Salisbury native designs ornaments for White House tree

Sexton designed 56 ornaments on the tree.

Holly Sexton poses in front of the Christmas tree at teh White House. She designed some of the ornaments on the tree.

Holly Sexton

By Sarah Campbell

scampbell@salisburypost.com

During a recent tour of the White House, Holly Sexton didn’t tell the other visitors ornaments that adorn the official Christmas tree were designed by her.

Instead, the 21-year-old Salisbury native blended into the crowd, watching as they marveled at each one.

“I was really able to wait and see people reacting to the ornaments,” she said. “My favorite part of the entire experience was not only seeing it in such a grand atmosphere, but really being able to see each and every person’s ability to connect to individual ornaments.”

Sexton, a senior at Savannah College of Art and Design, designed 56 ornaments, one to represent each state and territory, based on this year’s “Simple Gifts” theme.

The theme calls for Americans to reflect and celebrate everyday gifts and blessing such as family, nature, food and music.

After finding out students at the college had been invited to submit designs for a contest, Sexton went to work crocheting a rosette-style ribbon, placing a tie pin in the center.

“My design originally was state fair prize ribbons,” she said. “I wanted to focus on the gift that American’s possess, and that is pride.”

Sexton said she was ecstatic to find out her design had been selected, but knew the work was just beginning.

“I saw some of the other entries and I never thought mine was going to be chosen, so it was very exciting,” she said. “I’ve entered many contests, but nothing of this caliber.”

Next, Sexton had to figure out the best way to construct the ornaments, which took about an hour and a half to craft from hand. She modified the design from croqueted ribbons to satin ones, using a sewing machine to cut down on time.

“I”m a crocheter by heart, that is my trade, that is what I do,” she said. “I had to learn an entirely new process to pleat the ribbons.”

Sexton enlisted the help of friends and classmates to assemble the ornaments in about 10 days.

“I found out my design was chosen on Nov. 2 and the ornaments had to arrive at the White House on Nov. 15,” she said. “It was a whirlwind.”

Sexton correlated her designs with fellow fibers major Ricki Dwyer, who used wool, felt and organic cotton to create decorations that represented indigenous foods from each state.

Sexton placed illustrations of indigenous material, resources and foods in the center of each ribbon to coincide with Dwyer’s design and match the college’s theme “American Majesty: Celebrating Our Nation’s Prized Resources.

The Blue Room Christmas tree, which stands 20 feet tall and 13 feet wide, was designed completely by Savannah College of Arts and Design students and alumni.

“If the White House is a symbol of the American people, the Blue Room tree is a symbol of joy and peace for all, through the holiday season,” SCAD President Paula Wallace said in a press release. “I am delighted that SCAD artists and designers have had this opportunity to adorn that symbol with their creativity and vision.

“Their work will burn bright long into the New Year.”

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Sexton, a Salisbury High School graduate, describes her work as a fibers major as being “craft-based design.”

“It’s embroidery, weaving, knitting, crocheting, felting, beading, embellishment, those kinds of things” she said. “These are all really traditional processes.”

Sexton said internships with Martha Stewart’s wedding magazine this past summer and Design*Sponge in 2009 have provided relevant experience she can to utilize in the future.

“I worked as a style intern at Martha Stewart, which means I worked with making the photos beautiful,” she said. “I also worked in market research.”

Sexton got a taste of what it’s like to be a designer during her internship at Design Sponge.

“I interviewed artists around the New York area about how they were dealing with the economy and what the design world is like,” she said.

Sexton said the guidance blog creator Grace Bonney gave her continues to influence her.

“She is an amazing woman who has helped me a lot,” she said.

After graduating this spring, Sexton said she hopes to land a job at Bhldn, Urban Outfitters’ wedding store, which is headquartered in Philadelphia, Pa,

Sexton wants to bring a more casual outlook to the wedding industry, creating more natural designs.

“I really love the wedding industry, so without a doubt I want to get into that,” she said.

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Although Sexton has been drawing most of her life, she said it was an internship at Caniche her senior year of high school that propelled her into the art world.

“It kind of honed in my perspective,” she said. “It did shape me because I was exposed to a lot of brands that were designed to make handbags and beddings.

“It was interesting to see that kind of world; it really showed me a lot about what design can be.”Contact reporter Sarah Campbell at 704-797-7683.