Spirit of the holiday season on display at the Disney-Britton home

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS
By Ernest Disney-Britton

This photo of Greg was staged in the Disney-Britton dining room in Indianapolis with an abstract painting as the backdrop.

Lenard Disney (b. 1946) — a retired Marine, distant cousin of Walt Disney, and father to Gregory Disney-Britton took up ceramics in the 1970s. After Greg's marriage in 2008, and his religious art journey began with Ernest, he retrieved his father's Nativity scene from his parents basement. The setting includes 18 ceramic figures, ranging from 3" to 9" inches tall—including seven animals, the Angel Gabriel, three wise men, four shepherds, and the holy family. This year, Greg noted that the scene was missing a star, a key part of the bible story. That led him to wrap it in Christmas lights to represent "The shining-greatness of the Lord shone around them" as described in the Gospel of Luke. Glazed in pale tones of blue, yellow, purple, and green, Lenard Disney's crèche is a perfect example of the genre and a rare family treasure.