Jim Staines, who carved our Crib figures, died in March this year. He had been carving in wood and stone since he was 16 and sold his first piece – a statue of St Francis of Assisi – when he was 20. He trained for four years at Canterbury Art School and three years at the Royal College of Art studying sculpture. He became an architectural stone carver on London churches and other buildings; restored ecclesiastical woodcarvings; and undertook a great variety of work in stone, wood and clay and much letter-carving. He also taught sculpture part-time in art schools in London and the South East.
Jim’s wife Pam, a sculptor, coloured the crib figures. You can read more about them, and see more of their work, here. During 1980 and again in 1982-3, they lived and worked woodcarving in Oberammergau in Bavaria., returning to London at the end of 1983.
In a eulogy at his funeral service, Jim’s daughter Rima said:
“Dad was 50 when I was born, so I only knew him for half of his life. He was born in London in 1929 and was ten years old when the second world war broke out. As he and his siblings were not evacuated, he remembered the bombs and air raid sirens and aftermath vividly. His boyhood dream for his life was that he would become either a fighter pilot, an artist or a priest! These very different career wishes show us all at once his spiritual and creative selves alongside the wildly war-scarred dreamer.
“He chose to be an artist and was a brilliant wood and stone carver, as well as modelling in clay and casting reproductions of his work. He carved figures, heraldry, lettering, architectural pieces and there is much of his work in and on buildings around London and beyond. For some years he taught in art schools in Kent and London too and by all accounts he was an inspiring and patient teacher. Indeed it was in 1973 when my mum was a student at City and Guilds of London Art School that she met him for the first time in the plaster room!
“As well as his commissioned sculpture work, he made over the years many many beautiful and soul-infused pieces, mostly carved in wood, some large and some minute. There were saints, medieval peasants, mythic and biblical figures, and the themes often touched on the horrors of war, and human pain and grief. This incredible figurative work was all around our house as we grew up, and watching him in his hand-built workshop carving day upon day has been the biggest inspiration for my own artistic life. Indeed he has passed on his unique abilities to all of his children in different ways.
“When I was a baby, Dad converted (not for the first time) an old Bedford van to live in and we travelled in that across Europe so that he could learn from the wood carving tradition in Oberammergau, Bavaria, at the foot of the Alps. (This inspiring time has also influenced my own life, having built and lived in Bedford trucks twice so far since then.)”
The hand-carved figures in our Christmas Crib were commissioned from Jim Staines in 1999. There are now 12 figures, which are placed in the stable at the relevant times during the Christmas season:-
Mary and Joseph, two shepherds and three wise men (all completed in 1999); the ox, ass and baby Jesus in the crib (completed in 2001); the innkeeper, completed in 2003; and the latest figure, a sheep, completed in 2012.
All are carved out of cedar wood, except the figure of the baby which is carved from lime. Before carving, the wood has to be planed and glued to create a suitable medium for carving. The legs and ears of the animals are carved separately and attached with glue and dowels. Afterwards, the figures are sanded, with paper and wire wool, before colouring with a combination of stain, powder colour and wax. Each branch of the crib has been hand-carved and pinned into place.
