Current Exhibits

September 20, 2008 - February 8, 2009:
The Totoro Forest Project

OPENING RECEPTION:

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 16, 2008

7:00-9:00PM

The Cartoon Art Museum proudly presents original works of art from The Totoro Forest Project Charity Auction, a once-in-a-lifetime exhibition featuring paintings, illustrations and sculptures from nearly 200 critically acclaimed animators, fine artists, cartoonists and illustrators. All of the art for the exhibition was inspired by Hayao Miyazaki’s iconic animated feature film My Neighbor Tororo. The artwork will be auctioned at a fund raising event at Pixar Animation Studios on September 6, 2008, and then exhibited at the Cartoon Art Museum from September 20, 2008 through February 8, 2009. Proceeds from the auction will support The Totoro No Furusato National Fund, a non-profit organization dedicated to the protection of Japan's Sayama Forest.

Details regarding the December 2008 reception for this exhibition will be announced shortly.

About The Totoro no Furusato National Fund:

Sayama Forest is one of the most remarkable urban forests in Japan, located just outside of Tokyo. This forest is said to be the inspiration for legendary animated film My Neighbor Totoro. With Japan's rapid urban development in the 1970s and 1980s, the forest has been diminished to a small fraction of its former self. In 1990, Miyazaki helped set up a national trust, Totoro no Furusato National Fund, to preserve the park and promote awareness of environmental issues.

For more information on this cause and how you can help, please visit http://www.totoroforestproject.org/


The Cartoon Art Museum would like to thank the Japan Foundation of Los Angeles for its support in the promotion of this exhibition.

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From Richie Rich to Wendy the Witch:
The Art of Harvey Comics

June 28 - November 30, 2008

The Cartoon Art Museum proudly presents a visual history of one of the most popular comic book publishers of all time: Harvey Comics. From Richie Rich to Wendy the Witch: The Art of Harvey Comics celebrates the art and characters created and/or popularized by Harvey including Casper, The Friend ly Ghost; Wendy, The Good Little Witch; Richie Rich, The Poor Little Rich Boy; Hot Stuff, The Little Devil; Sad Sack; Joe Palooka; Little Dot; Little Audrey; Little Lotta, and many more.

Harvey Comics was founded in 1941 by Alfred Harvey (1913-1994), with a digest-sized comic book called Pocket Comics that put the company on the map with their line-up of superheroes that included The Black Cat. Various artists and writers who eventually achieved greater success elsewhere got their start at Harvey, including Jack Kirby, Joe Simon and Jim Steranko. By the end of the 1940s, Harvey transitioned to publishing comic books featuring popular comic strips of the day that included Joe Palooka, Dick Tracy, Blondie, Mutt & Jeff and Sad Sack. By the 1950s, romance and horror titles came into the mix.

An inspired bit of licensing in 1952 led to the 1957 purchase of Casper and several other animated cartoon characters created by Paramount Pictures’ Famous Studios, with Baby Huey, Buzzy the Crow, Herman & Katnip and Little Audrey among them. The enormous popularity of these characters spelled the end of the other genres at Harvey, and the company became solely a producer of children’s comics during that era.

Various newly created characters, such as Richie Rich, Little Dot and Little Lotta, followed the same house style to become a group affectionately known as the “Harvey World,” Though various ownership changes have occurred since the original Harvey shut its doors in 1982, the characters have never ceased to be influential, with hit movies like Richie Rich (1994), starring Macaulay Culkin, or Casper (1995), starring Christina Ricci, or the current five-volume series of Harvey Comics Classics published by Dark Horse Comics.

This exhibition runs through November 30, 2008, and features artwork by Warren Kremer, Ernie Colón, Sid Couchey, Howard Post, Fred Rhoads, Ham Fisher, Dom Sileo, Marty Taras, and many more.

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Sunday, November 30, 2008, 1:00pm and 3:00pm:

Cartoon Storytelling with Joe Wos

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Thursday, December 4, 2008, 7:00-9:00pm:

A Salute to Gene Colan

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Saturday, December 6, 2008, 1:00-3:00pm:

Character Animation Crash Course! author Eric Goldberg Presentation and booksigning

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Tuesday, December 16, 2008, 7:00-9:00pm

Totoro Forest Project opening reception

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Winter 2008 Cartoon Boot Camp:

December 26, 27, 28, 29 and 30
(Fri, Sat, Sun, Mon, and Tue)
12 noon to 2 pm
Ages 9 to 14
Instructor: Brian Kolm

$100 members
$125 non-members

Please scroll down for course description.

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Colan: Visions of a Man without Fear

November 15, 2008 - March 15, 2009

Opening Reception:

Thursday, December 4, 2008,

with special guests

Gene and Adrienne Colan

The Cartoon Art Museum is honored to celebrate the life and work of cartoonist Gene Colan with a retrospective entitled Colan: Visions of a Man without Fear. This exhibition inlcudes over 40 examples from Colan's long creative career, from his one and only story illustrated for legendary publisher EC Comics in 1952, through his fondly-remembered work for Marvel Comics from the 1960s and 1970s on titles as diverse as Iron Man, Tomb of Dracula and Howard The Duck, to his notable run on DC Comics' Batman in the 1980s, to his more recent efforts, including fan-commissioned illustrations and his beautiful pencil artwork on titles such as Michael Chabon's The Amazing Adventures of The Escapist, published by Dark Horse Comics.

This exhibition has been assembled by Guest Curator Glen David Gold, author of the novel Carter Beats the Devil and many comics-related essays. An exhibition catalog featuring high-quality reproductions of Colan's artwork and essays from many of his most notable collaborators, including writers Stan Lee, Marv Wolfman, Roy Thomas and Steve Englehart, will be available at the Cartoon Art Museum prior to the exhibition's opening reception on December 4, 2008.

About Gene Colan:

One of mainstream comics' most significant artists, Gene Colan was born in New York in 1926 and studied at the Art Students League of New York under illustrator Frank Riley and surrealistic Japanese painter Kuniashi. After a stint in the army, Colan's official career in comics began in 1944 at Fiction House and Timely. He has worked over the last 60 + years at almost every major publisher, including EC, Marvel, DC, Dark Horse, Bongo and Archie. His most memorable work includes unsurpassed runs on Daredevil, Iron Man, Sub-Mariner, Captain America, Captain Marvel, Dr. Strange, Tomb of Dracula and Howard the Duck, not to mention inspired depictions of Conan, Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman.

Beginning in the 1980s, Gene took on more varied and unusual work, including Nathaniel Dusk, Ragamuffins, The Spider (a graphic novel), Stewart the Rat, and Michael Chabon's The Escapist. Colan has taught at both the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan and the Fashion Institute of Technology.

Colan is the recipient of a Shazam Award, two Eagle awards and in 2005 was inducted into the Will Eisner Hall of Fame.

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For more information on upcoming events and exhibitions, please visit our blog:
cartoonart.livejournal.com

Briana Miller

Small Press Spotlight
Featuring: Briana Miller

August 16 - November 30, 2008

Beginning on August 16, 2008, the Cartoon Art Museum's ongoing Small Press Spotlight will feature the art of Briana Miller.

Briana Miller is a Berkeley-born, East Bay resident who has lived in almost every city that touches the eastern side of the San Francisco Bay. She created her first comic in 2000 and quickly discovered what she wanted to do for the rest of her life. She has produced at least one hand-drawn, hand-silk-screened comic a year ever since.

Each of Miller's comics is a self-contained story with no recurring characters or story lines. Her stories are often a mixture of whimsy and loss that becomes magical realism in unexpected moments of comic-book maturity. In Walk Like Tall Birds, an old puppeteer at the top of each page tells a story of lost love with his marionettes: a giraffe and an elephant who were once in love. In Catch Me If, a girl walks around town with her best friend, a giant lifeless hand, as a boy watches from afar.

Miller's latest comic, Still, which debuts at the Cartoon Art Museum, is the first instance of a recurring character in her work. It is a prequel to Simple, which told the story of an old man who is strolling home while trying both to remember and forget his lost love. In Still, we look through a small window into this husband's thoughts before his beloved wife died… before he knew he might lose her.

Miller's most high-profile project to date commences December 22, 2008 on Market Street in downtown San Francisco. The artist and longtime collaborator Thien Pham have been commissioned to create a series of posters for the San Francisco Arts Commission to be displayed on the city’s bus kiosks.

About the Small Press Spotlight:

San Francisco has been a hotbed of innovative, groundbreaking comic art since the late 1800s with the advent of the modern comic strip. In the1960s, the Bay Area gained further notoriety when cartoonists like Robert Crumb, Spain Rodriguez, S. Clay Wilson and Trina Robbins launched the underground comix movement from San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury district. Today, some of the biggest names in alternative and small-press comics hail from the Bay Area, and the Cartoon Art Museum's Small Press Spotlight will focus on these talented individuals.

The Small Press Spotlight is funded in part by The Zellerbach Family Foundation and The Wallace Alexander Gerbode Foundation.

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Cartooning Classes

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Cartoon Art Museum
named two years in a row!
"Best Museum of 2005"
in SF Weekly's annual
"Best of San Francisco"
Issue. Check out the
May 11-05 edition of SF Weekly!


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Check out our blog:
cartoonart.livejournal.com

Join the Cartoon Art Museum MySpace page:
www.myspace.com/cartoonartmuseum

Cartoon Boot Camp: Winter Session '08

To register for Cartoon Boot Camp Winter Session 2008 please call 415-227-8666 x303 or email education@cartoonart.org

Class Dates: December 26th, 27th, 28th, 29th, and 30th (Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday) from 12 noon to 2:00 pm at the Cartoon Art Museum.

The Winter Session of Cartoon Boot Camp 2008 will take place during the Winter Break between the Christmas and New Years holidays. Cartoon Boot Camp is for youth ages 9 to 14 years old. If you are interested in attending, please call to reserve a space as soon as possible as space is limited.

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

Artist Quest: Fantasy Characters and Beyond

To register call: 415-227-8666 x303
or email: education@cartoonart.org
Download the registration form here.

Session 1: Friday, December 26
“3D Shapes, Figures, and Faces”
Using basic shapes we will learn how to construct cartoon and fantasy characters. We will also practice adding facial features and expressions.
 
Session 2: Saturday, December 27
“Knights in Shinning Armor”
Learn how to add armor to your figures. Explore warriors, weapons, and the art of drawing armor.
 
Session 3: Sunday, December 28
“Mythological Beasts: The Art of Drawing Dragons”
Every good fantasy story must have a dragon. Learn to draw the dragon of your dreams.
 
Session 4: Monday, December 29
“Clothed Figures and Costumes”
Creating a character’s personality through clothing and costume. You will learn to draw cloaks, capes and other fantasy-specific costume elements.
 
Session 5: Tuesday, December 30
“Light, Shade, and Color”
Add light, shadow, dimension, color, and the finishing touches to your fantasy world!

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The Cartoon Art Museum is supported in part by the following grants:

Grants for the Arts

Community Fund of Sonoma County

San Francisco Foundation

San Francisco Department of Children, Youth and their Families

San Francisco Arts Commission

Fleishhacker Foundation

Zellerbach Family Foundation

Wallace Alexander Gerbode Foundation

Stuppin Fund for the Arts

Diane B. Wilsey

Louis R. Lurie Foundation

Andrews McMeel Universal Foundation

Muller Family Foundation

We would like to thank these organizations for their support in helping us achieve our mission.

Cartoon Art Museum
655 Mission Street
San Francisco, CA 94105
Phone: 415/CAR-TOON (415/227-8666)

Hours: Daily 11:00 - 5:00,
Closed Monday
Also closed on the following holidays: New Year's Day, Easter, July 4, Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Admission Prices:
$6.00 - Adults
$4.00 - Students & Seniors
$2.00 - Children (ages 6 - 12)
FREE - Children (age 5 & below)

The first Tuesday of every calendar month is "Pay What You Wish Day."

Updated 11/06/08

©2002-2008 Cartoon Art Museum