Side by Side, Member and Artist Create “Look for the Wonder”
“I feel like Willy Wonka in the chocolate factory,” Club member Joanne Pawelek said as she took in the hustle and bustle of the Keepsake Ornament building.
It was mid-May of 1992, nearly a year since she’d won the Club convention costume contest, and she was still excited. As her prize, she was flown back to Kansas City, where Hallmark artist Donna Lee was transforming her fondest holiday memories into a Keepsake Ornament.
“I was really excited from the beginning when I heard that Donna would design my ornament. I really love her angels,” said Joanne, who is from the Canadian province of Alberta.
Out of their collaboration came “Look for the Wonder,” which depicts the memories Joanne shared over the two days she spent with the artist and the Keepsake Ornament staff.
Joanne told the artist how her family’s holiday celebrations were influenced by Ukrainian traditions passed down by her grandmother, who grew up in that region of the former Soviet Union. “Donna’s eyes lit up when I started telling her about the Ukrainian Christmas Eve dinner,” Joanne Said.
Once the artist got to know the Charter member, their work on the ornament began in earnest. As Joanne accounted her family’s Christmas observances, Lee took notes. To make the ornament as personal as possible, Lee asked Joanne about her favorite colors and other details.
After meeting with Joanne in the late morning, the artist quickly sketched out how she visualized the ornament. “You did that already?” Joanne exclaimed as Lee slid the drawing into her hands just after lunch. In a matter of hours, the members’ stories had taken shape as an ornament.
Many of the key elements from the stories–the first star in the night sky, Advent calendar, table and candle–were there. “She took bits and pieces of what I love about Christmas and made a collage,” Joanne commented, clearly amazed that Lee pulled it all together into one design and did it so quickly.
Joanne, one of about 825 Canadian Club members, has been collecting since she purchased her first ornament, the 1977 “Jack-in-the-Box,” which inspired her costume. Her other interests include traveling. She works for a provincial government agency that deals with substance abuse.
Before returning home, Joanne had one parting thought. “If I had one wish, it’s that every collector could experience the last two days I’ve spent here,” she said. Indeed, the grand prize winners from both of the 1993 convention costume contests will follow in her footsteps.
Look for the Wonder
In the Ukraine, a family places a lighted candle in the window to welcome strangers to their Christmas Eve meal, explains Joanne Pawelek. “The youngest child watches for the first star of the evening, a sign that the meal can began,” she says. These customs served as part of the inspiration for “Look for the Wonder.” Pawelek recalled her family using an Advent wreath to mark the 24 days before Christmas Eve. That memory led Donna Lee to include the angel and Advent calendar in the design. Joanne said many Ukrainian traditions were passed down by her grandmother, who lived in the Ukraine as a child.
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