When Creating Gives God Glory

I was fortunate to hear about the opportunity
 that Diane Guelzow had to create the banner for the

  150th Anniversary celebration
 for Concordia University, Chicago.

I asked her to give us a glimpse of her artistic process,
 that I might share with you- a part of her story. 

Diane J. Guelzow

Artist statement

Art making is a daily exercise for me, a daily diet of mixing everyday life with sensory-rich visuals.  It is the way I process life, a necessary staple, and a reflection pool for living.  I mix materials, blurring paint, and paper, fabric, pen, and whatever my spirit reaches for in the creative process. I am primarily a mixed-medium artist but painting is my breath.

     In creating the banner for Concordia University’s 150^th anniversary celebration,
 I worked with three individual vertical banners to pay tribute to the Trinity in accordance to the hymn that was written for the service.  Mixing materials of painted canvas with cloth provided opportunities to render emotion and worship.

     Residing in western North Carolina, I feel a connection to the organic nature of root systems, especially as I walk the trails in the mountains.  There is rhizomatic growth to be seen, a yearning to grow upward and forward despite the hardships in life.  Three vertical banners consist of root systems wrapped around rocks, digging deeply to take hold and desiring to rapidly produce more growth, more roots, and ensuring stable conditions for survival.

     The plant emerges throughout all three panels, moving, entangling, and swaying with the wind, providing metaphor for the human spirit living in the world but also striving and pushing forward for Heaven’s glory.

     As the plant steadies itself amidst life’s trials and root systems plow deeply to secure to solid rock, God showers blessing upon the tender plant, as seen in the first panel, flooding us as well with his love.  The second panel brings Christ into our lives by living among us, being in the storms of our lives, in the wind that tangles us together, and in his breath, He says, “I am with you always”.  The third panel represents the Holy Spirit uplifting us and moving us closer to God, helping us reach and connect to the ever-present Father.

     As followers of Christ, we yearn for connection, growing in faith and love.  The fabric at the bottom of each banner and on the backside of the banners is a reminder of the rhizomatic growth, the yearning to be closer to God, to be deeply rooted in the Word, to stay in the faith, and to be entangled in His arms.  

Diane J. Guelzow

Ed.D., NCC. LPC, REACE



Diane worships at St. Stephen's Lutheran Church, Hickory, North Carolina. We give thanks for the gifts and talents that she so generously shares with the wider church community.

Diane's love for visual arts has been a long time journey. Her first book- Banners With Pizazz is available on Amazon : Banners-Pizazz-Diane-Guelzow.

 Though this book was published 20 years ago it is an insightful help for the creation of visual arts. Her craft has become even more refined
 as seen in her work here.
Diane may be reached at-dianeguelzow@gmail.com

Want to see the banner in a live feed for the service?  See Below.....

Opening Service marks CUC's 150th academic year

8/23/2013

Concordia University Chicago opens its 150th anniversary celebration with the annual Opening Service in The Chapel of Our Lord at 4 p.m. on Sunday, August 25.  For those unable to attend, the service will be provided as a live video feed atwww.cuchicago.edu/live.

And though it is a little blurry and it is challenging to take a photo on a a computer of an event, here is the banner hanging in the Chapel at Concordia University- Chicago. May it bless all the worship this Anniversary year.

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