Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, December 23, 1993 TAG: 9312230394
SECTION: NEIGHBORS PAGE: S-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MICHAEL CSOLLANY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Kind of ironic for an artist who designed an ornament for the White House Christmas tree.
"I'm going to my daughter's this year," she quickly explained. "She has a beautiful tree which has a lot of ornaments that I've made for her."
Neal said she is working a little bit more this year but has plenty of homemade ornaments that usually hang from her own tree.
Neal and Dennis Danner were the two Roanoke residents who made decorations for the White House.
Neal - a full time artist for 15 years - is a paper-maker. For the White House tree, she made a paper angel - a plump cherub with golded leaf and beaded halo.
The process takes several days because the work has to dry between stages.
"She's really quite darling. She's the only one like that I've ever made."
Danner, a former wildlife biologist with the Jefferson National Forest and the Virginia Department of Forestry, carved an open-winged white dove out of wood for the executive tree.
He has been carving wild birds full time for four and a half years.
The ornament, which he spent two weeks carving, spans 10 inches from wingtip to wingtip and hangs from a gold chain.
Both artists said they were surprised when contacted by the White House and were unsure of how the organizers got their names.
It turns out that the White House contacted artists through membership lists of craft guilds. Organizers sent two letters: the first asking for participants, and the second detailing guidelines and a theme of "angels" selected by Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Neal said she immediately knew she was going to do it.
"I've made lots of ornaments for people," she said, including a basket for then-Gov. Charles Robb and his wife, Lynda.
Danner knew he would be involved, too. He was a bit uncertain about the subject but was inspired by an event at the time - the signing of the Israeli-Palestian peace accord.
Danner said he would have done it regardless of who was occupying the top office. "I looked upon it more as an opportunity to make an ornament for the people of the country . . . for the nation's tree, not the Clintons' tree or the Bushes' tree," he said.
New River Valley artists Rebecca Heyne, Jean and Lloyd Sumner, and Gil Roberts also made ornaments.
The ornaments adorn the main White House Christmas tree, an 18 1/2-foot Fraser fir in the Blue Room. More than 3,000 artists across the country contributed 7,500 ornaments, which will become part of the permanent collection.
The tree skirt for the Blue Room tree consists of individual quilted panels representing all 50 states and the U.S. territories.
A total of 22 Christmas trees spruce up the White House.
by CNB