If you're familiar with Pamela Dalton's work, you'll know why I was so excited to find out she's published a Nativity book. Her collaboration with Katherine Paterson, Brother Sun, Sister Moon: St. Francis of Assisi's Canticle of Creatures, has already made it into the NY Times Book Review's "10 Best Illustrated Children’s Books of 2011". Watch the YouTube clip below to see how she works at creating her stunningly detailed paper cut images.
Pamela Dalton's The Story of Christmas (with text from the King James Bible) is one of the most striking renderings of the Nativity story that I have ever seen. Using this medium of paper cutting, which is rooted in the Pennsylvania-German folkart of Scherenschnitte, Pamela's intimate appreciation of medieval and Renaissance Italian art captures the profound, yet simple beauty of the Nativity story. Her artwork is at once stunning, yet reverent, delicate, yet alive with color against a black backdrop that evokes the cold and solitude Mary and Joseph faced in finding lodging for the night of her expected birth. I'll let the illustrations speak for themselves...
