White House Christmas Features Art by Duke Ellington Students

The White House selected art work by two visual arts students at to grace the cover of a Christmas party invitation and the holiday booklet for the decorations tour.

Junior Brandon Martinez had his work featured on the cover of the invitation to the annual White House holiday party. Olivia Bruce, also a junior, created the cover art and many of the interior illustrations in the booklet for Holidays at the White House 2011.

Martinez received the invitation, which he designed, and attended one of the parties at the White House. In an interview with ABC News, Martinez said that when he met First Lady Michelle Obama at the party, she congratulated him on his work and said it was good to finally meet the artist behind her invitation.

In the booklet distributed to visitors, the White House thanked the artists who helped make it possible.

"We greatly appreciate the beautiful artwork for this holiday booklet. The featured illustrations were drawn by high school students Olivia Bruce and Brandon Martinez from the Duke Ellington School for the Arts, and Meta Carr, Mary Elcano, Aidan Elisabeth Fredericks, Eleanor Graves, Annemarie Heekin, Sarah Miller, Erin Schwartz, and Lois Rothman from the Corcoran Gallery of Art and College of Art + Design."