Holiday Card 2025: About The Commissioned Art

Each year for the past many years, we commission a new work of art for our holiday cards. This year takes a wonderful turn into the world of poetry!

Indiana Poet Laureate Curtis L. Crisler was generous enough to write a brand new work which we joyfully feature on the front of our 2025 holiday card. When we reached out to Curtis in April to see if he would entertain a special commission for this project, we didn’t realize what a special gift we were about to receive: getting to know one of the most creative, thoughtful, generous, and life-affirming people in the arts & humanities.

A native Hoosier from Gary, Indiana, Curtis was named Indiana Poet Laureate in January 2024 for a two-year appointment. He has published multiple books and works, and has received numerous awards and fellowships while also serving as Professor of English at Purdue University Fort Wayne. Please read more about Curtis and his work here.

Poetry written by Indiana Poet Laureate Curtis L. Crisler with visual artwork by Scott Ungar.

We are grateful to Curtis for sharing his talent with us, and with everyone on our holiday card list this year.

Amidst the bustle of the season – especially for our many non-profit and philanthropy colleagues who are solving crisis after crisis – give yourself a moment to read, visualize, and reflect on the poetry that Curtis wrote. We hope it brings you something priceless, whether a moment of calm, a sense of clarity, or a warm memory from the past.

And, if you are curious, here are a few recent commissions featured on our holiday cards from years past including 2024, 2023, and 2022.

Finally, we graciously acknowledge a special member of our Cape Fletcher family, Scott Ungar, a wonderful visual artist and creative designer who brought to life the snowy, idyllic scene fronting our card in response to Curtis’s poetry.

We wish you and yours the happiest of holidays, and a renewed sense of purpose in the year ahead.