Chuck Redux

Let me bring you up-to-date...

Last night the Chuck Jones Center for Creativity was the setting for a preview of its Spring fundraiser, the Red Dot Auction. It was an intimate evening that allowed the Center's donors and benefactors the opportunity to meet many of the contributing artists to this, the 3rd annual Red Dot Auction.

For the world-weary, a lounge.

The Center sparkled and shone in the early evening's setting sun and the donated artwork, arrayed as it is on the "spokes" of a wheel with a red dot stage as its hub, glittered and enticed.

You know, the great thing about the Red Dot Auction, as Chuck Redux has always maintained, is the love it generates. Each and every artist has given of themselves to help fund creativity and you, when you're standing in the middle of all that generosity, can't help but feel the joy of such gift-giving. Did we mention that bidding begins at only $100.00? 

Husband and wife artists Dana (center) and Mike Kungl greet one of the Center's longtime supporters, collector Tom M. as last night's get-together got going. Funny story: Mike called Chuck Redux earlier in the day and said, "You won't mind if I come a little early, would you?" he queried, "I was thinking about the work I donated and realized it would be much much better if I painted a little bit of sparkle in the character's eye. It will only take me a moment." So, arrive early he did with paint and paint brush, we quietly slipped him into our office and seconds later, he was satisfied with the results. Chuck Redux will admit that the addition of the 'sparkle' was just the thing to finish his wonderful donation!

Council president, Tracy Tanner (right) and one of the Council's community ambassadors, Steve Smith, stopped to smile for the camera. The Chuck Jones Council for Creativity is the volunteer arm of the Center. 

Artist Ylenia Mino flew in from New York City just to be a part of the festivities! Thank you, Ylenia, for making the trip, and for your generous donation, it means the world to us.

Painter, pirate, and philanthropist, James C. Mulligan (center)shows off a recent painting to Linda Jones Clough, daughter of Chuck Jones, and her son, Craig Kausen, chairman of the Center. Jimmy's inspiration for the painting was a late '40s cover drawing by Chuck Jones for the square dance magazine, "Sets in Order" which depicts a deep-sea diver square dancing with a beautiful mermaid.

Artist Joseph Yakovetic and his lovely wife, Sammy, making the scene at last night's Artist Meet & Greet.

Artist Jeffrey Fliehler, Minerva the goddess, and Mike Wedaa of Opis Network enjoy the hospitality of the evening.

Artist Allyson Vought with her S.O., Lisa, along with Dave L., one of the Council's volunteers and a patron of the Center get close for Chuck Redux.

Artists George Garcia (far left) and Scott Ryder (2nd from right--Scott is also the gallery assistant at the Center and without whose help, Chuck Redux would be in a world of hurt) with the special women in their lives celebrate at last night's informal gathering of artistic temperaments. 

Scott Dicken (right, and who is really tall), the VP of retail for the Chuck Jones Galleries, discusses the finer points of building a collection with Sandra and Louis L., art collectors and patrons of the Center. Okay, not true, they were talking baseball, maybe, or they could have been talking about something else entirely for at this point in the evening Chuck Redux's attention span was on the wane.

Artist Luis Salazar (left) along with Dave L., Carol Erickson (2nd from right--and a Chuck Jones Gallery art consultant and collector), and Susan Palcsik (who is known for herding cats in a room full of rocking chairs) say goodnight to Chuck Redux at the end of the evening.

And that's what you missed at the preview party for the 3rd Annual Red Dot Auction. Tickets are still available and at the door for tonight's big gala. Go to the Center's website, ChuckJonesCenter.org for more information. See you tonight!

 

Actor Butch Patrick Visits the Chuck Jones Center for Creativity

 

Butch Patrick, perhaps best known for his role as Eddie Munster in the hit TV series (1964-66) "The Munsters" also starred in Chuck Jones's feature film, "The Phantom Tollbooth" as Milo, the young boy bored with everything, stopped by the Chuck Jones Center for Creativity yesterday to meet with Chuck's grandson, Craig Kausen and to pick-up his original Chuck Jones drawing that had been reframed for him. While there, Butch agreed to create a canvas for the Red Dot Auction, scheduled for May 11 at the Center. 

Photo by Stephen Russo

New York Public Library Opens Exhibit of Dr. Seuss Hats--Coming to Chuck Jones Gallery, San Diego

In honor of the 75th anniversary of Dr. Seuss's "The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins," the New York Public Library will open an exhibit today of about a dozen of Dr. Seuss's hats. Seuss, whose real name was Theodor Geisel, collected over 500 hats during his lifetime. The exhibit will travel to 15 other locations this year, including the Chuck Jones Gallery in San Diego, California, August 9th through August 25th and will be accompanied by many works of art that feature the hats in Seuss's collection.

Geisel in his San Diego State band hat with his wife, Audrey. (Photograph courtesy Dr. Seuss Enterprises, L.P.)

"Believe me, when you get a dozen people seated at a fairly formal dinner party," his widow, Audrey, said in an interview for a 1999 educational video, "and they've all got on perfectly ridiculous chapeaus, the evening takes care of itself."

Artwork done by Geisel for his own enjoyment is part of the exhibit and will be featured when the tour comes to the Chuck Jones Gallery in August. For more details, please contact the Gallery at 888-294-9880 or via email at SanDiego@ChuckJones.com. 

www.ChuckJones.com

Artist John Ramirez to Lead Chuck Jones Center for Creativity Workshops at Dayton Art Institute

Artist, animator, art director, and designer, John Ramirez, will be leading two workshops at the Dayton Art Institue, Saturday and Sunday, August 18 and 19. Ramirez, who was mentored by and worked alongside Chuck Jones, will be at the Dayton Art Institute as part of their Super Hero Summer where he will offer two classes devoted to encouraging thinking beyond the obvious and growing beyond expectations all the while developing important skill sets in drawing. For details about the workshops and to enroll your budding young artists, visit Dayton Art Institute. 

John Ramirez, left, puts his head together with Linda Jones Clough, daughter of Chuck Jones and one of the founding trustees of the Chuck Jones Center for Creativity.

Ray Bradbury and Chuck Jones

With the passing of Ray Bradbury this week, it brought to mind a wonderful quote from him when he was at a birthday party celebrating Jones's 55th.  Someone asked Bradbury what he would like to be when he grew up and he replied, "I want to be 14 years old, just like Chuck Jones."

Chuck Jones (r) and Ray Bradbury enjoying each other's company.  

A Few Photos from Last Night's Red Dot Auction

What a night! The Chuck Jones Center for Creativity held its 2nd annual Red Dot Auction last night and it was a spectacular evening. There was art, there was food, there were cocktails, there was an art project ("Connect the Dots!" which was awesome, more on that in a future post), there were raffle prizes, there was a gong, there were many, many bids on the silent auction artwork, and the supporters of creativity raised their paddles during the live auction making it a memorable evening of love and enthusiasm. These are just a few of the photos Chuck Redux had time to snap at the beginning and at the end of the evening...more to come in the next few days.  

First there was peace and quiet as we finished the installation of the Red Dot Auction art.

61 works of art were donated to the Center from over 50 artists from around the country. Thank you all for donating your creativity and talent!

And then it was all over...John Ramirez (l), one of the participating artists,  met up with a friend and artist from Rowland Heights High School, Andrea and her husband, Jeff.

The Center's resident teaching artist, Christopher Scardino (left) with artist Mike Kungl (center; both contributed beautiful works of art to the auction) pal around with art collector Stuart P.(r).

Artist, muralist, and actor, James C. Mulligan (l) with one of the Center's community ambassadors, Linda Krall.

National Sales Director for the Chuck Jones Gallery, Mike Dicken (far left) with his wife, Jamie (2nd from left) and collectors Sandra and Louis L. take a break from discussing all of the art they won in the silent auction. Thank you all for a great evening! We couldn't do it without donors like you.

Pam Marsden, program director for the Center with donor Tom M. compare patterns at the end of the evening.

Did I mention there was a gong? The magnificent, the talented, the beautiful Juliana Hansen takes a swing at our noise-maker. You can catch Juliana at the El Capitan this summer in the theatrical review that opens the new Disney film, "Brave".

Watch this space for more photos and details from last night's gala fundraiser for the Chuck Jones Center for Creativity. In the meantime, Chuck Redux is going to go take a little nap and rest his weary bones.  

And many thanks to the hundreds of people who came out last night and declared their support for creativity through their generous donations at both the live and silent auctions--we appreciate you!

We Bid Adieu to Dean Diaz

Craig Kausen, president of Linda Jones Enterprises hosted a going-away party for long-time employee Dean Diaz today at the Lazy Dog Restaurant in Tustin. Dean, known for his droll sense of humor and bad t-shirts, has worked in a variety of areas for both LJE and Chuck Jones Enterprises. His depth of knowledge of all things Chuck Jones is equal only to his love of all things Chuck Jones. We'll miss Dean's skill with a camera (still and video) as well as his ability to identify a production drawing, citing title and date, from 20 paces (and with one hand tied behind his back and a patch over his left eye while standing on his head.) Dean's a great guy and we'll miss him!  

Craig Kausen, standing left, and Linda Jones, pose with Dean at the Lazy Dog.

Our waitress also got into the spirit and joined Dean in a round of "are you being served?"

At first there were nachos.

And then there were none.

Dean expresses his concern about the sustainability of decorative polystyrene food receptacles. It also held his dinner (he is, if nothing else, frugal.)

And as if that weren't enough, Scott Dicken, VP of retail for Linda Jones Enterprises insisted on having his photo taken through a dog's paw cut-out. But ignore him, and join us in wishing Dean the very best future. Au revoir, auf wiedersehen, adios, ciao, baby, good-bye Dean!

 

It's June in January!

Legendary actress, June Foray, the voice of such renowned cartoon characters as Natasha, Rocky the Flying Squirrel, Witch Hazel and little Cindy Lou Who, will be making a special appearance this evening, January 5th, at the Coffee Gallery Backstage in Altadena at 8 PM and performing in word and song with Will Ryan and the Cactus County Cowboys.  Be there or be square!  

Send in the Clowns: Chuck Jones and Ringling Bros. Clown College

Chuck Jones met the clown TJ Tatters, also known as Steve Smith, in the early 1990s.  Smith, a graduate of the Ringling Bros. Clown College and its director from 1985 until 1995, invited Jones down to Sarasota, Florida on several occasions to speak with the students.  As was his nature, Chuck gifted many of the students a drawing of their favorite Warner Bros. character.  On one such trip he drew this:

 This past September, the Clowns (past, present and future) got together on Cape Cod for a reunion and to celebrate Chuck's birthday, Valerie Kausen, Chuck's granddaughter went out to join them in their festivities.  

“Being at the Clown College Reunion made my heart so happy to feel the love and respect that each and every one of those fabulous laugh loving people loved Chuck as much as I do. My face hurt from smiling so much. I had such a great time!", said Valerie, seen here with Steve Smith (aka TJ Tatters), Clown Hall of Fame member, and the talent development coordinator for Chuck Jones Film Productions, in Provincetown this past September for their Reunion.  

 

Museum of Science and Industry--Chicago Hosts Dr. Seuss Exhibit

Three of our Chuck Jones Gallery staff attended this past weekend's opening gala for "Dr. Seuss and the Art of Invention" at Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry.  

Making the scene at "the Bean" (AKA "Cloud Gate" by Anish Kapoor) are from left, Scott Dicken, VP of retail for Linda Jones Enterprises, Micah Murray and Kate Bowerman, art consultants at the Chuck Jones Gallery in San Diego.  Afterwards, they took an architectural tour of Chicago from a boat (and got soaked--the weather is less predictable in Chicago than it is in southern California) and later in the day headed down to the Museum for the opening gala.

Scott, Kate and Micah smile for the birdie at the gala reception for the opening of "Dr. Seuss: the Art of Invention" at the Museum of Science and Industry.

The next day, before heading home, they stopped at the studio of artist Peter Mars, who had contributed an homage image of the Lorax to the current exhibit.  From left, artist Peter Mars, Scott Dicken, Micah Murray and Kate Bowerman.