From the heart to the nose

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Medford artist Dona Gelsinger was commissioned by Kimberly Clark, the maker of Kleenex tissues, to create Santa Claus art for the company’s holiday collection tissue boxes.Jamie Lusch

Dona Gelsinger of Medford painted a picture of Santa Claus sitting by the fire with a cat on his lap and a brightly lit Christmas tree by his side. He's going over a list of naughty and nice children, getting ready for the Big Night.

So what, you ask?

Well, the image was commissioned by Kimberly Clark, the paper giant, to put on Kleenex boxes shipped all over the world. So, for the next three years (the term of the license on the painting) Gelsinger's image will be one of the most-seen icons of the holiday season.

In an era of computer art, Gelsinger painted Santathe old-fashioned way — oil paints on linen. She says she did it from the heart, with Christmas spirit foremost.

Gelsinger has been a prolific commercial artist for decades, but she says her work is never "formula" art.

"The formula is in my heart," she says. "If I don't feel the love, it's not going to come off. You have to find the emotional connection, with the facial expression, the lighting, the subject matter."

She didn't have to look far for a model for St. Nick. She used her father, retired school administrator Don Hunsaker.

"We sat him by the fireplace, made the beard a lot bigger, the cheeks rosier and added a few pounds on him," she says, laughing.

Gelsinger's art has become a family business, with her husband, Brian, serving as chief executive officer and son, Jesse, as licensing director. The corporation serves 30 manufacturers and her images have been reproduced on plates, mugs, Christmas tree ornaments, wall hangings, runners, greeting cards and other products. Goods decorated with her work have been placed at Wal-Mart, Big Lots, Dollar Tree, the Home Shopping Network, and Party America, according to her Web site, www.donagelsinger.com/.

Images in her online library feature many representations of Santa, angels, snowmen, lighthouses, cozy homes in the snow, children and Jesus and Mary.

Gelsinger has been an artist for as long as she can remember.

"I've been painting since I could hold a crayon in my hand," she says.

She received her formal training at California State University at Long Beach, then painted life-size Stations of the Cross for St. Denis Church in Diamond Bar, Calif. She moved to Medford in 1990 and created her own company in 1994.

Her son, Jesse, a graduate in computer science from Southern Oregon University, taught her how to use Photoshop, the computer art program, and she says she wouldn't be able to do what she's doing now without it.

Gelsinger says her religious and holiday images are inspired by the happy holidays of her childhood.

"My faith is a big part of it," she says. "Christmas is very moving and joyful for me. My parents didn't have a lot of money, but they did the whole thing with lights, getting the tree on the Friday night before Christmas and, because we were Catholic, going out for fish burgers at McDonald's. They're great memories."

Her many images of the season are painted to elicit the true meaning of Christmas, she says. "The birth of our savior, Jesus Christ, and Christmas always gives people a renewed sense of hope for the future and the world, which has a lot of problems now."

She says her tissue box Santa is meant to evoke the joy and caring of the season "and most people will say the same thing, that no matter how bad things are, they feel that spirit this time of year and want to do charitable work, take cookies to people.

"It's all about love and what you can do for other people," she says, "even if it's only to say 'Merry Christmas' and smile."

John Darling is a freelance writer living in Ashland. E-mail him at jdarling@jeffnet.org.

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