I was ecstatic to be chosen to make an ornament for the White House Christmas Tree in 2001. Two hundred and four artists from the U.S. participated. The theme was historic homes. The ornament was to be three-dimensional, lightweight, and primarily white. All the ornaments are now in the permanent collection of the White House. My ornament portrays Oak Hill, in Virginia, as it was originally built. It was the home of our fifth president, James Monroe. He wrote the Monroe Doctrine in this house.
The owners (it is a private residence) commissioned me to make a series of three landscape art quilts of the residence. They kindly gave me a private tour of Oak Hill. It is full of history. Monroe's contemporaries, including George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Dolley Madison owned much of the furniture. The design of the house itself shows the hands of Jefferson and Thomas Hoban, architect of the White House. Two ornately carved marble mantelpieces were presented to the Monroes by Lafayette, in gratitude for saving Mme. Lafayette from the guillotine during the French Revolution. The owners showed me where Civil War soldiers chipped off some of the carvings, to take as souvenirs (the house was used by both armies during the Civil War).
Some of the slate floor stones were brought from the White House after the fire of the War of 1812. The house's history goes back even further, by many eons -- other floor stones contain dinosaur footprints. These stones were found on Oak Hill's farmland. I have depicted these footprints in the quilts' borders.
The quilts are heavily thread-painted to portray the lovely gardens around the residence. The shadow across the house was painted. Most details on the house, and the steps, were inked. The columns and steps were fused in place.
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