A SMALL group of A-level
students at Dame Allan's Schools in Newcastle took their
inspiration from The Angel of the North to create a new
set of crib figures for Newcastle Cathedral. The
three included Sarah Richardson, who won the national Junior Artist
of the Year in 2011, run by the Society for All Artists, together
with Jonny Fawcett and Becky Marshall.
The life-sized figures and
animal heads were made of strong cardboard and spray-painted with
textured paint, and they had to be transported to the cathedral in
the school minibus in time for the carol service, when the school
was able to see the finished crib scene.
The Dean of Newcastle, the Very Revd Chris Dalliston, was
delighted with the result. "Every year", he says, "the cathedral
has commissioned a new crib scene, inviting mainly young people to
come up with a fresh look at this very traditional and powerful
story. In recent years, we have had all-white figures, including a
menagerie of animals; bling-covered kings made from recycled
bottles, and a giant mobile with a beating heart at the centre.
Each in its own way has invited viewers to reimagine the Christmas
story and to ask questions about what the nativity means to
them."