For immediate release: December 13, 2002
For more information, contact Paula J. Baughn at 216-368-4443 or pjb14@po.cwru.edu.

CLEVELAND—While Katherine Abbott works at CWRU this holiday season, her artwork will be on display in the White House.

photos coutesy of Katherine Abbott Katherine Abbott stands in front of the official White House Christmas tree, which featurs an ornament (below) that she created.

The project Abbott, a research assistant at the Louis Stokes VA Medical Center and a doctoral candidate in sociology at CWRU, has on exhibit in the capital city is an ornament on the official White House Christmas tree.

With "All Creatures Great and Small" as the White House holiday theme this year, Abbott created a glass interpretation of a Northern Cardinal indigenous to the state of Ohio to adorn the branches of the 18-foot Noble fir that graces the oval-shaped Blue Room on the main floor at the president's mansion.

She recently had the opportunity to see her ornament as part of the first family's holiday decor and to meet Laura Bush during a reception at the White House for the tree-trimming artisans from across the country.

"It was a wonderful honor to meet Laura Bush and the other artists," Abbott said. "The recognition goes a long way in keeping me motivated to create."

Abbott, who won a regional award last year for the Treasures of a Tree juried ornament show developed by Hope Taft, said the first lady of Ohio asked her to design a piece this year for the White House tree. Winning ornaments from the Treasures of a Tree competition were placed on the Christmas tree in the Ohio governor's mansion.

The White House enlisted the governors of every state to recommend artists who would contribute a favorite feathered friend. The tree is trimmed with replicas of about 400 American birds.

To create her ornament for the White House tree, Abbott said she heated glass rods in a torch to craft a hollow bead that would form the bird's body. From there, she sculpted the hot glass to include a tail, wings and details such as the feathers on the breast and crown of the head.

"The cardinal's vibrant color is one of the qualities that drew me to work with red glass that would be particularly striking on an evergreen tree," she said.

A lampworker for about five years, Abbott displays and sells her glass creations primarily at regional outdoor fine arts and craft shows including the Beachwood Art Festival, Hathaway Brown, Willoughby and St. John West Shore.

She is president of the local chapter of the International Society of Glass Bead Makers called the Hot Rod Glass Beadmakers of Northeast Ohio.

To see more of Abbott's glass creations, go to http://www.beadbugs.com.

 

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