Christmas in October

Below are photos of a custom Nativity I finished recently–

It’s funny because while doing research for this, I thought back about nativities I’ve seen in the past, mainly the one my mom probably still have stashed in a box someplace, and my grandma’s world famous (okay, family famous) nativity, probably over 70 years old at this point. I actually found a picture online of one that looks strikingly like Grandma’s, which is still set up on the table in the living room every year, complete with little electric lights to illuminate inside the barn, all the various farm animals and, as per grandma’s tradition, a baby Jesus who only appears in his manger on Christmas day and absolutely no earlier. (He’s usually hidden behind the barn in the trees, but it took until you were old enough to actually see over the top to be able to discover that secret)

It’s similar, but not exactly the same. I feel like Grandma’s figures are somehow thinner and more angular– it must be foreign-made because no American would make the kind of long, thin characters that it has.

At any rate, it was a fun challenge to translate something so iconic (like, textbook definition of iconic) into my own little artistic language. I wanted to straddle that line between being traditional enough to please the client, and not being too hokey, while still maintaining my own voice in the work. Overall, I’m pretty pleased with how they turned out.