Boxing Day

It's January 2nd, 2010. Happy New Year! I'm sorting out the gifts, the ebay piles, the product that needs to go to my next show (January 9th and 10th at the historic Williamsburg Savings Bank in Brooklyn!!!!), and the things that need to get boxed until the holidays roll around next year. Every day is Boxing Day around here. So, I never sold any snow ball candle holders; A. because I just didn't do any shows in December, and B. because we really like them on my coffee table. I put a hurt on the Christmas ornaments in the two shows I did in fact work before 12/25. And I found this rad vintage nativity set after Christmas. Hopefully I'll remember to take it to a show next November. I just don't like selling at flea markets in December. I feel like a very very small fish in a giant capitalist ocean of retail. So, these are hand made. I figure they're from the 70s. I remember my aunt had stacks of pattern books with crafts like this. It also looks as if the facial hair on the wise men was fashioned to resemble the beards and mustaches of my dad's friends when I was growing up. The figures are crafted of styrofoam, and fabric stiffened with glue and/or paint. Baby Jesus has gone missing. Do you often read reports of Baby Jesus disappearing from local church nativities in your town. Jesus-napping is rampant around here. Hasn't he been through enough??? I bought these because I really liked the faces. At first they reminded me of the bubble heads that Bjorn Wiinblad is known for. To illustrate this point, I've posted a photo of Wiinblad's Madonna and Child glass sculpture he designed for Rosenthal. The heads are not round out of any sort of artistic intention, or fondness for the simplicity of geometric solids. They're round because they're styrofoam balls. The expressions are pretty awesome too though. They have a little funk and soul in them. I would put this nativity on display in my home. I was raised going to flea markets every sunday, and never once set up a nativity in my home, except in order to sell it on eBay. But this one is cool. It will be for sale next November, and boxed in the basement until then.