Her long list of category awards for the Christmas trees that she decorated include beautiful, creative, unique, and so on. Now, famed tree decorator and local artist Brenda Afshin of Andover is adding a Hollywood angle to that list.
Afshin won the "Most Creative/Unique" award for her decorated tree at this year's "Festival of Trees" in Methuen. Her tree, named "Hang on Santa," features three big-faced children in a red sled with Santa and all four have Hollywood hair.
Afshin has a studio at Everett Mills in Lawrence where a neighboring company named National Fiber makes the hair for Hollywood movie characters. The company graciously offered their leftover hair bin to Afshin as her devotion to Christmas tree decorating for the Festival of Trees is legendary in the Mill's circles.
Her Santa's white hair is the same as Professor Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore's hair from the Harry Potter movies. Dumbledore was the Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and had long white hair.
And, the three children have hair that was used in the movie Avatar, an epic science fiction film that came out in 2009.
"It's double duty for the hair," laughed Afshin, who added that National Fiber is a terrific studio neighbor as the company often alerts her to their leftovers.
Afshin, who is a school nurse at Lawrence's Arlington School, has a special, separate studio at Everett Mills just for tree decorating.
"That way, I don't get distracted with what's going on in my own studio," she said. "The Mill owners are very good to me."
Her tree decorating ideas usually take about two years and this year's award-winning tree was no exception. It's her eighth consecutive year to earn a top award.
"I started with a jingle bell theme and then Santa on a sleigh and then my brother said the sleigh should move so I put a bicycle wheel under the sleigh, got cable to keep the characters in place and it just goes from there," said Afshin, who added adorable reindeer, lots of handmade decorations and white lights to her tree.
The Hollywood hair fit in perfectly and Afshin is thrilled that it did.
"I'm a big supporter of this event because the money goes to preservation projects in Methuen. That's my motivation," Afshin said.
box:
If you go:
What: 24th annual Festival of Trees
Where: 13 Branch St., Methuen
When: Nov. 18 to Dec. 2; hours vary (check website: methuenfestivaloftrees.com)
Why: Fund-raiser for Methuen projects
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http://www.andovertownsman.com/news/townspeople/andover-woman-wins-again-at-methuen-festival-of-trees/article_0cd679c7-6611-5f2a-a397-40154d9c1293.html