April Romo de Vivar's
Nativity Scene
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Nativity Scene
Main Page
Nascimientos or Nativities, Prescepios,
Cribs or Creches
When I first started making things in clay, I
decided to make ‘nascimientos’ like those that
I had seen in Brasil, in Mexico and in front of
the downtown Tucson Court House as a child.
My first figures were very small because the
first kiln gifted to me was a very small, 6” by
6” jeweler’s kiln. Curly and John Montgomery
of Artes Alegres in Tubac gave it to me. My
latest kilns belonged to a wonderful raku
potter in Tucson, Collis Glaspy, who passed
away. His kilns are much larger and so my
pieces grow much taller each year.
Each of my nativities looks very different from
the one before because I hand make every
piece and because I study pictures of different
people to represent the Holy Family and Kings
each time that I begin another one.
I make the Holy Family, the Angel and the
Shepherd all wearing the same type of
clothing to show that they are all from the
same town. I make them wear more simple
clothing, as none were rich in material wealth.
The Three Kings are all dressed in clothing
from different geographical areas to show that
they came from afar and are much more richly
dressed.
Because folk artists usually reflect their own
region in their artwork, most of my nativities
are from the Southwest of the U.S., though I
have made nativities showing people of many
nations.
An example of a nativity of mine would be a
Navajo Holy Family, Shepherd and Angel, with
Kings or Wise Men from Jemez Pueblo, from
the Plains and Black Hills of the Sioux and
from the desert (Old Mexico now Arizona)
Yaqui people.
Cribs or Creches
When I first started making things in clay, I
decided to make ‘nascimientos’ like those that
I had seen in Brasil, in Mexico and in front of
the downtown Tucson Court House as a child.
My first figures were very small because the
first kiln gifted to me was a very small, 6” by
6” jeweler’s kiln. Curly and John Montgomery
of Artes Alegres in Tubac gave it to me. My
latest kilns belonged to a wonderful raku
potter in Tucson, Collis Glaspy, who passed
away. His kilns are much larger and so my
pieces grow much taller each year.
Each of my nativities looks very different from
the one before because I hand make every
piece and because I study pictures of different
people to represent the Holy Family and Kings
each time that I begin another one.
I make the Holy Family, the Angel and the
Shepherd all wearing the same type of
clothing to show that they are all from the
same town. I make them wear more simple
clothing, as none were rich in material wealth.
The Three Kings are all dressed in clothing
from different geographical areas to show that
they came from afar and are much more richly
dressed.
Because folk artists usually reflect their own
region in their artwork, most of my nativities
are from the Southwest of the U.S., though I
have made nativities showing people of many
nations.
An example of a nativity of mine would be a
Navajo Holy Family, Shepherd and Angel, with
Kings or Wise Men from Jemez Pueblo, from
the Plains and Black Hills of the Sioux and
from the desert (Old Mexico now Arizona)
Yaqui people.
Four Nativity Scenes by April
- Mescalero Apache Nativity
- Navajo Nativity
- Zuni Pueblo Nativity
- Traditional Bethlehem Nativity
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