Featured Artist: Robert Hurlburt

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How was Keepsake artist Robert Hurlburt able to wow his grandsons and pay tribute to a fallen hero with his two latest ornaments. Continue reading to find out.

Get it right is Robert Hurlburt’s mantra. Even as a child, Robert took a scientific approach to his art. No purple suns in his boyhood pictures. He enjoyed sketching celebrities from photographs. “I wanted to see how close I could get,” he says. With that kind of mindset and determination, it’s no surprise that when he was hired at Hallmark over 25 years ago, Robert excelled in the detail-focused engraving department.

In late 2004, he brought his talents to the Keepsake department, which he calls “a whole new game.” Just a month into his job, Robert was asked to design. His first ornament, a Star Wars™ piece, was available in 2006.

As the Keepsake Artists continue to collaborate, Robert is challenged with finding ways to keep the creative process simple and the sculpture detailed. Robert is hooked on working with three-dimensional product, and his scientific mind continues to question how to take his artwork further. The daily one-hour commute to Hallmark gives him plenty of time to think about ornament design. When he’s home, Robert is a soybean farmer. He and his wife share their 40-acre homestead with horses, ducks and chickens and are considering adding llamas to the collection.

1941 Ford Fire Engein (2013)
11th in the Fire Brigade series

“My best friend was a fireman for the Kansas City Fire Department. I was asked to sculpt this fire truck about the same time he died in a fire-related situation. When I finished sculpting, the ornament went right to his wife, so it became so much more than just a fire truck for me.”

“This ornament was also a lot of fun because I got to sculpt all the little details like tires and treads. Sometimes we send a photographer out to get reference photos, and they take hundreds of images of the tiniest details. These details help ensure the ornament is something that enthusiasts will look at, too, and say ‘wow, that’s cool!’”

All Terrain Scout Transport (AT-ST) (2013)
Star Wars: Return of the Jedi.

“The first ornament that I sculpted on the Keepsakes team was actually another Star Wars™ ship—the AT-AT. I’ve been asking to do the Chicken Walker for years because it’s just such a cool vehicle. I wanted to have it in action, not just as a standing pose, so I could give it this great expression and add terrain that’s almost like the scene where he’s tripped up by the logs. My grandsons got to see him, and all my other Star Wars™ ornaments, before anyone else. They know more about the Star Wars™ movies than I do, so when I’m all finished sculpting something, I let them check it out to see what ideas and input they can give me.”