Julie Forsyth

At the Local Club Dinner event in Tulsa, OK, Julie gave a brief presentation and then took a few questions from the audience.

Julie started out by talking about one of her favorite 2014 ornaments, ‘Graceful Ballerina.’ She said, that this ornament was particularly meaningful to her because it reminded her of her daughter when she was younger. She also went on to say that dancing is very special to her, because in addition to her daughter being a dancer, her mother was also a dancer. As for herself, she said, although she isn’t a professional.

For her 2015 Sneak Peek, Julie spoke about a new series, ‘Mary’s Bear’, that she will be collaborating on with Hallmark Master Artist, Mary Hamilton. Similar to the popular ‘Mary’s Angels’ series, Mary will concept the designs and Julie will use Mary’s drawings to sculpt the ornaments. The first-in-series piece features a brown bear, wearing a red sweater and knit hat, on ice skates. Julie commented, that although she has worked with Mary many times, this was the first time they worked together on an ornament.

Mary’s Bear
1st in the Mary’s Bear series
Designed by Mary Hamilton.
By Julie Forsyth.

Julie then went on to talk about her career at Hallmark. She started in 1977. After working in various departments, she took maternity leave in 1983. Upon returning in 1998, she joined the Keepsake Studio and has remained there since. She said she plans to stay in Keepsakes as long as possible as retirement is not part of her vocabulary.

As an interesting piece of information Julie mentioned that she has finished working on all of her 2015 Keepsake ornament designs- they are now in pre-production. Currently she is working on designs for 2016. She also mentioned that once she has completed a design and it is approved for production, she moves on to the next design and rarely revisits past creations.

During the Q & A segment, an attendee asked about retired Hallmark Keepsake artist, Sue Tague, who happens to also be Julie’s sister. Julie replied, Sue is doing fine and working on her home.

Note: Sue will be one of the retired Hallmark Keepsake artists signing at the Ozark Collector’s Club annual Show and Sell secondary market event on October 18, 2014 in Springfield, MO.

Another attendee asked Julie what was her most favorite ornament that she herself created. As she had commented earlier in the evening that dancers were special to her, it isn’t surprising that her response was: “Dancer in Flight”, a porcelain ballerina ornament she created in 2003.