Keepsake Artist Spotlight

Get a closer look at this year’s Keepsake Ornaments!

Check out Keepsake Artist Bob Kolar and three Keepsake Ornaments he created for 2012.

Keepsake Artist Bob Kolar is quick to admit that when he set out to design a group of personalized ornaments based on sports, he did not draw on his own athletic skills for artistic inspiration.

 

“I’m a big guy, and I’ve always been tall for my age. So I often was the first kid picked for a team the first time we played. But the second time we played, I was the last kid picked,” Bob says and laughs. “I’m more of a stamp collector stuck in this bigger guy’s body. I would have preferred to be home drawing and watching cartoons than playing sports.”

It’s easy to see his ideas for this year’s five personalized Keepsake Ornaments drew more on animation than athletics. On each, a pudgy little penguin is paired with an oversized piece of sports equipment, while the group’s photo frame boasts a sweet treat.

“At first, I used a scoreboard for the photo frame, but we decided we already had the sports aspects covered with the other ornaments,” he says. “So this is an ornament for the kids who would rather sit in the bleachers eating a frozen treat. But snacks are a big part of sporting events, so it still all fits together.”

Here are three Keepsake Ornaments for pros and amateurs that Bob created for 2012, with a little play-by-play from the artist himself.

From left: You’re a Star, Soccer Star and Baseball Star

You’re a Star
“The photo frame is totally non-sport. It’s a little penguin holding a big frozen treat. Frames always are challenging to design because the photo really is the star of the ornament. The frame’s shape needs to be big enough for a photo but still be appealing on its own. Rather than having penguins surround the frame, I decided to make my little penguin holding onto something big, just as he is doing in the sports ornaments.”

Soccer Star
“For this year’s personalized ornaments, I really wanted the sports aspect to be the in-your-face big element. The penguins still are cute, but they are a lot smaller than the sports equipment they are using. That gave it more energy. Penguins make the perfect sports character. They’re all on a team. I mean, look at them. They’re all wearing the same uniform. They have a certain silliness with their big-bottomed shapes, and that made them a perfect character to use for this idea.”

Baseball Star
“The personalization aspect always is a challenge. We’ve done ornaments in the past with a pennant or a base for the kid’s name. To me, it seemed a good idea to put the names on the equipment, which would let the kids’ names be really big. My daughter is an athlete, and I’ve spent plenty of time in the bleachers watching her compete. Her name is Olivia, and it’s her name that’s on the basketball for the ornament box. My sons Jonathan and Nicholas also made it on to the ornaments, even though they’re both more musicians than athletes. Jonathan did play baseball and Nicholas played soccer, but we put his name on the football so a girl’s name could be on the soccer ball.”