navidad
For those who love all things Christmas, there is really nothing like Glencairn Museum’s World Nativities. Regular contributors to this annual exhibition include the creative team at Navidad Nativities in Doylestown, which designed and built five three-dimensional Nativity story scenes on exhibit this year among the dozens chosen from Glencairn’s own collection and on loan from artists, individuals and museums around the world.
Central Bucks native Michael A. Stumpf, who established Navidad Nativities as a labor of love over 20 years ago, turned it into a full-time venture after selling his marketing and graphic design company several years ago. His atelier, just out the door from his Buckingham Township home, celebrates Christmas year-round now. The small space is filled with soft music, pine-y aromas, exquisitely crafted figures from around the world—and all the resources, tools, materials and works in progress you’d expect from an artist devoted to the study and creation of Nativities that tell the story of the birth of Jesus.
A few years ago, Stumpf met A.J. DiAntonio, a former Los Angeles producer with credits including the Oscars opening ceremonies. Like long-lost brothers from different parents, their shared obsession with Christmas and Nativity art inspired and fueled a prolific collaboration. In 2015, the two created the featured Nativity for Glencairn’s World Nativities exhibition: the Bryn Athyn Nativity, inspired by the art and architecture of nearby Bryn Athyn Cathedral and Glencairn itself.
Since then, Navidad has had several Nativities in each year’s exhibition. Two, which are now owned by the Museum, can be viewed this year, only on the “Christmas in the Castle” guided tour: the Bryn Athyn Nativity is on exhibit just outside the Pitcairn family chapel on the fifth floor, and the Antique Assisi Crèche is on the fourth floor.
Inspired by Old World Nativities in display cases, Stumpf and DiAntonio have begun experimenting with unusual containers to hold the Nativity scenes they design and build, such as antique pharmacy cabinets, oversized jewelry boxes and tabletop greenhouse structures. Two such creations are part of this year’s selections in the Upper Hall, the Renaissance Duomo Nativity and the Conservatory Crèche.
A new feature of the World Nativities exhibition is a Meet the Artists section that features ten Nativity artists from around the globe. Michael Stumpf and A.J. DiAntonio will be on hand from 12 to 4:30 on Sunday, Dec. 9, as part of a schedule of several artists who will appear throughout the exhibition timeframe to talk about their work, techniques, materials, inspiration and the meaning behind their creations.