Spotlight on Offbeat Cards
Photo Courtesy Spotlight Cards
Christmas Gothic
John Heller and Emilie Heller-Rhys, the imaginative husband-wife team behind Spotlight Cards, never intended to create a wacky card company until, one day, they did just that. “One Christmas we produced a card for our friends,” Heller-Rhys says. “People loved the cards. They wanted to buy them.”
That first design, titled Christmas Gothic, is a play on Grant Wood’s famous painting, American Gothic. In their illustrated version, a cowboy and his wife stand beside a saguaro cactus draped with Christmas lights—a charming take on the somber original. Today, Spotlight Cards is a collaborative effort between Heller, who starts the card concepts with line drawings, and Heller-Rhys, who takes the characters and adds color, costumes, and settings.
“We make cards that make us laugh,” Heller-Rhys says. Each one is full of wordplay and visual puns, with a spotlight—hence the company’s name—placed on the defining joke. Launched in May of this year, Spotlight Cards can be found at Garcia Street Books, Collected Works, and other local shops, or ordered online and via telephone. The company offers options for all occasions—weddings, birthdays, and, of course, Christmas. Info: 866-666-9193, spotlightcards.com
