Chuck Redux

Live Bidding at the Red Dot Auction!

The Center is truly thankful to all of the artists and wonderful people who have worked their creative magic to bring this year's Red Dot Auction together! 

To top off this Saturday evening, the Center will present three unique live auction items:

1. Imagine if you will the sound of splashing fountains, the tinkle of champagne glasses, good friends laughing, standing in the company of a talented visual artist and having conversations about art and creativity. It can be yours when you are the successful bidder on this live auction item.  Spend an evening with the painter Mike Kungl and his wife, Dana, at their home and studio in the hills of Orange County. This event, possibly a life-changing one (you may walk away thinking of becoming an artist), is good for you and up to nine of your friends and is supplemented by a $1000 gift certificate from 24 Carrots catering donated by Jon Brown and Norm Bennett, the owners of 24 Carrots. 
2. A Super Colossal Bugs Bunny Drawing Lesson! Learn to draw Bugs Bunny in the THE CHUCK JONES style. Art director of “The Little Mermaid” and many other important Disney Studio films, Mike Peraza will sit down with you one-to-one and teach you to draw Bugs Bunny from his chubby wittle feet to his big pointed ears. At this personalized drawing lesson Mike will share with you drawing techniques he has developed in his over 40 years of Disney and Warner Bros. feature animation, along with his work in television, book, comics, and theme park design—can you say “Cars Land”? Mike will not only teach and guide you on your drawing of Bugs Bunny but will also do an original Bugs Bunny drawing just for you. Your lesson, scheduled at a mutually convenient time, can take place here at the Center or at Mike’s studio in Burbank. This special package also includes several DVDs of Disney feature films that Mike has worked on. And to tie the entire experience right back to the Father of Bugs Bunny, you will also receive an original sketch of Bugs Bunny by none other than Chuck Jones himself!
3. A tisket, a tasket, a bright yellow basket stuffed with all sorts of goodies--tickets for four to the July 6 performance at the Hollywood Bowl of “Bugs Bunny at the Symphony”, a picnic dinner, along with two bottles of wine, special Road Runner & Wile E. Coyote goblets, a Jones family-owned Levi jacket from the Warner Bros. Studio Stores. Plus you’ll go backstage after the performance with Linda Jones Clough to meet the conductor and creator of “Bugs Bunny at the Symphony” George Daugherty. You’ll be skipping all the way to Hollywood! Also, you'll receive "Bugs Conductor" hand-embellished by Linda Jones. This fine art reproduction on canvas resides in some of the great symphony halls around the globe that have been the venue for performances of "Bugs Bunny at the Symphony." 

Do You Red Dot?

You'll have to forgive Chuck Redux, but we are obsessed with the art that's been donated for this year's Red Dot Auction. From the four corners of the continent--North American, that is--to the Chuck Jones Center for Creativity the works of art have been flowing in this past couple of weeks. We are close to receiving 100 works -- which was our goal -- to celebrate the centennial year of Chuck Jones. 

There are paintings of horses...

...and then there are paintings of horses <nudge, nudge, wink, wink>. 

There are abstract works of art -- including photography -- that are as brilliantly conceived as the most complex oil painting.

Yes, it's a photograph.

And there are charming re-imaginings and what-ifs:

In other words, there is something for everyone at the Red Dot Auction! Bidding begins at only $100.00--and all of the proceeds help fund the creativity programs of the Chuck Jones Center for Creativity like Pastelicious and Dynamic Dioramas led by the Center's resident teaching artist, Christopher Scardino, who by-the-way, has contributed a stunning work of art to the Red Dot.

So, do you Red Dot? Would you like more information about bidding long-distance? Contact any of our galleries, or Chuck Redux and we'll gladly help you find the work that means the most to you. Which artist's work will you take home?

Chuck Redux: robert@ChuckJonesCenter.org

Chuck Jones Gallery, Costa Mesa: CostaMesa@ChuckJones.com or 866-Chuck Jones

Chuck Jones Gallery, Santa Fe: SantaFe@ChuckJones.com or 800-290-5999

Chuck Jones Gallery, San Diego: SanDiego@ChuckJones.com or 888-294-9880

Oscar Goes Hawaiian!

Craig Kausen, grandson of Chuck Jones and president of the Chuck Jones Companies, traveled this week to the beautiful island of Maui as the special guest of Dolphin Galleries who are currently hosting an exhibition and sale of the art of four-time Academy Award recipient, Chuck Jones.

Craig Kausen, second from left, with Nick Schlag (far left), Sylvester the cat and Dolphin Gallery founder, Stephen Schlag.

Chuck's Oscar for "The Dot and the Line", best short animated film of 1965 is given a place of honor in a display of photographs, drawings, and letters on loan from the Chuck Jones Center for Creativity.

Oscar, as his wont, also got special attention from Dolphin Gallery art consultants, Janna and Christine.

During the reception on Thursday evening, Craig took time with each of the collectors to discuss the subtleties and nuances of the art of the animated film.

Of course, some future collectors of Chuck Jones art were more interested in what was happening on the screen than off!

Sylvester the cat was a big hit with visitors to the Dolphin Galleries in the Shops at Wailea. Did you know that in Chuck Jones cartoons, Sylvester never spoke?

Dolphin Galleries's very own Christian Adams designed a unique way to display the original production art that was featured in the exhibition and sale.

A portion of the Chuck Jones exhibition and sale at Dolphin Galleries, the Shops at Wailea, Maui.

Craig shared stories of growing up with Chuck Jones with collectors this past Thursday evening.

Kids love Chuck Jones! (So do their parents!)

Shhh, don't tell anyone, but Dolphin Galleries art consultant, Teresa, sneaked a bag of popcorn. 

The flowers of Maui are nearly as spectacular as the Chuck Jones art on display.

Oscar sends "Aloha" from Maui! (Oscar's companion courtesy Kimberley and Craig Kausen.)

 

Are You Going to the Grand Opening at the Cartoon Art Museum?

Original layout drawing by Chuck Jones for "The Bugs Bunny TV Show" circa 1961.

Tomorrow night, March 23rd from 6 to 9 PM PDT, the Chuck Jones Center for Creativity and the Cartoon Art Museum present the grand opening of the exhibition, "Chuck Jones: Drawing on Imagination, 100 Years of an Animated Artist. 100 works of art from his early career through his last projects are presented in this retrospective of the genius of Chuck Jones. You'll meet some very hip people: Linda Jones Clough, daughter of Chuck Jones; Marian Jones, his widow; and Craig Kausen, his grandson. You'll also have the opportunity to visit with some old friends such as Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Marvin Martian, Wile E. Coyote, and the Road Runner. Tickets, from $10.00 to $50.00, are available by clicking here or at the door. The Cartoon Art Museum is located at 655 Mission St. in the SoMA Arts District of San Francisco. Call 1-415-CAR-TOON for more details. Be there or be square!

Chuck Jones Centennial Film Tribute at Cinefamily

This past weekend, Cinefamily at the Silent Movie Theatre in West Hollywood, California hosted a two-day film tribute to Chuck Jones. Hosted by animation film historian and author, Jerry Beck, on Saturday, they screened eight of Chuck's masterpieces from his days at Warner Bros. including such classics as "What's Opera, Doc?" and "One Froggy Evening" both of which are in the Library of Congress's National Film Registry. The late afternoon event wrapped with a rare screening of Chuck Jones's 1973 TV special, "A Cricket in Times Square." The Chuck Jones Center for Creativity provided Cinefamily with Chuck's personal 35mm prints of the cartoons. 

Jerry Beck (L) and Alexander McDonald, program director for Cinefamily, outside the Silent Movie Theatre.

Jerry's special guest on Saturday was animator, art director, and theme park designer, John Ramirez, who had worked with Chuck Jones in the 1980s and 1990s. He and his colleagues were the designers of the Chuck Jones exhibition at the Capitol Children's Museum, Washington, D.C. in 1990. 

Jerry Beck (L) and John Ramirez discuss the finer points of a Chuck Jones cartoon at the Cinefamily at the Silent Movie Theatre in West Hollywood.

There was even cake! (Who doesn't like a good carrot cake, I ask you?)

On Sunday, Craig Kausen, chairman of the Chuck Jones Center for Creativity and Chuck's grandson, made opening remarks before a screening of Jones's only feature film, "The Phantom Tollbooth." Special guest, actor Butch Patrick, who starred as Milo in "The Phantom Tollbooth" made an appearance and spoke with the near-capacity crowd. All-in-all it was a great weekend for Chuck Jones fans!

Animator and fan, Thom Nicolette (L) with actor Butch Patrick ("The Munsters", "The Phantom Tollbooth") at the Cinefamily Chuck Jones Film Tribute. 

Craig Kausen (L) and Butch Patrick at the Cinefamily at the Silent Movie Theatre in West Hollywood.

Craig Kausen (R) brought a portfolio of material from the making of "The Phantom Tollbooth" to share with the crowd of fans. He's seen here with Alexander McDonald (far left) of Cinefamily and Jerry Beck (center), author, animation historian and host/moderator for the weekend film tribute to Chuck Jones.

Photographer Stephen Russo (R) seen with Butch Patrick outside the Silent Movie Theatre. Mr. Russo provided all of the photos for this post. Thank you, Stephen!

Valerie Kausen at the Bradford Animation Festival

The talented Valerie Kausen is the special guest of honor at the Bradford Animation Festival at the National Media Museum in the United Kingdom. They screened "The Magical World of Chuck Jones" on the big screen for the first time in 20 years (Valerie was a producer) while Chuck Jones short cartoons played in other venues. The Festival ends on the 17th...so if you're in the Bradford, U.K. area (near Manchester) skootchy on over and see what's happening. (In case you were wondering, "Skootchy" is a technical term that means "come on down".)

Valerie, 20 years ago.

It's always wonderful to poke around in the Chuck Jones archives (what some people call 'curating' -- but isn't everyone a curator? 'Poking around' sounds like more fun to me) to see what might be just right for an exhibition (big or small) like the works selected for Bradford Animation Festival's Chuck Jones Centenary Tribute.

In the photo above, Chuck demonstrates how three of the characters he developed and/or created are drawn in a similar way: Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Wile E. Coyote. These drawings are featured on pages 132, 133 of "Chuck Reducks: Drawing From the Fun Side of Life" by Chuck Jones.

The five drawings in the photograph above are from three of the many archive boxes filled with Chuck Jones sketches--animals, children, conveyances. BTW, if you want a baby to look like a baby, don't give it a cigar to smoke (see image lower left.)

These last drawings appeared in Chuck Jones's autobiography, "Chuck Amuck: the Life and Times of an Animated Cartoonist". Clockwise from upper left, Johnson the cat, Teddy, a dachshund in a wet suit (drawn during the pre-production for Jones's "The White Seal"), a 1941 caricature holiday card from his Unit A at Leon Schlesinger Productions and Johnson with his tongue depressor.

 

Saturday Morning Cartoons & Quick Draw!

Join the Chuck Jones Center for Creativity and the Center for Living Peace for Saturday morning cartoons & quick draw the first Saturday of the month beginning September 1st! Chapman University professor of animation, Doug Lothers, will lead aspiring artists on a journey of creativity. Suggested donation $1.00 to $5.00. 

This program will be held at the Center for Living Peace, 4139 Campus Drive, Irvine 92612.

Enjoy the escapades of Bugs Bunny, Pepé Le Pew, Daffy Duck, and more of the characters generations have loved for decades! We'll watch Chuck Jones’ animated world unfold before our eyes and periodically stop to capture that "best moment" without having time to think.  We'll watch some more and do it again and again to create unforgettable memories of that day.  

The Chuck Jones Center for Creativity inspires joy and innovation in people of all ages, energizing them to transform their lives, their communities, and society as a whole.  The best way to tap into pure creativity, the energy that dwells inside all of us, we need to trust our minds and hands and NOT think.  Whether it's watching a cartoon or watching your child play, we hold onto the best moments of our day in pictures and store them away as brilliant memories.  Chuck Jones would do the same thing, only he would draw on those memories and turn them into beautiful art.  For Cartoon Quick Draw, we get the chance to be Chuck Jones for an hour. 

 

Critical Opinions on Chuck Jones's Work

We're in the midst of a big scanning project here, digitizing press and publicity from the past couple of decades so that we can share it with you at some point in the future as a resource on ChuckJonesCenter.org. Today, a sheet of paper, a photocopy really, surfaced that had a series of comments from a variety of writers, historians, and critics about the work of Chuck Jones. They're just too wonderful not to share them with you now. 

"Chuck Jones is considered by many to be no less than a seminal figure in the development of the animated film." --Alex Ward, Washington Post

"He has made moviegoers laugh as often and as well as Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton. His work is among the best of American film comedy." --Jay Cocks, TIME Magazine

"Chuck Jones is a worldly-wise child who knows animation downside up and outside in and can also do a perfect imitation of a cat swimming..." --Joseph Morgenstern, Newsweek Magazine

"[With animation becoming a vital part of modern cinema] is Chuck Jones the real successor to Walt Disney? Many knowledgeable observers of the scene think so." --Dr. Richard MacCann, Professor, University of Kansas in an introduction to an evening with Chuck Jones at the University in 1967.

"I may get an argument from people franticallly pointing at light bulbs, but yesterday I met the greatest inventor in the world, a man far greater than Edison--and funnier--Chuck Jones..." --Herbert Lockwood, San Diego Daily Transcript

"Since Jones never made topical jokes, his stuff remains, like all good fables and only the best art, both timeless and universal." --Peter Bogdonavich, Film Director, writing in Esquire Magazine

"For more than a generation, Chuck Jones has been one of the most imaginative and accomplished film makers in the America..." --Jeff Simon, Buffalo Evening News

Birthdays, Super Heroes, and Comic Con

We'd be remiss if we didn't mention that yesterday was Joel Shapiro's birthday. Now, you're probably asking, "Who is Joel Shapiro?" Well, he's our Super Hero expert at the Chuck Jones Gallery--San Diego and you couldn't ask for a more informed consultant than he to help you build your collection of Alex Ross or Jim Lee or any of the other DC Comic and Marvel artists the gallery represents. If you want to read more about Joel and his collection, we profiled him on this blog way back in February of 2009 (read it here). His collection has grown since then, as has his knowledge. If you're in the neighborhood, 232 Fifth Avenue, just one half block north of the San Diego Convention Center, stop by and wish Joel a "Happy Birthday" and ask him about the Silver Surfer. 

This evening the Chuck Jones Gallery will celebrate the Chuck Jones Centennial (another birthday!) with an amazing selection of original Chuck Jones artwork, as well as work from the Chuck Jones Homage Artists. There'll be door prizes awarded throughout the night PLUS! a trivia game that will make you dig deep for that tidbit of Chuck Jones knowledge that you've been storing forever (such as "What is Chuck's hat size?). Prizes will include art, t-shirts, hats, and much more.

Meet Chuck's grandon, Craig Kausen, who'll be our special host for the evening. It's an event you won't want to miss. Open house starts at 6 PM. Chuck Jones Gallery, 232 Fifth Avenue. Your one-stop gallery for all things animation, and Super Hero. 

Joel and his birthday cupcakes!

Also, you'll note that the Chuck Jones Gallery was visited by Wonder Woman this morning, who was kind enough to pause for a photo op with Wile E. Coyote (he didn't seem to mind.)

Chuck Jones Gallery Launches New Website

The Chuck Jones Gallery unveiled its new and improved website today. Redesigned, reorganized, and refreshed, ChuckJonesGallery.com is ready to assist you with your collecting needs. Whether its Chuck Jones (our specialty!), the Chuck Jones Centennial Homage Artists (James Coleman, Eric Goldberg, Mike Kungl, Mike Peraza, Tennessee Loveless, to name but a few), Fabio Napoleoni, Markus Pierson, or many of DC Comics most well-known artists, such as Alex Ross and Jim Lee, the Chuck Jones Gallery website is your destination for the finest art of the animated film, comics, and an exceptional selection of artists whose work inspires.

Of course, we represent all major animation studios as well as the Secret Art of Dr. Seuss. Join us today and take our new website for a spin! Who knows what work of art might jump out at you, begging you to take it home.