Chancel Design

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Nassau Presbyterian Church commissioned our studio to design artwork featuring new scriptural texts in their historical 19th century Greek Revival sanctuary. Our studio focused on designing artwork that would highlight the new texts while honoring the historical Greek Revival style.

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In our Eastern Orthodox tradition, icons serve as visual prayers and symbols of the eternal truth of Christian faith. In Nassau’s design, the visual prayer or icon is the scripture itself. ​​​​

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Our approach to the design centered on three main elements: color, gold leaf, and ornamentation. We differentiated and highlighted the chancel from the rest of the space through the use of color. By introducing a color palette derived from the existing stained glass windows, we were able to anchor the chancel into the entirety of the space while drawing the eye to the scripture as the main element of the design. In order to frame the scripture and bring out the gold leaf in the lettering, blue was used for the background of the central panels. The existing ‘Princeton yellow’ utilized in the nave of the church lends itself to varied and muted tones and values of yellow ochre and sienna used to amplify the existing molding and carved ornamentation in the chancel. 

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The scripture itself is rendered in genuine gold leaf, symbolizing diving light, a medium which symbolizes and emphasizes the divine light present in the work, even the smallest amount of illumination will cause the text to shine, reminding us in prayer that “God is light, and in God there is no darkness at all”. (I John 1:5)

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Our studio developed ornamentation that is designed purely in the greek revival style and, by keeping the design exclusively ornamental and omitting ecclesiastical symbols, the ornamentation serves as a framing element to accentuate and elevate the scripture within the space.​​​​​​​​​​