”

This flower gear wall project is permanently installed in St. John’s Episcopal Church in Decatur, Alabama in the Children’s Worship Chapel. It is 16 feet long. 4 feet tall, and consists of 53 hand-cut, painted wooden gears that actually work!

Curious How It Works?

The Story Behind the Piece:

In March, 2019, a really quirky and incredibly customer reached out to me. She invited me down to Decatur, Alabama to help her cast vision for a children’s worship chapel in her historical church. I jumped on the opportunity, flew to Alabama, and spent a few days brainstorming and dreaming up ideas.

There were a few things that I knew by the time I left:
- This piece needed to be colorful.
- It needed to be childlike, with a feel that it could be something that Jesus might have made with his Daddy.
- It needed to be interactive. After all, it’s going in a space designed for children.
- It needed to move. Kids move all the time. This project needed to move with them and as a result of them.

Of course, at the time, I had no idea what would truly come of the whole experience.

After about 6 months of sketching, planning, learning a new computer software program, and figuring out the ins and outs the best I could, I got started on the building process. I adhered wallpaper that matched the wallpaper in the room the piece would live in. Then I painted the base layer of grass.

Next, I laid out, hand cut, painted, and attached each of the first level of non-working gears.

Then, I did the same thing with all of the gears that needed to work. This was an incredibly complex part of the project, and required at least three Lowe’s trips per day. After numerous months of building and fiddling with it, it finally came to life!

This was truly a collaborative project in so many ways. I am so grateful for everyone’s advice and help throughout this last year. Thank you!