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Nativity Scenes as works of Art

In my wanderings this holiday season, I stumbled on a gallery which was featuring nativities from around the world. This was sponsored by a local church and featured the collections of several people who are clearly world travelers and wanted to share this with the community. It was a celebration of this special moment in the history on Christianity, the Christmas story which binds all Christians, no matter their denomination.


On another level, it is significant that it was displayed in an art gallery. Here we have the classic creative challenge. You have a theme: the nativity. The challenge is for each artist to bring their artistic aesthetic, their culture, and their tastes to the interpretation of that theme in a meaningful way.

The room was filled with nativities in all sizes, from miniatures...


to very large pieces...

representing many different cultures (shown here clockwise from top left : South Africa, Kyrgyzstan,  Indonesia, Japan, Zimbabwe and Mexico)...

with a wide variety of materials, (in the same order from the top left: wool yarn, wood veneer, office supplies, cloth/gourd, rocks/drift wood and candy wrappers/wire)...

And many styles, from realistic to modern...

So much to take in! I thought this one was especially dear, a tender depiction of mother and child.

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