During December 1997 the Castellani Art Museum of Niagara University hosted an exhibition of Krakow Christmas Cribs and a crib building contest inspired by the annual competition held in Krakow since 1937. Winning entries from our local contest were included in the Castellani Art Museum exhibition which opened on December 7, 1997 and closed on January 11 of the following year.

This exhibition and competition were part of a two year project researching and documenting a folk art unique to the city of Krakow, Poland and little known in the United States. The project developed out of an earlier exhibition curated by folk arts consultant Judith Krauza and the suggestion, made by Dr. Peter Gessner, president of the Polish Arts Club of Buffalo, that the Museum might organize a Krakow Crib building competition like the one held annually in Poland. While the idea for a festive holiday competition was appealing, it soon became clear that the success of the event depended on first familiarizing local audiences with the history and traditions of the Krakow Crib.

Accordingly, the decision was made to concentrate on sharing information through teachers in our local school districts. Like all folk art, the Krakow Crib was created by and for a particular group of people and is a reflection of their history and culture. Consequently, the Krakow Crib provides an excellent opportunity for interdisciplinary study.

Kate Koperski, the Museums Folk Arts Curator, worked with Judith Krauza and artist Barbara Frackiewicz to create printed materials that include a 30 page teacher resource hinder, a 12 page illustrated how-to guide for students and a summary of Krakow Crib traditions for the general public. As there are very few educational materials on Polish and Polish-American culture available, the printed materials produced for the Krakow Crib project are a valuable and lasting resource for teachers. These materials, the competion's rules, sample images of cribs and other materials that were cerated for the purposes of the competition have been preserved with the thought that they would of help to other organizations wishing to sponsor a similar creative competition. These materials are accessible via the links below. The quality of the submitted entries can be judged by reference to a winning one by Arthur Werner of Buffalo, NY.

These events were made possible, in part, through generous support from the New York State Council on the Arts to the Castellani Art Museum and from the Junior League of Buffalo to the Polish Arts Club of Buffalo.