Incomplete Manifesto for Growth from Bruce Mau Design

You know how the internet can be...one minute you're looking at pictures of cats and the next one you're reading the Incomplete Manifesto for Growth from Bruce Mau Design and you find yourself nodding your head in agreement, stopping to ponder the veracity of "Creativity is not device-dependent" and generally thinking this is an incomplete manifesto. (How could you limit it?) This then is what they had to say:

     Allow events to change you.

 

You have to be willing to grow. Growth is different from something that happens to you. You produce it. You live it. The prerequisites for growth: the openness to experience events and the willingness to be changed by them.

2.       Forget about good. 

Good is a known quantity. Good is what we all agree on. Growth is not necessarily good. Growth is an exploration of unlit recesses that may or may not yield to our research. As long as you stick to good you’ll never have real growth.

3.       Process is more important than outcome. 

When the outcome drives the process we will only ever go to where we’ve already been. If process drives outcome we may not know where we’re going, but we will know we want to be there.

4.       Love your experiments (as you would an ugly child). 

Joy is the engine of growth. Exploit the liberty in casting your work as beautiful experiments, iterations, attempts, trials, and errors. Take the long view and allow yourself the fun of failure every day.

5.       Go deep. 

The deeper you go the more likely you will discover something of value.

6.       Capture accidents. 

The wrong answer is the right answer in search of a different question. Collect wrong answers as part of the process. Ask different questions.

7.       Study. 

A studio is a place of study. Use the necessity of production as an excuse to study. Everyone will benefit.

8.       Drift. 

Allow yourself to wander aimlessly. Explore adjacencies. Lack judgment. Postpone criticism.

9.       Begin anywhere. 

John Cage tells us that not knowing where to begin is a common form of paralysis. His advice: begin anywhere.

10.   Everyone is a leader. 

Growth happens. Whenever it does, allow it to emerge. Learn to follow when it makes sense. Let anyone lead.

11.   Harvest ideas. 

Edit applications. Ideas need a dynamic, fluid, generous environment to sustain life. Applications, on the other hand, benefit from critical rigor. Produce a high ratio of ideas to applications.

12.   Keep moving. 

The market and its operations have a tendency to reinforce success. Resist it. Allow failure and migration to be part of your practice.

13.   Slow down. 

Desynchronize from standard time frames and surprising opportunities may present themselves.

14.   Don’t be cool. 

Cool is conservative fear dressed in black. Free yourself from limits of this sort.

15.   Ask stupid questions. 

Growth is fueled by desire and innocence. Assess the answer, not the question. Imagine learning throughout your life at the rate of an infant.

16.   Collaborate. 

The space between people working together is filled with conflict, friction, strife, exhilaration, delight, and vast creative potential.

17.   ____________________. 

Intentionally left blank. Allow space for the ideas you haven’t had yet, and for the ideas of others.

18.   Stay up late. 

Strange things happen when you’ve gone too far, been up too long, worked too hard, and you’re separated from the rest of the world.

19.   Work the metaphor. 

Every object has the capacity to stand for something other than what is apparent. Work on what it stands for.

20.   Be careful to take risks. 

Time is genetic. Today is the child of yesterday and the parent of tomorrow. The work you produce today will create your future.

21.   Repeat yourself. 

If you like it, do it again. If you don’t like it, do it again.

22.   Make your own tools. 

Hybridize your tools in order to build unique things. Even simple tools that are your own can yield entirely new avenues of exploration. Remember, tools amplify our capacities, so even a small tool can make a big difference.

23.   Stand on someone’s shoulders. 

You can travel farther carried on the accomplishments of those who came before you. And the view is so much better.

24.   Avoid software. 

The problem with software is that everyone has it.

25.   Don’t clean your desk. 

You might find something in the morning that you can’t see tonight.

26.   Don’t enter awards competitions. 

Just don’t. It’s not good for you.

27.   Read only left-hand pages. 

Marshall McLuhan did this. By decreasing the amount of information, we leave room for what he called our "noodle."

28.   Make new words. 

Expand the lexicon. The new conditions demand a new way of thinking. The thinking demands new forms of expression. The expression generates new conditions.

29.   Think with your mind. 

Forget technology. Creativity is not device-dependent.

30.   Organization = Liberty. 

Real innovation in design, or any other field, happens in context. That context is usually some form of cooperatively managed enterprise. Frank Gehry, for instance, is only able to realize Bilbao because his studio can deliver it on budget. The myth of a split between "creatives" and "suits" is what Leonard Cohen calls a ‘charming artifact of the past.’

31.   Don’t borrow money. 

Once again, Frank Gehry’s advice. By maintaining financial control, we maintain creative control. It’s not exactly rocket science, but it’s surprising how hard it is to maintain this discipline, and how many have failed.

32.   Listen carefully. 

Every collaborator who enters our orbit brings with him or her a world more strange and complex than any we could ever hope to imagine. By listening to the details and the subtlety of their needs, desires, or ambitions, we fold their world onto our own. Neither party will ever be the same.

33.   Take field trips. 

The bandwidth of the world is greater than that of your TV set, or the Internet, or even a totally immersive, interactive, dynamically rendered, object-oriented, real-time, computer graphic–simulated environment.

34.   Make mistakes faster. 

This isn’t my idea — I borrowed it. I think it belongs to Andy Grove.

35.   Imitate. 

Don’t be shy about it. Try to get as close as you can. You’ll never get all the way, and the separation might be truly remarkable. We have only to look to Richard Hamilton and his version of Marcel Duchamp’s large glass to see how rich, discredited, and underused imitation is as a technique.

36.   Scat. 

When you forget the words, do what Ella did: make up something else … but not words.

37.   Break it, stretch it, bend it, crush it, crack it, fold it.

38.   Explore the other edge. 

Great liberty exists when we avoid trying to run with the technological pack. We can’t find the leading edge because it’s trampled underfoot. Try using old-tech equipment made obsolete by an economic cycle but still rich with potential.

39.   Coffee breaks, cab rides, green rooms. 

Real growth often happens outside of where we intend it to, in the interstitial spaces — what Dr. Seuss calls "the waiting place." Hans Ulrich Obrist once organized a science and art conference with all of the infrastructure of a conference — the parties, chats, lunches, airport arrivals — but with no actual conference. Apparently it was hugely successful and spawned many ongoing collaborations.

40.   Avoid fields. 

Jump fences. Disciplinary boundaries and regulatory regimes are attempts to control the wilding of creative life. They are often understandable efforts to order what are manifold, complex, evolutionary processes. Our job is to jump the fences and cross the fields.

41.   Laugh. 

People visiting the studio often comment on how much we laugh. Since I’ve become aware of this, I use it as a barometer of how comfortably we are expressing ourselves.

42.   Remember. 

Growth is only possible as a product of history. Without memory, innovation is merely novelty. History gives growth a direction. But a memory is never perfect. Every memory is a degraded or composite image of a previous moment or event. That’s what makes us aware of its quality as a past and not a present. It means that every memory is new, a partial construct different from its source, and, as such, a potential for growth itself.

43.   Power to the people.  Play can only happen when people feel they have control over their lives. We can’t be free agents if we’re not free. 

Our hats are off to Bruce Mau Design for these terrific thoughts on creativity!

Portfolio Workshop for Aspiring Animators

Chuck Jones Center for Creativity and Laguna College of Art & Design to Offer Classes This JulyCosta Mesa, CA: The Chuck Jones Center for Creativity, in collaboration with the Laguna College of Art & Design animation department, is proud to offer its first portfolio development workshop for aspiring animators. This summer, sixteen high school students who are interested in studying the art of animation will have a chance to develop their skills and prepare a portfolio specifically for submission to art schools offering animation programs.

This course will be taught by Larissa Marantz, a character designer for Nickelodeon, children’s book illustrator and professor at Laguna College of Art & Design. Participants will learn the basics of character design, appeal, observational drawing, and personality development inspired by the artistic approach of legendary animation director Chuck Jones, who helped create such classic cartoon characters as Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Wile E. Coyote and Pepé Le Pew.

Ideal candidates will have had some previous art instruction, but have not had an opportunity to take animated-related classes. The cost of the four-week course is $500 and it will be held at the Chuck Jones Center for Creativity at 3321 Hyland Avenue in Costa Mesa on Mondays through Thursdays 9AM-1PM from July 8th though August 1st. Interested students may contact Lindsay Farr at Laguna College of Art & Design by e-mail (lfarr@lcad.edu) or phone (949-376-6000) to enroll.

The principles for creating memorable characters embodied in the work of Chuck Jones remain relevant today whether applied to hand-drawn, computer-generated or stop-motion animation. Young artists definitely won’t want to miss this opportunity to follow in the footsteps of an animation master.

About the Center: The Chuck Jones Center for Creativity was founded in 1999 by four-time Academy Award recipient and legendary animation creator and director, Chuck Jones. The Center’s vision is to inspire the innate creative genius within each person that leads to a more joyous, passionate, and harmonious life and world.

These are important goals, particularly in today’s world, when arts education is practically non-existent; we are dedicated to re-invigorating the creative spirit and we are doing it through art classes, exhibitions, lectures, and film festivals, all of which spring from the material in the Chuck Jones archive. Jones was a determined saver and his writings, art, and other ephemera from a nine-decade life, along with his philosophy of guiding and nurturing instruction, form the basis of our programs.

About Laguna College of Art & Design: Founded in 1961 as the Laguna Beach School of Art, LCAD has grown to include five undergraduate majors and a graduate department. We offer a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Drawing and Painting, Illustration, Graphic Design, Animation, and Game Art. The graduate program awards a Master of Fine Arts in Drawing and in Painting.

LCAD is one of an elite number of institutions that has both regional accreditation from the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (www.wascweb.org) and national accreditation by the National Association of Schools of Art and Design (www.nasad.arts-accredit.org). We get especially high marks for our use of technology and the liberal arts in the art and design curriculum. Our graduates are career-ready and receive assistance from the Office of Career Services and its many contacts in the art market and industry. Being an hour from Los Angeles puts you close to museums, galleries, the entertainment industry, and graphic design studios. Our faculty includes experienced professionals in their field; all are accomplished educators.

Drop Off & Dine!

Enjoy dinner without the kids, but have them nearby!"Drop Off" your children at the Chuck Jones Center for Creativity and "Dine" at one of the restaurants at SoCo or the The OC Mix. Your kids will participate in various creative activities with the inspiration of Chuck Jones's animation, film, and fine art.

-Ages 4+ (must be potty-trained)

-They have to be your children, no piggybacks allowed!

-Parents must stay within SoCo or The OC Mix premises

-Parent will sign-in & sign-out each child and provide a cell phone number

-Dinner for children can be purchased or brought from home

Reserve your spot today!!

Sasha Advani (949) 660-7793 x107 or Sasha@ChuckJonesCenter.org

Cost: 1 Child=$30.00, 2 Children=$35.00, 3 Children=$40.00

**Participants recieve 2 FREE Class Vouchers per child for Pastelicious or Dynamic Dioramas taught by Christopher Scardino!

Drop Off & Dine!

Enjoy dinner without the kids, but have them nearby!"Drop Off" your children at the Chuck Jones Center for Creativity and "Dine" at one of the restaurants at SoCo or the The OC Mix. Your kids will participate in various creative activities with the inspiration of Chuck Jones's animation, film, and fine art.

-Ages 4+ (must be potty-trained)

-They have to be your children, no piggybacks allowed!

-Parents must stay within SoCo or The OC Mix premises

-Parent will sign-in & sign-out each child and provide a cell phone number

-Dinner for children can be purchased or brought from home

Reserve your spot today!!

Sasha Advani (949) 660-7793 x107 or Sasha@ChuckJonesCenter.org

Cost: 1 Child=$30.00, 2 Children=$35.00, 3 Children=$40.00

**Participants recieve 2 FREE Class Vouchers per child for Pastelicious or Dynamic Dioramas taught by Christopher Scardino!

Drop in and Draw for Family Fair Day! May 18th 2013

Swing by the Chuck Jones Center on Saturday, May 18th for Family Fair Day! The center will be contributing to the fair by opening its doors for a Drop in and Draw session. Express yourself creatively with provided materials and be prepared for a good time! This event is good for children of all ages (must be accompanied by an adult.) Christopher Scardino, the Center's teaching artist, leads each session in a nurturing and guiding manner best suited for the flowering of creative genius! The event is free, but a nominal donation is suggested to help support the center. Join us and let you and your children's inner Picassos shine!

12 Principles of Animation: 1 - Squash and Stretch

Our brand new Animation workshop will feature 12 monthly classes featuring instruction on animation techniques. Animation Professional John Ramirez will lead a workshop discussing one of the most important principles in animation, the "Squash and Stretch". It gives a sense of weight and flexibility to drawn objects and it can be applied to simple objects like a bouncing ball, or more complex constructions like a character. A figure stretched or squashed to an exaggerated degree can have a comical effect. Many organic objects in animation have a degree of squash and stretch.Join us every 3rd Saturday of every month for a new principle! Cost: $57 per workshop, includes materials.

To register for this class, contact Sasha Advani (949) 660-7793 x107 or Sasha@ChuckJonesCenter.org

Drop Off & Dine Tonight!

Cost: Introductory Prices: 1 Child=$30.00, 2 Children=$35.00, 3 Children=$40.00Enjoy dinner without the kids, but have them nearby! "Drop Off" your children at the Chuck Jones Center for Creativity and "Dine" at one of the restaurants at SoCo or the The OC Mix. Your kids will participate in various creative activities with the inspiration of Chuck Jones's animation, film, and fine art.

-Ages 4+ (must be potty-trained)

-Introductory Prices: 1 Child=$30.00, 2 Children=$35.00, 3 Children=$40.00

-They have to be your children, no piggybacks allowed!

-Parents must stay within SoCo or The OC Mix premises

-Parent will sign-in & sign-out each child and provide a cell phone number

-Dinner for children can be purchased or bring it from home

Reserve your spot today!! Sasha Advani (949) 660-7793 x107 or Sasha@ChuckJonesCenter.org

**Participants recieve 2 FREE Class Vouchers per child for Pastelicious or Dynamic Dioramas taught by Christopher Scardino!

Meet Your Mind--A User's Guide to the Science of Consciousness

 Chuck Redux stumbled upon To the Best of Our Knowledge website the other day and we were really taken by this series on the User's Guide to the Science of Consciousness, particularly the part on theneuroscience of creativity. There are six components that range from "Memory and Forgetting" to "Extraordinary Minds", each one is available as an audio interview accompanied by its transcription. Really amazing stuff, here's the intro to the series:

Your thoughts and feelings, your joy and sorrow....it’s all part of your identity, of your consciousness. But what exactly is consciousness? It may be the biggest mystery left in science. And for a radio show that loves 'Big Ideas,' we had to take up the question.  

In our six-hour series, you’ll hear interviews with the world’s leading experts - neuroscientists, cognitive psychologists, philosophers, writers and artists. We’ll take you inside the brains of Buddhist monks, and across the ocean to visit France’s ancient cave paintings. We’ll tell you how to build a memory palace, and you’ll meet one of the first scientists to study the effects of LSD.

 

How do our brains work?  Are animals conscious? What about computers?  Will we ever crack the mystery of how the physical “stuff” of our brains produces mental experiences?

What does science tell us about the most personal question of all:

Who am I?

Take some time and investigate. It's well worth your time. 

Chuck Jones Essential Reading Book Club to Meet April 24

"Cabbages and Kings" by O. Henry (his only novel) will be the topic of discussion at the meeting of the Chuck Jones Essential Reading List Book Club this coming Wednesday, April 24 at 7 PM. Held at the Chuck Jones Center for Creativity, 3321 Hyland Ave., Suite A, Costa Mesa, California, the book club was started by Chuck's daughter Linda. This month's book, by O. Henry, is available free either through Google or through Amazon, no digital reader necessary. The title, "Cabbages and Kings" is a line from a poem by Lewis Carroll published in 1872, "The Walrus and the Carpenter," a delightful bit of nonsense...shall we consider its use as foreshadowing by O. Henry? The book traces the travails of a beauty from New Orleans, Isabel Guilbert, and her life as it takes her around the globe. There are dashing deposed dictators, missing cash, and rich American landowners, all of whom are mesmerized by the charms of Miss Guilbert, an operetta diva and a life so complex only O. Henry will be able to unravel it.

Join us on Wednesday, a suggestion donation of $15.00 goes toward defraying the costs of the non-profit Center's public programs. Plus there'll be tea and crackers. (And maybe oysters...but you'll have to be there to find out.) If you can't be here in person, but would like to listen in on the discussion, please follow this link for a live broadcast. At some point in the near future we hope to have the club on a g + broadcast, details to follow.

Sommy Rhee spotlights The Chuck Jones Center for Creativity on her blog!

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Sommy Rhee recently highlighted The Chuck Jones Center for Creativity on her blog. Sommy posted a wonderful article highlighting our Drop In and Draw session and our gallery. Check out the photos she took! She's also a contributor for Red Tricycle, so check her article about The OC Mix and the Center! We hope to see more of Sommy and her family at the Center!

 

Saturday mornings, our family has been hanging out at the SOCO Farmer’s Market & the OC Mart Mix.  This is our favorite family-friendly destination. There is always something new or cool going on here, and the best part is that it isn’t too crowded so it’s perfect with people like us who have two young kids….Read more

 

The Best of Chuck Jones Cartoons at Sonoma Film Festival!

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If you live in the bay area, the Sonoma Film Festival opens today and runs through Sunday. On Saturday, April 13 at 9:30 AM PDT, the festival will present the a collection of Chuck Jones cartoons curated from his own personal collection of 35mm reels. This showcase of diverse and eclectic classics includes Oscar-winning DOT & THE LINE, ALI BABA BUNNY, and WHAT'S OPERA, DOC? (voted the greatest animated short film in history.) Adults and children will be entertainted by Bugs Bunny, Elmer Fudd, Daffy Duck, Road Runner, Wile E.Coyote, Pepe le Pew, Porky Pig, Sylvester the Cat, Gossamer, and many more! Chuck Jones's daughter, Linda, will introduce the collection and be available for discussion after the screening.Although tickets are no longer available online, please contact the Festival Box Office for availability at SonomaFilmFest.org.

Check out Darrell J. Park at Center for Living Peace for Saturday Morning Cartoons & Quick Draw on 4/6/13 at 11:30am

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Join Bugs Bunny, Marvin the Martian, Wile E. Coyote & the Road Runner along w/all their friends for Saturday Morning Cartoons!... 'And have FUN drawing too! We'll watch & explore the magical world of Chuck Jones, legendary director & animator!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 the creative energy that dwells inside us is to trust our minds  & hands, NOT overthink the process.  Whether it's watching a cartoon or your child at play, we hold onto these moments through pictures, sounds & feelings, in which we store away as brilliant memories.  Chuck Jones would do the same thing, only he would recall those memories and express them through his art. Chuck Jones cartoons & drawing!... 'And of course, FUN!

"I try never to talk down to a child, no matter how young, not because he might lose something by my doing so, but because a child's mind is like a bud. It will open, but not under the kind of liquid it often receives." - Chuck Jones

About Darrell J. Park

"Art opens up a whole new world of possibilities, once where there was a blank piece of paper, now exists a line...

Your line. A unique line that was brought into creation by you, the artist. This is your "world," where you can freely create & express yourself, find your own voice." - DJ Park

'With grass-skirt roots from Hawai'i, Darrell J. Park, grew up doodling on pieces of scratch paper. He attended the Academy of Art, San Francisco, where Mr. Park received his formal training in classical animation & illustration. Mr. Park also has degrees in commercial art, graphic design & photography. In 1998, Mr. Park met Chuck Jones while Mr. Jones was attending a gallery opening in San Francisco. By the fall of 1999, Mr. Park was mentoring with Mr. Jones at his corporate headquarters in Southern California. Since that first meeting, Mr. Park has worked closely with the Jones family to help promote the Chuck Jones Legacy til present.

Mr. Park also operates his own company: "Toona Sandwich - art, design & print"

He also performs stand-up comedy in the Hollywood & Santa Monica Area. (i.e. - The Comedy Store, Hollywood)

"A dot can be the beginning of a line, or the end of one... (But by then it's called a "period.") - DJ Park

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For more details, visit www.GoodHappens.org or contact Sasha@ChuckJonesCenter.org or (949) 660-7793 x107

Calling all parents! This is the program for you! Drop Off & Dine on April 4 at 5:30pm

Enjoy dinner without the kids, but have them nearby! "Drop Off" your children at the Chuck Jones Center for Creativity and "Dine" at one of the restaurants at SoCo or the The OC Mix. Your kids will participate in various creative activities with the inspiration of Chuck Jones's animation, film, and fine art.-Ages 4+ (must be potty-trained)

-Introductory Prices: 1 Child=$30.00, 2 Children=$35.00, 3 Children=$40.00

-They have to be your children, no piggybacks allowed!

-Parents must stay within SoCo or The OC Mix premises

-Parent will sign-in & sign-out each child and provide a cell phone number

-Dinner for children can be purchased or bring it from home

 

Drop Off & Dine is on Thursday, April 4, 2012 from 5:30-8:30pm at the Chuck Jones Center for Creativity, 3321 Hyland, Suite A, Costa Mesa, CA 92626.

 

Reserve your spot today!!  Sasha Advani (949) 660-7793 x107 or Sasha@ChuckJonesCenter.org

**April participants recieve 2 FREE Class Vouchers per child for Pastelicious or Dynamic Dioramas taught by Christopher Scardino!

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

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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!

Actor Butch Patrick Visits the Chuck Jones Center for Creativity

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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

Chuck Jones Exhibit at the Cartoon Art Museum--March 23rd--Sneak Peek!!

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These are two of 100 works of art by Chuck Jones on display at "Chuck Jones: Drawing on Imagination, 100 Years of an Animated Artist" at the Cartoon Art Museum, 655 Mission St. in San Francisco. The Grand Opening Gala is scheduled for Saturday, March 23rd at 6 PM. Tickets can be purchased here:http://guestlistapp.com/events/151239. Your support helps fund the educational programs at both the Cartoon Art Museum and the Chuck Jones Center for Creativity. The Jones family and everyone at the Cartoon Art Museum look forward to seeing you there!  P.S. Even if you can't make it to the event, buy a ticket anyway (from $10.00 to $200.00) and be loved by thousands of children and adults! What more could you ask for?

Craig Kausen--Principal for the Day at McPherson Magnet K-8

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Craig Kausen, Chairman of the Chuck Jones Center for Creativity and Chuck's grandson, will be Principal for the Day at McPherson Magnet K-8 school Wednesday, March 13.   

The Orange Unified School District will celebrate Principal for a Day on Wednesday, March 13, 2013 throughout its campuses. The event partners a business leader or community member with a school principal and allows the participant an opportunity to observe a glimpse of a principal’s daily responsibilities. The purpose of the program is to foster relationships within the community and to share the outstanding work of OUSD teachers, students, and staff.

Chuck Redux believes the children at McPherson are in for a special treat! More about Craig's day as Prinicpal as it unfolds. Stay tooned!

Photo by Stephen Russo

Grand Opening of "Chuck Jones: Drawing on Imagination" Exhibition at the Cartoon Art Museum -- San Francisco

Chuck Jones: Drawing on Imagination Opening Reception

Saturday, March 23, 2013 from 6pm to 9pm

The Cartoon Art Museum and Chuck Jones Center for Creativity will host a special reception for the exhibition, Chuck Jones: Drawing on Imagination on Saturday, March 23, 2013.  Special guests include Chuck Jones’ widow, Marian Jones, his daughter,Linda Jones Clough and grandson, Craig Kausen, who is the Chairman of the Chuck Jones Center for Creativity, as well as other guests from the family and the Chuck Jones Center for Creativity.  Proceeds from the event will benefit the Cartoon Art Museum and Chuck Jones Center for Creativity.

Tickets are $50 for the VIP portion, $10 for the reception and can be purchased through: http://guestli.st/151239

Additional level tickets offer discount memberships to the Cartoon Art Museum and charter membership to the Chuck Jones Center for Creativity.  Please visit the ticket page for details.

From 6pm to 7pm, the VIP portion will include an exclusive Docent Tour of the exhibit by Linda Jones Clough and Craig Kausen. Exclusive items will be available for auction, including tribute pieces from artists at Pixar Animation Studios and an original Chuck Jones piece.  Refreshments courtesy of Square Meals, Shmaltz Brewery and Garden Creamery.

From 7pm to 9pm regular ticket buyers can enjoy refreshments, mix and mingle with our special guests and participate in the auction. Exclusive items will be available for auction, including tribute pieces from artists at Pixar Animation Studios and an original Chuck Jones piece. The auction will close for live bidding at 8pm.

About the Exhibition:  February 9 – May 5, 2013

The Cartoon Art Museum presents a centennial retrospective of the art of legendary animation director and creator Chuck Jones, on display from February 9 through May 5, 2013.  The exhibition, comprising 100 works of art from the late 1930s through the late 1990s, is entitled Chuck Jones: Drawing on Imagination—100 Years of an Animated Artist. Artwork for the exhibit is provided by the Chuck Jones Center for Creativity in Costa Mesa, CA.

Chuck Jones, a graduate of the Chouinard Art Institute (now CalArts in Valencia), drew $1.00 portraits on Olvera Street in downtown Los Angeles before he began his career in animation as a cel washer at Ubbe Iwerks Studio in 1932. He directed his first cartoon, “The Night Watchman,” for Leon Schlesinger Productions in 1938 and went to helm such classic Warner Brothers shorts as "What's Opera, Doc?" and "One Froggy Evening."  Winner of three animation Oscars and an honorary Lifetime Achievement Oscar for "the creation of classic cartoons and cartoon characters," Jones is today considered synonymous with the "Golden Age" of studio animation and has inspired many of today’s most significant film directors, artists, and animators.  

“I have been a fan of the Cartoon Art Museum for many years and to finally have such an extensive exhibition presented here is like a dream come true.  My grandfather loved San Francisco and its denizens. This exhibition, with many never-before-exhibited works, is a masterpiece to celebrate Chuck’s Centennial Celebration,” said Craig Kausen, Chairman of the Chuck Jones Center for Creativity and Chuck’s grandson.

“We’re thrilled with the opportunity to partner with the Chuck Jones Center for Creativity, and to bring our patrons 100 pieces of classic and rarely seen artwork from one of the greatest and most influential cartoonists in American history,” said Cartoon Art Museum curator Andrew Farago.  “Chuck received the Cartoon Art Museum’s Sparky Award for lifetime achievement in 1998, and I’m grateful for the opportunity to further celebrate his extraordinary career and talent.”   

About The Chuck Jones Center for Creativity

The Chuck Jones Center for Creativity is a non-profit 501(c)3 charity located in Costa Mesa, California. Founded in 1999 by four-time Academy Award recipient and legendary animation creator, Chuck Jones, the Center’s vision is to inspire the innate creative genius within each person that leads to a more joyous, passionate, and harmonious life and world.

The Center is dedicated to re-invigorating the creative spirit and they are doing it through art classes, exhibitions, lectures, and film festivals, all of which spring from the material in the Chuck Jones archive. Jones was a determined saver and his writings, art, and other ephemera from a nine-decade life along with his philosophy of guiding and nurturing instruction form the basis of their programs.

About the Cartoon Art Museum

Founded in 1984, the Cartoon Art Museum is the only museum in the western United States dedicated to cartoons and comics.  The museum was started by a group of cartoonists and collectors who wanted to share their appreciation of this unique art form with the rest of the world.  The museum is dedicated to the collection, preservation, study and exhibition of original cartoon art in all forms to benefit historians, cartoonists, journalists, artists, collectors and the general public.

Cartoon Art Museum * 655 Mission Street - San Francisco, CA 94105 - 415-CAR-TOON - www.cartoonart.org

Hours:  Tues.  Sun. 11:00 - 5:00, Closed Monday

General Admission: $7.00 - Student/Senior:$5.00 - Children 6-12:$3.00 - Members & Children under 6: Free

The Cartoon Art Museum is a tax-exempt, non-profit, educational organization dedicated to the collection, preservation,  study and exhibition of original cartoon art in all forms.

Call for Artists to Participate in the 3rd Annual Red Dot Auction

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Dear Artists and Friends of the Chuck Jones Center for Creativity, Preparations are underway for the Third Annual Red Dot Auction benefiting the Chuck Jones Center for Creativity scheduled for May 11, 2013. As you are aware, creativity in our schools and in our national conversation is always the first thing to be eliminated or casually dismissed as unimportant. In fact, it is creativity that opens the minds and hearts of all who allow it to, it brings greater freedom to their lives. It enhances one's ability to solve problems and it opens minds to the differences that make each of us unique, erasing prejudices and bigotry. Creativity makes the world a better place.

Today I’m writing to ask you to donate a work of art to this year’s Red Dot Auction, to be held on Saturday, May 11th from 6 to 9 PM at the Center in Costa Mesa, California.  Again this year the canvas is 12” square and as last year, we ask that you sign the artwork on the reverse.  You may prefer to work on paper or another substrate and that’s fine as long as we can mount it to the 12” square canvas for presentation the night of the event. 

For those of you who may be unaware of the Red Dot Auction and how it works (or may have forgotten), here are the details: each artist contributes a work of art that is either painted on the canvas we provide you or creates a work of art that can be mounted to the canvas for display the evening of the auction.  The artwork should be signed on the reverse so that bidders at this silent auction will not know who has created which painting—although savvy collectors may be aware of your particular style and will jealously guard their bids, hoping to land a work by ______ or ____ ______.  

We are still in the midst of the Chuck Jones Centennial year and we'd like to carry over the suggested theme from last year from which to draw your inspiration: the life and times of Chuck Jones. That should not limit you to cartoon-related imagery, although many of the most sought after works at last year’s event were inspired by his Looney Tunes creations; you might be inspired by his love of travel, his admiration for the work of Mark Twain or the fact that he never had one cavity his entire life (true!) 

Whatever you choose to do, of course, is up to you; it is your participation that is most important to us. 

Won't you share your gifts with us and with the Center's members and patrons?  If you will, please drop me a note with your mailing address and I’ll get a canvas out to you.  What’s that you say?  You’d like to contribute two works?  No problem!  Just let me know and I’ll send you two canvases.  Have an artist friend who would like to be a part of this exciting project?  Please send them my way.  Canvases are due back here no later than April 19th. Write to me at rpatrick@chuckjonescenter.org. 

Thank you in advance for your generosity, time, and commitment to re-invigorating the creative spirit in all of us.  

All the best, Robert

Join us for Drop In and Draw this Saturday, February 23!

Stop by the Chuck Jones Center for Creativity this Saturday, February 23 for Drop In and Draw! You can grab a pencil and sketch a loveable Chuck Jones character, like Wile E. Coyote or Pepe Le Pew. Not comfortable sketching your own Chuck Jones character? Then grab a "Color Me Creative, Volume 1" coloring book, created by our own Linda Jones, the daughter of Chuck. We've compiled some of Chuck's original sketches all in one book!Doug Lothers, our volunteer teaching artist, has a background with the “classic” animation style. He can help guide you with drawing one of Chuck’s loveable characters!

Rinette Heajin, our volunteer teaching aide, can assist you with learning how to draw. She’s been studying art for over 3 years at her school and private academies.

Drop In and Draw, Saturday, February 23 from 9:30a-12:30p

Chuck Jones Center for Creativity @ 3321 Hyland, Costa Mesa, CA 92626

Questions? Contact (949) 660-7793 for general questions or Sasha Advani at x107