The Missionary and the Chief

“The missionary said to the Chief, ’There is only one God, and you must worship Him’.”

“‘Then if that is true’, said our Chief, ‘we Indians are worshipping the same God that you are, only in a different way. When the Great Spirit, God, made the world, He gave the Indians one way to worship Him and He gave the White Men another way, because we are different people and our lives are different. The Indians should keep to his ways and the White Man to his, and we should all work with one another for God, and not against one another. “   — ref,The Gospel of the Red Man

2007 & 2008 horses pictured above

How my Nativity (the Three Horses) was conceived:

For several years, people who collect my art have encouraged me to create a Nativity set. Although the idea appealed to me, I wasn’t inspired to repeat another version of the usual variety of animals and people.  Since horses are my passion, I wanted only horses in my Nativity.  In the autumn of 2006, I came up with the idea of doing a series of horses to represent the Four Directions.  I created four different sets of horses, each designed around the lessons and animals representing one of the Four Directions. It occurred to me that these sets would be an ideal foundation for my Nativity. The final concept came together when I thought of adding the collector series of tribal horses I’ve been doing since 2001.

The first Nativity was introduced, to an overwhelming response, at the 2006 National Finals Rodeo.  I quickly realized that having four different sets at one time would be too difficult, so I decided to do a limited series of “collector Nativities.” The first four would represent the Four Directions.

Where is Jesus in the Nativity?

I would like to believe that my creativity originates with the Creator.My hands, without the assistance of my own comprehension, form objects of clay. I try not to question the “whys” of it, but because the question is sometimes asked, I will try to explain my understanding.

 Where is Jesus?  He’s there in front you, beside you, behind you.

Raised in the Lutheran tradition, I learned that Jesus was the son of God.  And yet, this Nativity is not about a specific religion— it is about life.  It represents the beating of all hearts, all nations, all faiths coming together to celebrate the innocence, the possibilities, and the beginning, of life.