Nativities Around the World: North and Central America
Chevak, Alaska
Chevak, Alaska
The figures were created by Rosalie Paniyak, a Cu'pik dollmaker from Chevak, Alaska. Her dolls are known for their witty, whimsical, and sometimes unusual faces. Chins and noses are long and pointed while teeth and eyes are made out of beads. The faces, hands, and feet are made from seal skin. The traditional kayak is made from seal gut. Rosalie has been making dolls since the 1960s, and her work is also found in the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C.
Purchased from Artists' Cove in Sitka, Alaska in 2002.
Huichol, Mexico
The Huichols are an indigenous people living primarily in the Sierra Madre Occidental mountain range. Artisans practice a detailed and time-consuming bead art called chaquira. Clay figures are covered with bee’s wax and then each bead is individually set into designs with a dentist tool.
Purchased at a créche festival.
Qahaca, Mexico
These figures are crafted from an iron rich clay and hand-painted.
Purchased at the International Créche Festival in Bellingham, Washington in 1997.
Panama Nicaragua
Purchased in a craft shop in 1990. Purchased in Leon in 1990.
Costa Rica, 1984
A local artist from San José fashioned the Madonna and child out of red clay. It is finely etched and covered with a black glaze. Traditional birds act like the rays of light emanating from the holy figures.
Purchased at an art shop in San Jose, Costa Rica.
The basket that the three hand-painted ceramic figures rests in was originally one used to pick coffee beans. Henrietta Van Maanen dampened and reshaped it to become the background of the scene.
Purchased at an art shop in San Jose, Costa Rica.
The miniature hand-formed clay figures are in a glazed clay pot. In Costa Rica, portales (nativity scenes) are displayed in most families’ homes.
Purchased at an art shop in San Jose, Costa Rica.
The artist formed the vibrant figures out of paper and then painted and lacquered the pieces. Each of the three wise men’s faces are painted a different color representing the diversity of humanity.
Purchased at an art shop in San Jose, Costa Rica.
New Mexico
Taos- 1988
This nativity from Taos, New Mexico portrays the Holy Family in a white adobe mission church. The artist, just inscribed as K.T., also labeled each piece “Made in the USA.”
Purchased from a shop in Taos, New Mexico.
Santa Clara Pueblo- 1987
Santa Clara Pueblo is famous for hand-crafted pottery, specifically black-polished or red-polished pottery with deep engravings. Judy Tafoya took up the pottery in earnest after moving back to the pueblo in the 1980s. Pottery is stone burnished, placed in metal containers with air holes, and fired outside in traditional fire pits. To achieve the black color, the fire is smothered with manure, metal, and other materials blocking the air passages, thus oxidizing the pottery.
Purchased from a shop in Taos, New Mexico.
Taos- 1988
The nativity culture of the Pueblo Indian Villages between Taos and Albuquerque, New Mexico produces a rich variety of nativities. Artisans call themselves “storytellers”. Potter Juanita Martinez painted the eyes closed to represent the figurines as seeing the story in their minds.
Purchased from a shop in Taos, New Mexico.