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Not just the charming young
girl in gingham and calico who evokes nostalgic feelings for a bygone era
- but a living, breathing person with an abundance of talent: artist Holly
Ulinskas Hobbie.
Mrs.
Douglas Hobbie in private life, she is the wife of a writer and the mother
of Brett, Jocelyn, and Nathaniel. The family resides in an
eighteenth - century house in a small town in western Massachusetts.
In the
latter part of the 1960's, while her husband was completing his college
education, Holly, who studied art education at Pratt Institute and
painting at Boston University, submitted her portfolio to American
Greetings. Her nostalgic collection of country children made their
first public appearance on a line of greeting cards - and a character
legend was born: Holly Hobbie is this year (1983) celebrating her
fifteenth anniversary with American Greetings!
In
creating the character look which bears her name, Holly Hobbie has
captured in exquisite detail the serenity and innocence of a long - ago
world. Her designs possess a timeless appeal rooted in the homespun
warmth and quiet pleasures of a simpler, gentler way of life.
"While I have not deliberately, tried to denote a specific time or
person, " she states, "my style and subjects bring back memories
of a more tranquil and charming time period. For younger people,
they seem to evoke 'the good old days' captured in books or on film..
a time beyond memory."
Much of
Holly's work reflects her memories of growing up in rural Connecticut:
"I loved living on the farm, and I had special places where I would
go to daydream and pretend. These are the places in my
designs."
Though
her own children have served as models for many of her designs, the art
does not become a mirror image. "I have noticed however, that
my characters tend to grow up as my children grow," Holly
notes, while explaining that children - what they do and what they are -
are the greatest source of ideas to be found.
With
their delightful nostalgic appeal and refreshingly homespun philosophies,
Holly Hobbie designs have sparked a long - term love affair with the
collectibles market - one which gives promise of growing even stronger in
the years to come.
* SOURCE: This is quoted from
1983 American Greetings Corp. Anniversary Edition Catalog. |
© 2005 Those Characters From
Cleveland, Inc.