Exercise Your Genius--Podcast with Craig Kausen

Kolena invites you to join them for their sixth virtual event in the series with Craig Kausen, CEO of The Chuck Jones Center for Creativity. As the grandson of Chuck Jones, Craig leads the charge for the Chuck Jones group of companies. He has his grandfather to thank for his life-long advocacy for thinking differently. Please join them in hearing how creativity has been a huge part of both Craig’s and his family’s lives.

From Craig - “Although I have a degree in computer engineering, I have been in the art business for over 25 years. I currently have the pleasure to lead the Chuck Jones group of companies that include Chuck Jones Art Publishing, the Chuck Jones Galleries (in Orange County, San Diego, and Santa Fe, NM) and the not-for-profit Chuck Jones Center for Creativity.

Specialties: I smile a lot…”

Craig’s Biography

Raised in Newport Beach, Craig Kausen had the most typical of southern California childhoods, except for the fact that he was the grandson of Academy Award-winning animation director, Chuck Jones. His entrepreneurial spirit was inspired at an early age with love, creativity, and unique child-rearing philosophies. A graduate of UCLA and later invited to attend their Anderson School of Business’s Strategic Leadership Institute, Kausen worked with Hughes Aircraft and taught computer engineering at the college level. In 1991 he joined his mother at her eponymous business and began developing the Chuck Jones Gallery into a three gallery, multi-state operation. Today, not only is he president of Linda Jones Enterprises, but also the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Chuck Jones Center for Creativity, a non-profit organization founded by his grandfather in 1999. Kausen, the father of four, lives in Orange County with his wife Kimberley, and Roxy their dog (who runs the house.)

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Red Dot Artist Spotlight--Tricia Buchanan-Benson

Working in the centuries old medium of fresco, artist Tricia Buchanan-Benson brings her considerable technical virtuosity to the fun of animated art. Each Red Dot Auction, just as she does in her work for the Chuck Jones Gallery, she blends humor with skill for amazing results. Which artist’s work will you go home with on Saturday, September 11? Register to bid here: charityauction.bid/reddot11.

Tricia Buchanan-Benson was born in Southern California where she grew up on healthy doses of Calvin and Hobbes, The Far Side and Chuck Jones cartoons.  She graduated from Loyola Marymount University in 1996 with a B.A. in Film Production and went on to work for such animated series as “The Simpsons,” “King of the Hill” and “Futurama.”  Her work has also been exhibited in galleries and theme parks worldwide through the Disney Fine Art program.

Tricia currently lives in Los Angeles with her husband, their daughter, two crazy dogs and a rather obese cat. 

The Chuck Jones Gallery is pleased to represent the original work of Tricia Buchanan-Benson.

Red Dot Artist Spotlight--Eric Calande

Eric has been a long-time contributing artist to the Red Dot Auction. Each year his work delights and astounds. Can you spot his artwork in this year’s auction? Which artist’s work will you go home with on Saturday, September 11th? Visit charityauction.bid/reddot11 to view and to bid on your favorite works.

Eric Calande is an artist based in Northern California. He often works in an illustrative style using acrylic but will sometimes work in other paint mediums and mixed media. An avid Looney Tunes and Chuck Jones fan and collector, his Red Dot work often stays true to the original character designs and the cartoons themselves. This is his 9th year participating in the Red Dot Auction. He is a graduate of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and recipient of several distinguished awards.

Red Dot Auction to Be Streamed Live!

The Red Dot Auction is the much anticipated yearly charity art experience and fundraiser for the Chuck Jones Center for Creativity. Artists from around the world have submitted works of art, anonymously, by signing the artwork on the reverse, for you to select from.  

If you can't make it this year, no worries! We will be streaming it live via Zoom on Saturday, September 11 from 6 to 8:30 PM with special guest hosts, Linda Jones Clough (Chuck Jones's only child) and her son, Todd Kausen. 

Join them for historical video clips, inside stories about Chuck Jones, live action from the floor of the event as well as fascinating trivia and information about a few of the contributing artists! Connect via Zoom by clicking here the night of the Red Dot Auction (6 to 8:30 PM PDT). Zoom Meeting ID: 860 3443 8115 and Passcode: 506265.

Virtual tickets available for this Zoom event available at charityauction.bid/reddot11, use coupon code PLATINUM for free ticket (one per family, please) which comes with five raffle tickets for an exclusive virtual raffle prize and a free Bugs Bunny or Daffy Duck face mask.

We encourage you to register to bid at charityauction.bid/reddot11! Select and bid on your favorite works of art today! Follow your heart and bid early and often!

Red Dot Artist Spotlight--Jeff Sornig

Since Red Dot VII in 2017, Jeff Sornig has been contributing his wit and creative talent to the Red Dot Auction. Not only do thank Jeff for his participation each year, but we thank him, as a retired Marine, for his service to the country. Thank you, Jeff!

Jeff Sornig is a Michigan native and cartoonist who retired from the U.S. Marine Corps in 2012. Jeff worked with Nickelodeon Animation Studio in Burbank, CA from 2016-2018. He was a production assistant for Pig Goat Banana Cricket, a new show called Pinky Malinky, and also the upcoming Rocko's Modern Life special. Jeff is an initiate member of the Society of Illustrators Los Angeles (SILA), and served as the social media coordinator for The Animation Network podcast. This is Jeff's second consecutive year contributing to the Chuck Jones Red Dot auction. You can see more samples of Jeff's work online at JeffToons.com and on Instgram @sornigrafix.

Red Dot Artist Spotlight--Thomas Beckett-Maines

Where does the time go? This is the third year that Tom Beckett-Maines has contributed artwork to the Center’s tent-pole fundraiser, the Red Dot Auction. Each year his creativity and passionate support of the arts knows no bounds. We thank him for his support!

Tom Beckett-Maines enjoys working with many mediums including watercolor, acrylic, markers, fine-point pens, as well as photography, creative writing and digital arts. His passion for music, vintage art styles, whimsical creatures and nature often inspires his work. 

Tom lives in Orange County, California with his wife and two sons. 

Red Dot Artist Spotlight--Kelly Light

Long time Chuck Jones Center for Creativity Ambassador, Kelly Light has been contributing her original artwork to the Red Dot Auction since 2015.

Kelly Light is the author/illustrator of the well-loved series Louise Loves Art and has illustrated other series including The Quirks and Elvis and the Underdogs.

Kelly lives in a big creaky old house in Massachusetts and enjoys traveling to other creaky old houses of various sizes around the world.

She grew up on Sunday Funnies and Saturday Morning Cartoons and has spent her life creating characters with those inspirations in mind.

Which artist’s work will you go home with on September 11? Will it be Kelly’s?

Red Dot Artist Spotlight--Daniel Killen

Today, we shine our spotlight on the immensely talented and very funny, Daniel Killen. Daniel has been creating artwork for the Red Dot Auction for six years and every year his creations astound and delight. This year is no different! To find his artwork—if you can guess which one it is—go to CharityAuction.bid/RedDot11. Register to bid and bid often and bid high. All proceeds go to fund the creativity programs of the Chuck Jones Center for Creativity, a 501(c)3 public charity. The Center focuses on providing programs for children whose schools no longer support the arts, teenagers and young adults on the spectrum, and seniors who see the value in keeping their brains healthy and resilient.

Daniel Killen was born in 1965 and raised along the coast of Southern California, where he still lives and calls home. The youngest of four, Daniel’s family originally immigrated to the United States from Scotland in 1963. Always feeling like an outsider, he began creating and using his imagination to cope with his own shyness.  As a child, Daniel created creatures and worlds out of clay, cardboard, and any other items lying around the house. His love for creating grew to include illustrating and painting all of which set the course for his life’s goal of being an artist.  

His artistic career began creating designs for a t-shirt business, but in his spare time he was working as a freelance artist designing theatrical backdrops and props used in CBS afterschool specials, produced by his Emmy-award winning brother, Michael. He was given the opportunity through a Disney artist to produce clean-up line work for Western Publishing on Walt Disney licensed creations. This included work on Little Golden Books, featuring Mickey Mouse and Goofy, the Pocahontas Giant Activity Book, and The Hunchback of Notre Dame coloring books. Daniel’s work has consistently been accepted into visual design competitions, including the Orange County Fair, where he has won numerous first place awards. Daniel’s latest book illustrations can be found in the 2013 children’s book Lessons from Sarah the Cat for a Southern California Charity, Pathways to Independence.

He studied animation at Roland Animation School in Hacienda, California. Learning the basics of 2D animation principles, Daniel was recruited in mid-1995 by Warner Bros. where he worked in their animation division on Space Jam starring Michael Jordan and Bugs Bunny. Trained primarily in visual effects, he fulfilled a lifelong dream on his first professional Hollywood project by getting to work with all of the classic Looney Tunes characters. Performing tasks as an animator’s assistant, he was given the responsibility of animating certain EFX scenes on his own. These experiences lead to work on eight additional animated feature films over the next eight years for Warner Bros. and DreamWorks SKG Animation Studio. Daniel also created concept and prop designs for Warner Bros. The Iron Giant, directed by Brad Bird, where he designed the giant’s visual readout, including the font design used in all scenes where the giant’s viewfinder was shown. He also was responsible for the creation of other items in the movie as well as the words ATOMIC HOLOCOST, which reads across the main character’s Duck and Cover school safety film.  

His other movies for Warner Bros. were The Quest for Camelot and Osmosis Jones with Bill Murray. DreamWorks SKG projects included working in the EFX department, on Prince of Egypt, The Road to El Dorado, Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron, and Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas. He also did freelance work for Rich Animation’s The King and I. Daniel continued to hone his drawing and painting skills in classes provide by the major studios, as well as the Animators Union.

Daniel now works with the Chuck Jones Gallery bringing to canvas such inspired Warner Bros. properties as The Wizard of Oz, A Christmas Story, The Iron Giant, and the classic Looney Tunes characters Bugs Bunny, Wile E. Coyote, Daffy Duck, and the Road Runner. Greatly influenced by such artistic giants as Norman Rockwell, Edward Hopper, Frank Frazetta, and Chuck Jones, Daniel incorporates sly wit, poetic beauty, and adventurous themes into his work. He brings his whimsical sense of humor, pleasing colors, and clever layout to all his creative endeavors. In 2018, Daniel was chosen by the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta to create the poster for the 2018 Fiesta and to conceptualize and execute the designs for future posters leading up to the 50th Anniversary of the Fiesta in 2021.

Daniel lives by two inspirational quotes from French Director Robert Bresson: “Make visible what, without you, might perhaps never have been seen. “, and “Bring together things that have not yet been brought together and did not seem predisposed to be so.”

Craig Kausen interview with Cyberdogz Mike Brevik

This episode is about ALL THINGS Chuck Jones with the President of Chuck Jones Gallery AND grandson of Chuck Jones himself, Craig Kausen! Mike and Craig discuss some interesting Chuck Jones history, the love of creativity, brand experience, and all the ways they're keeping the legacy alive within the Chuck Jones Galleries, Chuck Jones Center for Creativity, and Chuck Jones Art Publishing. If you know Bugs Bunny, Porky Pig, Wile E. Coyote, The Road Runner, The Grinch, Elmer Fudd, etc... you're going to LOVE this one! https://bit.ly/37RLrry

Red Dot Artist Spotlight--Erika Hutzler

Erika Hutzler has been a contributing artist to the Red Dot Auction for several years now and every year she continues to delight with her sense of fun and strong technique. We are very fortunate to have Erika as part of the Red Dot Auction family!

In her own words, “I am a God fearing, homeschooling mom of 4 with a drive to go beyond the mundane. I draw cartoons. I have adored Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies all the years of my life and am blessed to continue to participate in continuing the legacy of Chuck Jones at the Chuck Jones Center for Creativity every year. I make ONE art piece a year that I pour my heart into and it goes to the Red Dot Auction. Chuck Jones is my childhood hero and I hope to be a part of his legacy for years to come.”

Red Dot Artist Spotlight--Dan Bowden

Dan Bowden submitted his first painting to Red Dot Auction 6 in 2016 and has contributed ever since. The Chuck Jones Gallery loved his first donated work of art so much that they published it as a limited edition that same year. “Me, Myself, and A-i-e-e-e!” launched Dan’s career with the Chuck Jones Gallery and the rest, as they say, is history! We’re delighted to welcome Dan back to this year’s Red Dot Auction!

Dan was born in Chicago, Illinois, the son of an Air Force colonel.  While moving from state to state with his family, he became keenly aware of his artistic abilities at the early age of four, and has been creating artwork in one medium or another since he can remember.  His family’s Air Force life brought him to Southern California in the ‘70s, where he has resided ever since.

Dan is a self-taught artist.  His natural gifts and abilities were recognized early during his school career.  He uses many different mediums, including acrylic, watercolor, pen and ink, pencil renderings, and stained glass.  Dan is thankful to have been born with the unique gift and natural understanding of how paint works; to perfectly blend colors and to be able to create interesting shading, something for which he takes great pride.  In keeping with the times and ever-changing technology, he has even mastered the art of digital painting.

Dan’s path to a career in art got interrupted several times with life’s responsibilities, but he has never quit drawing, painting, and creating while working at his “day jobs” to pay the bills.  Dan thinks of himself as an artist trapped in a deputy sheriff’s body, as described in a 2012 Press-Enterprise article about him entitled, “Sheriff’s Deputy Doubles as Artist.”

Dan grew up reading Mad Magazine.  He enjoys the artwork of Mort Drucker and Jack Davis.  The combination of that art and humor actually inspired Dan to become an avid reader.  He has also been greatly influenced by the masters:  Picasso, Rembrandt, van Gogh, and Gaugin, as well as the great American artists, Norman Rockwell and Frederic Remington.

Like most of us, Dan spent Saturday mornings and after-school TV time enjoying the animated characters created and directed by Chuck Jones. This influence has helped him create his own style and expression of the iconic characters. He is thrilled to have the privilege of drawing those beloved characters known worldwide, bringing joy to millions.

He has donated artwork throughout the years to churches, college jazz band calendars, the Leukemia Foundation, the Juvenile Diabetes Walk, and the Chuck Jones Center for Creativity at its annual Red Dot Auction.

Dan’s passion for art is stronger than ever before, and his commitment to his art has become the very definition of who he is.  He describes it as the driving force which fuels his creativity to new levels each day.  Dan likes to feel that his art inspires peace in a chaotic world, which is why he has chosen to hide the Dove of Peace in every “peace” of art he creates.

The Chuck Jones Gallery is pleased to represent the original and limited edition artwork of Dan Bowden.

Red Dot Artist Spotlight--Kamila Zmrzla

This is Kamila’s first year donating a work of her art for the Red Dot Auction. We can hardly wait to see what she’ll create!

Kamila Zmrzla is a Brooklyn-based artist whose work explores themes of femininity, motherhood, sexuality and the natural world.  She employs a variety of materials, including oil and acrylic paint, ink, watercolor, wire, textiles and collected objects.

Having studied studio art formally at Hunter College, Zmrzla is primarily self-taught through a lifetime of creative immersion. Her strongest influences are rooted in her upbringing in the former Czechoslovakia, where folklore, politics, traditional costume and her grandfather’s botanical paintings shaped her imagination from an early age. She favors vivid colors, undulating forms and repeating patterns. Her lush compositions evoke nature, fertility and the realm between dreams and reality.  

Recently, she participated in the Black Lives Matter art protest in Soho, NYC, where she painted seven large-scale murals on vacant storefronts invoking the need for equality and social justice. Her painting has been featured in Esquire, Time Out New York, Al Jazeera English, among many other media outlets. She can be found on Instagram @topbunartist

Red Dot Artist Spotlight--Jimm Nawrocki

Seattle artist, Jimm Nawrocki, has been contributing artwork to the Red Dot Auction since its inception in 2011, placing him among a very small, select group of artists who have supported the Chuck Jones Center for Creativity over the past 11 years by donating a work of art—anonymously—for each of the Red Dot Auctions. You can find him on Instagram @nrock_arts.

Growing up in Chicago, my early artistic influences were comic books and Saturday morning cartoons. I really enjoyed the crazy antics of characters such as the Roadrunner and Coyote and the adventures of superheroes such as Spiderman. I explored art in grade school, high school and community colleges before pursuing and achieving my BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago where I studied painting and drawing.

My current work is mixed media that is created from a variety of materials. The subject matter is figurative based, whether it is a classical or distortion of the figure. I generally start out with an image that I have manipulated with the computer and printed out on my ink jet printer. I then take that image, make different versions of it, and cut and paste parts of these versions into the original image to create a new image. I will also add different elements such as tape, googly eyes, stickers, news print, wire mesh, cardboard or whatever to the image to change it even more. I don’t have a specific goal or end result in mind when I go through this building process.

I am very much drawn to making the image into something else, deconstructing the image then reconstructing it. Looking past the obvious, the challenge is to see beyond. I enjoy changing and transforming things into something conspicuous and unique giving it strange humor and silliness. Some of my subjects are quite beautiful, others less so. The idea is to encourage those who see my work to look more carefully at the world around them, to discover beauty in strange places.

Pure. STEAM. Chuck Jones Center + Kolena

Back-to-Basics Meets Tech

Chuck Jones Center for Creativity and Kolena Corporation announce their new partnership!

The Chuck Jones Center for Creativity has partnered with Kolena Corporation to enhance your creativity through these self-paced, on-line lessons. Whether you are a decision maker in a corporation wanting to bring creativity exercises to the workplace or an individual at home exploring your creativity, please join The Dot and the Line Club. Choose the membership that is right for you! It’s a matter of choosing either The Dot or The Line…

DOT MEMBERSHIPS ARE NOW OPEN!

As an individual, have you experienced burnout or just a lack of creativity? Much of this feeling is because we have been trained out of being creative from the day we were born. A study by NASA (Inc Magazine, July 14, 2021) shows that as children we are 98% creative and by adulthood, we have diminished our creative skills to 2%.

Take time for yourself to explore your inner creativity once again. Please join The Dot Club Membership to take charge of your creative self. Ask yourself…

• Do you consider yourself creative?

• Are you stressed by everyone telling you what to do?

• Are you not able to be creative in your work?

• Do you simply want to learn how to draw or challenge your creativity skills?

• Have you been told to do things differently?

• Do you have a hard time being innovative or solve problems?

Sign up to become a member of The Dot Club Membership. Join us in this journey of creativity as we challenge ourselves and each other through collaboration and exploration.

Visit Kolena.ai for more information.

Red Dot Auction Pre-Bidding to Begin!

Woot! Woot! Red Dot Auction pre-bidding will begin Saturday, August 7 at 1 PM PDT! This year’s participating artists have out done themselves—if you haven’t taken a browse through the works that have arrived, please do so now! Visit CharityAuction.bid/RedDot11 and click on Auction Artwork. Bid early and often!

Your participation in the Red Dot Auction helps fund the programs of the Chuck Jones Center for Creativity, a 501(c)3 public charity. Although we’re rich in creativity, we’re poor in funding…every dollar counts. Please bid generously!

Tickets are on sale for the Red Dot Auction at the same link as above. $11 per for general admission and $50 per for the Platinum Preview. Doors open for Platinum attendees at 5 PM, general admission begins at 6 PM and the event closes at 8:30 PM at the Orange County Great Park Palm Court Arts Complex in the Artist Studios.

Students construct an ACME Road Runner trap at a recent ACME Inventor program at an Irvine Community Center. This four week program adds the “A” to STEM to become STEAM! (Science, technology, engineering, arts, and math)>

Chuck Jones Center for Creativity is a gymnasium for the creative brain.

We teach our students, both young and young of heart, to nurture the creative genius that exists in all of us. We connect both left and right sides of the brain in exercising creativity to solve problems, foster innovation and build mental health.

We build important skills for school age children, support healthy cognitive abilities for seniors, increase work performance in organizations who see the value of pumping up creativity in their ranks and enhance function for children on the autism spectrum.

Craig Kausen on Chuck Jones: Season of Creativity

Craig Kausen, chairman of the Chuck Jones Center for Creativity, and grandson of Chuck Jones, was recently interviewed by videographer, Buell Brown. Here’s what Craig had to say about the current exhibit and program series, Chuck Jones: Season of Creativity, now on display at the Art Gallery of the Orange County Great Park’s Palm Court Arts Complex and presented by the City of Irvine.

Craig Kausen, Chairman of the Chuck Jones Center for Creativity at the Huntsville Museum of Art, Huntsville, AL, 2017.

Chuck Jones Season of Creativity

Chuck Jones: Season of Creativity

The Chuck Jones Center for Creativity is thrilled to partner with the City of Irvine to spotlight artist Chuck Jones and his iconic career through a Great Park Gallery exhibition and interactive programming featuring the Looney Tunes. The community will have opportunities to participate in art and creativity programs, educational lectures, and a film series all inspired by Jones’ work and legacy.

Chuck Jones: Season of Creativity Exhibition

Chuck Jones: Season of Creativity is an exhibition designed to explore the process of animation from script to screen through original art, writing, and other ephemera created by Chuck Jones. Visit the Orange County Great Park Gallery beginning Sunday, July 4, through Sunday, September 12 to learn how Jones helped bring to life some of the most famous Warner Bros. characters including Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Marvin the Martian, Wile E. Coyote, and Road Runner.

The Great Park Gallery is open noon–4 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays and 10 a.m.–4 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays. Admission is free. Visit ocgp.org/arts for more information on the exhibition.

Interactive Activities: Join us in a variety of family-friendly activities in cartooning, sewing, crafting, and more celebrating Season of Creativity. Registration is required at yourirvine.org; click the link to sign up for the Center's classes for children and adults: https://www.cityofirvine.org/community.../chuck-jones

How Opera and Animation Intersect

Explore the intersection between opera and animation, through the lens of classic cartoons like the Looney Tunes episode "What's Opera, Doc?"

Pixar chief creative officer Pete Docter joins forces with Craig Kausen, chairman of the Chuck Jones Center of Creativity, to discuss how opera has fired the imaginations of animators around the globe — and why the art form fits so well into animated worlds.

San Francisco Opera's young professionals group, BRAVO! CLUB, hosts this special free event, part of our Ring Festival lineup.

To join the free live conversation, register here:

https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_yTb3X8f6STCN2bc2Hnvg9g?fbclid=IwAR0Z6ihwx3rGiWbRTqUVdMlY6XhEH-LwLLdYC66POH-k_36jcwMvUsha-Tk

Pepe le Pew Creator Chuck Jones' Daughter Disagrees that Cartoon Character Contributed to Rape Culture

From Linda Jones:

Pepe Le Pew is, I think, more than a lothario… like many of the other comedic characters, both animated and live, I think the underlying theme is one of exaggerating those characteristics we all (or those of us who are honest) recognize to some degree in ourselves. That’s much of what comedy is…. Let’s not throw the baby out with the bathwater.

If the Pepe cartoons were currently being made, I would say they should and would be considered inappropriate. Whether Warner Bros. decides to shelve the cartoons, as well as the character appearing in new movies, that is a decision they have every right and responsibility to consider… These are changing times and changing mores. Pepe’s pursuit of an unattainable goal was (and still is) a well-used story line…the pursuer, the object and the venue vary, but the underlying idea is classic and will continue to be used and, perhaps, overused.

I don’t know what my father would say about this now…but I know for certain that his career was devoted, entirely and always, to entertainment…to helping us all to laugh. Many have assigned motives and messages to his films…political, societal, even religious. None of them are correct. He was an animated film director and he spent his professional life in the pursuit of entertainment.

There has been reference to these particular cartoons contributing to a “rape culture.” Does this infer that “rape” is a current or recent phenomena? Another discussion for another time, but I have a great deal of difficulty believing that anyone, anywhere was so influenced by watching Pepe Le Pew cartoons that they pursued a life of debauchery. Sorry, it just doesn’t make sense to me. However, as a life-long supporter of women’s rights, I believe it is time to re-visit the past policies, arts, norms, behaviors and make sure we are not making mistakes as we move forward. 

An Artist's Love Song

An Artist’s Love Song

Chuck Jones Center for Creativity Board member, Mike Smith, writes: “Each year, I like to make a video contribution to the CJCC cause. This year, my submission is a little different. It’s an image/awareness piece for CJCC that celebrates the creative process, elevates the place of the artist and positions the Center as a champion of uncovering the genius within all of us. It’s called “An Artist’s Love Song.”

Let me give you the backstory on what it is and how it came about:

·      I came across a spoken word/song by Canadian poet/singer Tanya Davis called “Art”

·      In detailing the mission of CJCC, I convinced Tanya to give us the rights to use her tune in the video, free, along with a credit

·      I then contacted Fernando about the project, who introduced me to a young, former student of his, local designer/editor Kaila Gates 

·      Kaila and I then gathered images of great works of art for inclusion in the video – along with images of individuals engaged in CJCC events

·      The result is a video that touches upon the artist’s self-questioning and self-doubt, with thoughts of “will anyone appreciate my art?” -- yet ultimately finding the strength to persevere out of the love of the creative process, and the need for self-expression.”

Thank you, Mike, for all that you do for the Center and to further its mission.