Exhibit and Dec. 4 lecture to illuminate 'The Crèche in Many Languages'

“A Season of Joy: The Nativity in Global Perspective," an exhibit opening today in O'Shaughnessy Educational Center's Lobby Gallery, features selections from the Martha Spencer Rogers Crèche Collection at Westminster Presbyterian Church, including this crèche from Bolivia.

“A Season of Joy: The Nativity in Global Perspective," an exhibit opening today in O'Shaughnessy Educational Center's Lobby Gallery, features selections from the Martha Spencer Rogers Crèche Collection at Westminster Presbyterian Church, including this crèche from Bolivia.

Westminster Presbyterian Church’s collection of Nativity scenes from all over the world is the focus of an exhibit that opens today and a Dec. 4 guest lecture at the University of St. Thomas.

The exhibit, Nov. 30-Jan. 15 in the Lobby Gallery of O’Shaughnessy Educational Center on St. Thomas’ St. Paul campus, is titled “A Season of Joy: The Nativity in Global Perspective.” It features 30 selections from Westminster’s Martha Spencer Rogers Crèche Collection and Christmas card designs by Dr. Timothy Trent Blade. The Westminster collection includes more than 200 folk-art crèches, a growing collection of Noah’s arks and multi-ethnic and multicultural interpretations of many Bible and Christian stories.

The gallery is open 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays and noon to 10 p.m. Sundays.

The exhibition’s guest curator, Dr. Rodney Allen Schwartz, director of the Westminster Presbyterian Church Gallery and Archive, will present a lecture, “The Crèche in Many Languages,” at 7 p.m. Friday, Dec. 4, in O’Shaughnessy Educational Center auditorium.

Schwartz will discuss the history of Advent art and Westminster’s collection. A co-founder of the Westminster Gallery, he launched a ministry of art that currently features five exhibitions at the Westminster Gallery each year and additional art installations in other Westminster spaces.

The exhibit and lecture are free and open to the public. For more information, call the St. Thomas Art History Department, (651) 962-5560.