State’s tree shines in Washington

WASHINGTON — As they wander near the National Christmas Tree, thousands of holiday visitors are getting a glimpse of Arkansas’ bounty.

Students from the El Dorado area created the unique ornaments highlighting the state’s mineral and agricultural wealth.

Twelve ornaments for Arkansas’ tree were shipped to the nation’s capital. One features a white-tailed tail deer. Another shows apple blossoms.

There are also artistic representations of the state’s tomatoes and diamonds. Even an oil derrick.

“We thought it was interesting to portray the resources of Arkansas,” said Jorge Villegas, an artist and educator who helped oversee the project.

His wife and fellow art educator, Maria Botti Villegas, agreed.

“We always say to everyone that this is the Natural State, but we don’t really think about it,” she said.

The state, she said, has enviable riches.

“We have everything we need. We have rice, we have water, we have cows, we have timber, we have chickens. What else do we have? Oil, energy [and] all the natural resources,” she said. “We wanted to celebrate that.”

Thousands of people have passed by the trees display since it opened. Arkansas’ tree sits near the start of the Pathway of Peace, which winds around the National Christmas Tree.

Each of the 50 states, plus five territories and the District of Columbia, is represented with a tree.

The ornaments will remain on display through New Year’s Day.

Arkansas’ evergreen is flanked by conifers representing Arizona and California.

The outdoor tree displays 11 of the ornaments. A 12th hangs in the White House Visitors Center, a short distance away.

Last year, patients at Arkansas Children’s Hospital helped decorate the Arkansas tree.

This year, students at the South Arkansas Arts Center and Washington Middle School were selected to participate.

The Arkansas Arts Council extended the invitation to the Villegas.

The two art educators quickly agreed to participate.

“We decided to do this project because it was a 95-year-old tradition of inclusiveness at the time of Christmas,” Maria Villegas said. “When the Arts Council called us at the end of August, we saw that it was going to be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”

The Villegas were both born in Argentina. Both immigrated to the United States and became U.S. citizens.

So the opportunity to help decorate downtown Washington was especially meaningful, they said.

They wanted to include a broad cross section of their community.

“Students from different cultural and economic backgrounds as well as cognitive abilities” were selected to participate, she said.

Nineteen students completed the work.

A piece of matte board divided most of the spheres and each side could be decorated. That essentially doubled the amount of art that could be included, Jorge Villegas said.

A plastic, grapefruit-size orb surrounds the art, protecting it from the elements. Thus far, the ornaments have survived rainstorms and at least one snowfall.

The National Christmas Tree dates from 1923. President Calvin Coolidge lit the first one on Christmas Eve of that year. Every president since then has followed his example.