Three Keepsake Artists to Leave Hallmark
After working for Hallmark for 18 years, 17 of which were in Keepsakes, Hallmark Artist Julie Forsyth will be leaving Hallmark.
Likewise Hallmark Production Designer Valerie Shanks who has been with Hallmark since 2006 (Keepsakes since 2007)
and Diana McGehee, a 38 year Senior Production Artist (who spent all but 6 of those years in Keepsakes), will also be leaving.
Featured Artist: Edythe Kegrize
Title:
Hallmark Master Designer
Started at Hallmark:
October 1979
Started at Keepsakes:
October 2002
Hometown:
Pennsylvania
See how Keepsake Artists Edythe Kegrize and Robert Hurlburt put a new twist on a classic Christmas tale.
Edythe Kegrize had an in-depth love of three-dimensional art ever since she was young. She remembers making all kinds of creations from scraps around the house, including a tiny paper television with pictures that rotated with the turn of a knob and a crèche fashioned out of laundry detergent and food coloring.
Edythe’s talents blossomed with the help of her loving family. Her grandmother saved tidbits of fabric, trims and pretty papers. Her mother never hindered her daughter’s creativity despite the risks of having holes cut in tablecloths or glue on the rug. From her father, Edythe inherited attention to detail, patience and mechanical curiosity that make her Keepsake designs so intricate.
While in college, Edythe majored in illustration, but also was inspired by ceramics and weaving classes. At Hallmark, she would often devise unique folding cards that brought an extra dimension to her designs. Edythe featured needlework and collages in her greeting cards and crafted several original dolls to be photographed for select card collections.
With nearly 25 years of experience illustrating greeting cards, Edythe cultivated an appreciation for a wide range of decorative surface designs, from traditional folk art to classic, elegant scroll-work. This is perhaps most evident in the details of her Santa’s Around the World unofficial series.
Orville Wilson Interview
Keepsakes Ornaments come to life in a variety of ways. In this exclusive interview Keepsake Studio Artist Orville Wilson talks about how he used 3D software to digitally sculpt Edna Mode, 4th in the Disney/Pixar Legends series.
Click on the image below to see the interview.
Cordova, TN Q&A Session (2014)
At the Local Club Dinner event in Cordova, TN, Tracy held a brief Q&A. Although no photos were shown, he talked about his 2014 Keepsake ornaments and provided a few insights into several of the pieces he is working on for 2015.
During the session he spoke about the second in the “Tree Trimmers” series. In addition to saying the piece was designed with Elvis in mind, he said he was excited to have it selected to appear on the cover of the Dream Book. He went on to say this was only the second time* in his 28-year career as a Keepsake Artist that one of his pieces has appeared on the cover, the first being in 1997 (the year his work debuted) when his Mickey & Co. inspired “New Pair of Skates” (QXD4032) shared the cover with “Steeling a Kiss” (QX6555) By Sue Tague and “Rocking Horse” (QXM4303), 10th and final in the series by Linda Sickman.
Tracy also spoke about “Snow Fun Ferris Wheel”, his venture into the the world of magic, light and movement. An interesting piece of trivia he shared was, although Ferris wheels usually rotate clockwise, this one rotates counter clockwise.
Another interesting piece of trivia Tracy shared was that although he submitted the concept for “Hark! Music Fills the Air!,” (QXI2563)-this years PEANUTS® Gang chorale ornament-in 2008, the year after “Ringing in Christmas” (QXI4309) was released, it wasn’t until this year that the design was realized.
Tracy revealed that the Santa sculptures created by three Keepsake Artists during a wood carving workshop, and then auctioned off as part of last year’s “Hangin’ With Your Buddies!” event, would be re-imagined as ornaments and offered for sale at next year’s event.
As for future projects, Tracy said he is working on: a new elf series, a follow up piece to this years “Surfin’ Safari Santa” which will be based on another Beach Boys song and a big piece that features Santa in flight. This large scale piece is expected to be on par with Ken Crow’s annual masterpieces. Tracy also said he is currently collaborating with two other studio artists on a Frosty Friends tabletop piece.
As a side note Tracy mentioned that the coffee grinder he created for Mrs. Claus’ Kitchen Sink, this year’s In-Store signing event piece, was accidentally placed on the wrong spot. As a result of being placed too close to the front of the shelf, the grinder’s handle sticks out making it prone to breakage. As such, he cautions people to be careful when handling this piece.
*NOTE: “100 Years of Helping You Say It All” (QXG3403) a piece Tracy created in collaboration with Don Palmiter also appeared on the cover of the 2010 Keepsake Ornament Club edition Dream Book.
Home & Family Tom Best Interview
On Thursday, July 10, Keepsake Ornament artist Tom Best appeared, via Skype, on the Hallmark Channel’s “Home & Family”.
During the interview he shared a special sneak peek of the this years Frosty Friends ornament. (In this the 35th edition in the popular Frosty Friends series, Frosty is using his reindeer friend’s antlers as a slingshot to launch a snowball.), talked about where he draws inspiration from and previewed a sketch of the 2015 Frosty Friends series ornament.
In case you missed it, here it is. Click on the image below to see the interview.