About This Stamp
The U.S. Postal Service continues its tradition of issuing classic holiday stamps with this bright and cheerful rendering of America's favorite holiday flower, the poinsettia.
The stamp art depicts the rich red and vibrant green leaves surrounding the flower — the cluster of small, rather modest cup-shaped structures in the center. The red “petals” that we think of as the flower are actually modified leaves called bracts. A potted poinsettia was used as art reference.
While considered by the ancient Aztecs to be a symbol of purity, the poinsettia today symbolizes good cheer. The gift of a poinsettia is said to bring with it wishes of laughter and celebration.
Found on everything from wrapping paper to holiday jewelry, the poinsettia says “Christmas” more than any other flower. The stamp art's vibrant red — America's favorite poinsettia color — adds a decorative and celebratory note to cards and letters during the holidays.
William Low painted the stamp art. Ethel Kessler was the art director.
Poinsettia is being issued as a Forever® stamp. Forever stamps are always equal in value to the current First-Class Mail® one-ounce rate.
Stamp Art Director, Stamp Designer
Ethel Kessler
Ethel Kessler is an award-winning designer and art director who has worked with corporations, museums, public and private institutions, professional service organizations, and now, the United States Postal Service.
After earning a B.F.A. in visual communications from the Maryland Institute College of Art, Kessler worked as a graphic designer and project manager for the exhibits division of the United States Information Agency. Her work was distributed internationally on subjects such as Immigration, Entrepreneurship, Renovation of American Cities, and the Bicentennial of 1976. She was also responsible for exhibits in Morocco, Botswana, and El Salvador.
In 1981, she established Kessler Design, Inc., for which she is creative director and designer. Clients have included the Clinton Government reorganization, the Smithsonian Institution, National Geographic Television, the National Park Service, and the American Institute of Architects.
She has been an art director for the U.S. Postal Service’s stamp development program for more than 25 years. As an art director for USPS, Kessler has been responsible for creating more than 500 stamp designs, including the Breast Cancer Research stamp illustrated by Whitney Sherman. Issued in 1998, the stamp is still on sale and has raised more $98 million for breast cancer research. Other Kessler projects include the popular and highly regarded Nature of America 120 stamp series, a collaboration with nationally acclaimed nature illustrator John Dawson, the 12-year Lunar New Year series with Kam Mak, the American Filmmaking: Behind the Scenes 10 stamps issued in 2003, a 2016 pane of stamps celebrating the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service, and the 2023 stamp honoring Supreme Court Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. And many, many others.
Stamp Artist
William Low
William Low is an author and illustrator, as well as the winner of four Silver Medals from the Society of Illustrators. His approach to picture making developed when he was an art student at New York City’s High School of Art and Design where he studied classical portraiture using oils. He earned a B.F.A. degree from the Parson’s School of Design in 1981, and, in 2005, an M.A. degree from Syracuse University.
Low is currently the principal in Cobalt Illustration Studios, which produces illustrations for corporate use, children’s books, advertisements, gallery paintings, and fine art quality prints. Clients include L.L. Bean, Guideposts magazine, Henry Holt and Company, and Philomel Books. Many of his original paintings are on permanent view at various Houston’s Restaurants around the country. In 2011, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority completed the installation of two stained glass murals in the elevated Parkchester Station in the Bronx, New York. The panels, “A Day In Parkchester,” were designed by Low and fabricated by Erskin Mitchell Stained Glass.
Low is currently a professor at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York in the undergraduate program. He has also taught at the School of Visual Arts in New York, and has conducted lectures and seminars at many schools, including the Ringling School of Art, the Maryland Institute College of Art, the Society of Illustrators, and the Norman Rockwell Museum. He gives presentations nationally, discussing his career in illustration and demonstrating his innovative digital painting technique.
With several children’s books to his credit, including Chinatown and Old Penn Station, Low is an established children’s author. He also illustrates books by other writers, among them Young Fu of the Upper Yangtze and Stargone John. Low works on Long Island in New York where he lives with his wife and two children.
His stamps for the U.S. Postal Service include Poinsettia (2013, reissue 2014), Winter Flowers (2014), Hanukkah (2016), and Holiday Windows (2016).