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Jan.23,2005 -Jan.30,2005 |
Crèches on Display
Rich and elaborate creations from various cultures at Carrier
By Niccolò Marras
Originally Published: 2004-12-26
Artistic crèches, tied to the tradition of presepi, are on display at the Joseph D. Carrier Gallery at the Columbus Centre until after the Epiphany - January 6.
Like every year, Alberto Di Giovanni's private collection is displayed in the halls of the Centre. "I've been collecting crèches from every part of Italy, and even some other countries, for the past 40 years," says Di Giovanni, director of Centro Scuola e Cultura Italiana. "My collection highlights the differences in culture and landscape among the various regions of Italy."
This exhibition has an obvious appeal for Catholics, and is visited by people and classes from all over the GTA. Lucia Papini, a teacher of Italian for Centro Scuola, is available (as much as her commitments allow her to) to guide visitors and tell the story of the crèche.
This year's exhibition is different from the previous editions; it has been prepared by Lucia Papini and Rosa Graci.
Overall, the exhibition includes 14 crèches from various regions of Italy and many more from 15 other countries, South America in particular.
The exhibition has been prepared keeping the characteristics of the various regions in consideration, devoting more space to each for a more accurate visit.
"Assembling the crèches," said Lucia Papini, "took us two weeks. This time, we got rid of a few superfluous particulars, and at the same time we added a few elements marking the different landscapes."
Papini underscores that the background landscapes must be redone every year, which is the operation known as "doing the crèche", because the landscape is done in paper, and gets destroyed when the crèche is disassembled.
The only elements that remain are the statuettes, the buildings, the objects and other furnishings.
The main innovation introduced by the two women can be noticed in the landscapes. There are fishing scenes from Sicily, the famous 'trulli' of Alberobello in Apulia, and so on for the other regions: Veneto, Umbria, Trentino Alto Adige, Sicily, Apulia, Molise, Lombardy, Lazio, Friuli, Campania, Calabria, and Abruzzo.
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