Artist Profile: Anita Marra Rogers

Title:
Hallmark Artist

Started at Hallmark:

March 19, 1987

Started at Keepsakes:
1985
(first two years as a freelancer)

Hometown:
Kansas City, Missouri

A talented painter as a child, Anita now sculpts her ornaments by hand. Her attention to detail and use of materials for added charm are partly what define her style. The rest is a knack for warmth and cheer, and preserving tradition in a way that never goes out of style.

Horses, dogs and unicorns—typical subjects for children’s artwork. But Anita Marra Rogers didn’t draw like a typical child. Her mother quickly recognized that early talent, and she signed Anita up for oil painting lessons. At age 19, Anita used those paintings in her portfolio when she applied for a job with Hallmark. As good as those paintings were, she was turned down.

A few years later, a Hallmark sculptor looked at those same paintings of seascapes and landscapes. He saw talent. He told Anita that she simply wasn’t doing the kinds of images Hallmark wanted. He invited her to come in and see what the Hallmark Artists were working on—whimsical animals, warm Christmas scenes, wintry landscapes. Anita tried her hand at one, sculpting a deer and a bunny looking sweetly at each other over a snow bank. As soon as her friend saw it, he told her that her Keepsake Ornament career had begun.

Hallmark wasn’t Anita’s first sculpting assignment. As a child, she made animal shapes out of cotton candy for her brother and sisters. There’s still a touch of sweetness to every Keepsake Ornament she creates.

SNEAK PEEK

ANITA MARRA ROGERS CHAT

November 17, 2015 – Facebook

Welsh Corgi (2018)
Puppy Love
28th in the series.

When Willow, the welsh corgi who belonged to Queen Elizabeth II, died in April at the age of 14, Keepsake Artist Anita Marra Rogers sent an early sample of her new ornament to Buckingham Palace. After all, the new Puppy Love ornament was based on Willow.

Welsh Corgi
Puppy Love
28th in the series.

“I sent it to her and got a really nice note back,” Anita said. “From the Royal Mail! The Queen had my ornament!”

The Queen has been interested in raising corgis for decades, but Willow was extra special to her because she would be the last of her kind in the royal family. And sure enough, one of the queen’s ladies-in-waiting sent a reply thanking Anita for her “generous gesture” and said the queen was touched by the thought.

Anita doesn’t have a dog of her own but spends plenty of time taking care of her “grand-dog,” her daughter’s black-and-white toy poodle named Oreo. The three of them are pictured together in the Keepsake Ornament Club edition of the 2018 Dreambook.

She always mixes in other kinds of material, in addition to the bow and brass tag. So this year she added tinsel garland. “They’re long, short dogs,” Anita said. “The kind that lends itself to running with tinsel.”

Nifty Fifties Keepsake Angel Tree Topper (2018)

Nifty Fifties Keepsake Angel Tree Topper

Anita’s favorite thing about this year’s Nifty Fifties ornament? That it looks so much like the first actual tree-topping angel that she designed almost 30 years ago, not long after she first came to Hallmark.

“I painted it the same color as this one,” Anita said. “People still bring it to get signed at signing events. And she still tops my own tree every year.”

The concepts always started with a sketch, an idea. This was the first year it was vertical, as a tree-topper, instead of the usual 3-across horizontal group.

“I decided we needed a change,” Anita said. “I think it was a popular decision to go vertical.”

Keepsake Artist Rodney Gentry designed the box, and Keepsake Artist Tom Best created the retro-inspired artwork on the box. Once Rodney finished with the box and Anita was happy with the proposed size, she sculpted the angel in wax. She then painted it like the original before the whole thing was put together.

The unofficial series answer the question: what would Hallmark Keepsake Ornaments have looked like if they’d been around back in the 1950s? They didn’t officially start appearing until 1973, when the line made its debut with six, glass-ball ornaments and 12 yarn figures.

Birch Branch Owl (2018)

Tom also helped inspire Anita with the latest iteration in this unofficial series. Typically, the birch-inspired ornaments have been snowmen, and once it was a reindeer.

“Tom had the idea of turning it into an owl,” Anita said. “I put it all together.”

Birch Branch Owl

She used pieces of real pinecone to make the wings and sculpted the rest. She made the eyebrows look like the kind of “helicopter” leaves that drop from oak trees, and crafted the eyes to look like flowers, mums specifically. Wooden dowels provided her with the right structure for the holiday bird of prey. Then she covered those with wax so she could sculpt the rough bark texture.

“It was fun working with the owl to get the angles just right,” Anita said. “And the poinsettia adds the perfect little touch of Christmas color to round out the design.”

Puppy Love (2014)
24th in the series.

Puppy Love
24th in the series.

Anita’s inspiration for each new Puppy Love ornament comes from the official American Kennel Club list of dogs. She looks at which dogs are becoming more popular, always choosing an especially cute breed for her sculpt—and this year is no exception! “French Bulldogs have really grown in popularity, I have started to notice them in advertising and on TV as well.”

Not everyone would find the French Bulldog’s scrunched-up nose as adorable as Anita, so she added some accessories to make this pup extra kissable: If you look closely, you can see that her hanging mistletoe prop is actually a holiday headband, fit for a puppy that’s ready for a smooch.

Nifty Fifties Keepsake Ornaments (2014)

Nifty Fifties Keepsake Ornaments

Although Keepsake Ornaments didn’t make their way into stores until 1973, Anita dreamt up a few nostalgic trinkets to fit in with classic 1950s décor. Anita recalls, “A lot of times in the Keepsake Ornament Studio, we try to think ‘What would Keepsake Ornaments look like in 10 or so years?’ but the Nifty Fifties ornaments had me thinking about the past, and it was a long time ago!”

Anita collaborated with a number of designers to complete the box design and overall vintage look of the piece, tapping into a number of retro styles that have been growing in popularity each year.

Birch Log Snowman (2014)

Birch Log Snowman

Snowmen are popular holiday icons, but it’s always fun to give a a classic character a new design. Anita wanted to bring out the alpine woodland charm of this snowman’s birchwood body, so she added a few accessories. “I put a little snow in between the logs for glue, and I gave him a scarf and earmuffs to make him look warmer. He’s got a real fabric scarf and pom pom earmuffs. I just wanted to make him look really cute.”

Happy Halloween! (2013)
1st in a series.

There are lots of details tucked into this spooky Halloween scene, so we went to sculptor Anita Rogers to learn about the inspiration for her design:

Happy Halloween!
1st in a series.

“Each year, I’ll be creating a different pumpkin with a different Halloween character, and this first one is a cute little witch. Instead of the moon, I put her in front of some wispy clouds and gave her some sparkle. I actually designed her to look like my daughter when she was little. My daughter’s older now, but she still has long brown hair and green eyes, so this little witch kind of reminds me of her a little bit! I put her in a purple dress because it’s my favorite color and I think it looks pretty good with the orange.”

Portrait of an Artist: Anita Marra (1989)

Becoming a Keepsake Ornament artist was a case of love at first sight for Anita Marra.

“I stepped into this place (Keepsakes), looked around and thought, ‘Wow, this is what I want to do,’ “ Marra said, recalling a tour of Keepsake Ornaments she was given five years ago by an artist she met through a friend.

There was just one problem.  Marra never had worked with three-dimensional art.

“So I quit my job and practiced all summer with clay given to me by the same person who showed me around,” she said, explaining how she taught herself to sculpt.

Deer and Rabbit

Those initial efforts reflected her love for animals.  Her first sculpture was a deer and rabbit. It became part of the portfolio she used to land a part-time artist’s job in the fall of 1984.  The North Kansas City (Mo.) native went on to become a full-time artist in 1987.

Her affection for animals continues to be seen in her current work.  For 1989, Marra designed several ornaments that feature animals. They include: “Christmas Kitty,” the first in a new series of kittens; “Merry-Go-Round Unicorn,” a fine porcelain ornament in the Artists’ Favorite series; and “Thimble Puppy,” the last in a series of thimble ornaments.

In fact, “Thimble Puppy” even features the face of Marra’s own basset hound, Little Honolulu.

Such a personal touch, says the 30-year-old artist, adds to the enjoyment of her job.  That, and the chance to see people buy something that she has made with her own hands.

“You know, that’s one of the neatest parts,” Marra said.  “I can go into any Hallmark store and see my work on the shelves.  It makes me feel proud.”

2021-07-27T21:12:49-06:00
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