Eastertide 2019 Cut Paper Banners

Starting to sketch out the design.

I started making cut paper banners for my church in summer 2017. It’s a really enjoyable medium—I get to manipulate paper and play with knives, and it’s really satisfying to see a design slowly revealed. It has an impressive effect, but in reality is quite simple. (This is the kind of thing I say and then people say, oh no, it’s not simple. But I think it’s simple to me because I’ve played with paper for so long.)


I’m most inspired and energized by scriptural themes. I love packing my work with Biblical references. That and other liturgical and religious imagery. My other great love is flowers, plants, and plant symbology. It was only a matter of time that plants would show up in my liturgical banners.

Sunday, I shared some images of the Eastertide banners and part of my statement about them that pertained to Rachel Held Evans. Today, I’m sharing the full text of what I read in this morning’s worship service at my church. I'll also share additional photos below that show some of the process of creation!

A brief statement about the cut paper Eastertide banners

We are used to seeing the the Easter lily, and there is traditional symbolism attributed to the flower, but I included the entire plant. Partly, perhaps, because I really like plants and botanical illustrations, and I’m always curious about what a plant looks like underground. The Easter lily grows from a bulb. A bulb is made of layers of scales that store food reserves for the plant. Bulbous plants cycle through growth stages--vegetative, when the bulb grows to reproductive size, and reproductive, when the plant flowers.Once the flowering period is over, the plant enters a foliage period, during which time the plant absorbs nutrients from the soil and energy from the sun for setting flowers for the next year. And the cycle continues. From the dry, lumpy bulb to the beautiful, flower. To me, this symbolizes the promise of resurrection and continual renewal that we can experience in our lives.

The other imagery in the banners comes from the text April just read from John 21. This story first caught my imagination when I read about it in the Fish Stories chapter of writer Rachel Held Evans’ book on the Bible, Inspired. Rachel, who died yesterday after an illness at age 37, became interested in knowing people’s favorite stories from the Bible. She wrote that she asked a group of strangers what their favorite story was, and one young mother replied, “The one where Jesus meets his disciples on the beach.” Rachel had been studying rabbinic numerology--the significance of particular numbers in the text, and in reply she launched into a theory about what was meant by the number of fish they caught, etc. The woman said to Rachel with a smile, “Oh, I wasn’t thinking about all that. I just like the idea of God frying up fish for breakfast.”

I realized that I, too, like the idea of God frying up fish for breakfast. This story is represented by the fishing net in the background, the fire on the beach, and the boat in the water.

I want to share a few words from Rachel’s book, Searching for Sunday: “[...] God is busy making all things new. So show up. Open every door. [..,] anticipate resurrection.”

Sketching out the bulb.

The first cuts. The drawing on reused butcher paper is layered over two thick sheets of banner paper. Here I am cutting the Easter lily on both banners at once.

Some of the drawing happens as I go.

First banner nearly done. The drawing layer can be seen folded over to the left.

The first banner done!

Here's the drawing layer on its own.

Starting on the second banner. A new drawing will be made for the left half.

Fishing boat drawing started.

Almost done!

Waiting to hang up at church.

Hanging in the sanctuary read for Easter! Blue paper was added later behind the cut paper to add contrast.