Nancy Clarke
Nancy Clarke has created thousands of beautiful Christmas and holiday decorations and floral designs for 6 American Presidents and First Ladies, their families and the world's foremost dignitaries.
Her work is appreciated by national and international audiences; she was called "The Flower Czar" - Wall Street Journal. - May 2009. She was given the prestigious 2006 Award of Merit to Industry by the American Institute of Floral Designers and she served as one of three Tournament of Roses judges for 2011.
In August 1978, Nancy Clarke became a volunteer floral designer and at the beginning of the Reagan Administration, in 1981, she became a full time member of the White House Flower Shop staff. In 1985, at the beginning the second term of President Reagan, she was hired as the White House Chief Floral Designer, a position she held until retiring on May 31, 2009. Throughout White House history, she is the fourth person to ever hold that position.
For thirty years, she designed everything the President and First Family required from simple Valentine arrangement from the President for the First Lady to formal State Dinners. At Christmas time, she worked with the First Lady to design holiday decorations to fill every room of the White House. Her floral designs and holiday decorations dazzled White House Kings and Queens including Heads of State, congressional members, journalists, as well as thousands of visitors to the mansion and millions of worldwide viewers of much-anticipated holiday television specials.
Her exquisite floral designs brought beauty, grace and elegance to White House historical events throughout the Carter Administration, the Reagan Administration, the George HW Bush Administration, the Clinton Administration, the George W Bush Administration, and more recently, the Obama Administration, when the newly-elected President Obama said "The fresh flowers are my favorite part of living in the White House." -Pres. Barack Obama, January 2009
Articles about her have appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Time Magazine, The Washingtonian, U.S. News & World Report, in addition to being featured online and on television at The Huffington Post, Politico, Apartment Therapy, on ABC News, Good Morning America, Today, the annual HGTV White House Christmas special, specials on A&E and the National Geographic Channel, and many local television programs in Washington, DC, area..
She is presently lecturing, consulting, and making special presentations. She is the author of the forthcoming book currently entitled My First Ladies: A Floral History of 30 Years at the White House due to be released in September/October of 2011.
She lives in a Virginia suburb of Washington, DC, with her husband, Michael. Their two children live with their respective families in Pacifica, California and Richmond, Virginia.
Nancy Clarke has created thousands of beautiful Christmas and holiday decorations and floral designs for 6 American Presidents and First Ladies, their families and the world's foremost dignitaries.
Her work is appreciated by national and international audiences; she was called "The Flower Czar" - Wall Street Journal. - May 2009. She was given the prestigious 2006 Award of Merit to Industry by the American Institute of Floral Designers and she served as one of three Tournament of Roses judges for 2011.
In August 1978, Nancy Clarke became a volunteer floral designer and at the beginning of the Reagan Administration, in 1981, she became a full time member of the White House Flower Shop staff. In 1985, at the beginning the second term of President Reagan, she was hired as the White House Chief Floral Designer, a position she held until retiring on May 31, 2009. Throughout White House history, she is the fourth person to ever hold that position.
For thirty years, she designed everything the President and First Family required from simple Valentine arrangement from the President for the First Lady to formal State Dinners. At Christmas time, she worked with the First Lady to design holiday decorations to fill every room of the White House. Her floral designs and holiday decorations dazzled White House Kings and Queens including Heads of State, congressional members, journalists, as well as thousands of visitors to the mansion and millions of worldwide viewers of much-anticipated holiday television specials.
Her exquisite floral designs brought beauty, grace and elegance to White House historical events throughout the Carter Administration, the Reagan Administration, the George HW Bush Administration, the Clinton Administration, the George W Bush Administration, and more recently, the Obama Administration, when the newly-elected President Obama said "The fresh flowers are my favorite part of living in the White House." -Pres. Barack Obama, January 2009
Articles about her have appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Time Magazine, The Washingtonian, U.S. News & World Report, in addition to being featured online and on television at The Huffington Post, Politico, Apartment Therapy, on ABC News, Good Morning America, Today, the annual HGTV White House Christmas special, specials on A&E and the National Geographic Channel, and many local television programs in Washington, DC, area..
She is presently lecturing, consulting, and making special presentations. She is the author of the forthcoming book currently entitled My First Ladies: A Floral History of 30 Years at the White House due to be released in September/October of 2011.
She lives in a Virginia suburb of Washington, DC, with her husband, Michael. Their two children live with their respective families in Pacifica, California and Richmond, Virginia.
