A Rockcreek Township woman will be part of an elite group of porcelain artists recognized during a Monday morning reception at the home of Vice President Mike Pence and Second Lady Karen Pence.
Diana Minor, 60, was among 39 artists selected last year to create 100 dessert plates featuring state flowers for the Vice President’s Residence, located on the grounds of the U.S. Naval Observatory in Washington.
Minor painted plates that feature the magnolia to represent Louisiana, as well as the sagebrush to recognize Nevada.
The artist said she didn’t know whether the vice president, a Columbus native, will be at the reception, but Karen Pence is scheduled to attend.
Minor said she will drive Sunday to Martinsville and board a charter bus with other Indiana artists that leaves the Morgan County Fairgrounds at 7 a.m.
To the envy of her friends, Minor has traveled multiple times on a private tour bus with the rock group Aerosmith. Her sister, the former Billie Montgomery, has been married to lead guitarist Joe Perry since 1985.
Nevertheless, the East State Road 46 resident expressed excitement about taking her first long-distance ride on a commercial bus.
When the group arrives in Washington, D.C. after a 12-hour drive, it will be the first time Minor has stepped foot in the nation’s capitol, she said.
The reception in the 33-room Vice President’s Residence is scheduled to begin at 10:30 a.m. Monday, and conclude by noon, Minor said.
When it was recently confirmed the plates will stay at the residence — even after Pence leaves the office — Minor said she was delighted.
“Republican or Democrat, that doesn’t matter,” Minor said. “It’s just a honor that our work will become a permanent part of history.”
Originally, the artists wanted to tour the White House after the reception, but learned it will be closed that day, Minor said.
So instead, the group has scheduled a post-reception tour of the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, located four blocks north of the National Mall, Minor said.
For the Bartholomew County artist, who considers portraits as her primary artistic medium, that will be an extremely rewarding experience, she said.
For the past seven years, Minor has focused mostly on painting portraits under the tutelage of Venezuelan artist Mariela Villasmi, as well as teaching students in her home.
The group of artists, who are paying all the costs associated with the trip, will spend Monday night in Washington D.C. before returning to Indiana on Tuesday, she said.
Besides photographs, Minor will also have a set of 4×6 laminated cards that depict each plate, as well as identify the artist, as a memento, she said.
