Animated Events: Butterflies and Lanterns, part 1

It was Spring and time for the yearly drive out to Grand Rapids to drop off my yearly taxes binder to my accountant. As always, my yearly pilgrimage yielded a wealth of butterflies and Chinese lanterns. On the initial trip, I spend an afternoon at the Frederik Meijer Gardens, hunting butterflies with my camera.

This year, the Meijer Garden's cafe played up the Butterflies are Bloomin' event with shortbread cookies.

And there were some really beautiful flower arrangements in the greenhouse and parlor rooms leading up to, and including, the Lena Meijer Tropical Conservatory.

This year though, I was in a different headspace. In prior years, I've spent copious amounts of time tracking butterflies, trying to find the correct angle, and waiting for them to spread their wings so I could photograph the vibrant colors. This time, I specifically focused on butterflies with their wings closed. A couple years back, one of my friends did this beautiful colored pencil sketch of a butterfly on a black background. Rather than the usual 'wings out' pose, this sketch had a butterfly with its wings closed. And the black background provided a nice contrast to the colors--they really popped off the page. It made me wonder if I was missing something special with my photographs. Well I wasn't disappointed, especially as this new perspective drew my attention to the shape and form of their wings in addition to some colors and patterns that I had overlooked. 

Tiger Longwing

Golden Helicon

Postman

Julia

Of course, I did nab a couple good photos of the butterflies in their 'wings out' mode when the opportunity presented itself.

Zebra Longwing

Postman

And there 'were' opportunities for the obligatory silly pics of butterflies.

* nom nom nom*

But I couldn't leave the venue without taking some photos and videos of the event's motion graphics projection for my class. Between Meijer Gardens and the DIA, I'm harvesting lots of good references where animation and live-action videos are being used to entertain and educate visitors. In my class, we cover a chapter on animation in the art world. Based upon the answers written in the final exam, installations and projections have been difficult concepts to get across to my students. So the more examples I can show them, the better.

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Animated Thoughts: Harryhausen, part 2

Well it was the last day of the Ray Harryhausen museum exhibit and the Kalamazoo Valley Museum flew in the Ray and Diana Harryhausen Foundation curator Connor Heaney from the United Kingdom.

Connor brought with him a special documentary for the crowd, one that is only shown at events such as this one. It was around twenty minutes and covered Ray's history in film. He then talked about the foundation and the work that they do in preserving Ray's models, notes, and work product. It was, in a word, fascinating. I love hearing about the behind-the-curtains stuff--especially the tidbits about how the models were  repaired and the 3d scans that they're making of some of these cinematic treasures.

Next, Greg Kulon joined Connor for a panel discussion on Ray and his films followed by a Q&A with the crowd.

One of the fun things mentioned was about a commercial that Ray created... one that got banned in England. I promptly located it on YouTube.

For those that are interested in watching this presentation and panel discussion (minus the documentary), the Kalamazoo Valley Museum live streamed the event over YouTube and it's now available on their YouTube channel. If you have a little free time, it's well worth the watch--especially Greg's stories about the friendship he and Ray built over the years, the fan and the filmmaker.

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Animated Thoughts: Bakshi and Brenda

So for years now I've watched Ralph Bakshi dipping into his vault of production material and offering it for sale on eBay. I vividly remember being at Ottawa thirteen years ago when Ralph was brought in as a guest. Back then, I paged through a beautiful binder of cels and production drawings from his films like Hey Good Lookin', Lord of the Rings, and Wizards, all for sale. Sadly, they were out of my price range--at that time, I wouldn't be free from my student loans for another two years. Still, I kept an eye on his eBay account while slowly buying DVDs of his films for my personal collection.

Still patiently waiting for Spicy City to be released on DVD.

Well last month, Ralph pulled out a gem that I couldn't ignore: a production drawing from Wizards which was created and signed by Brenda Banks. Now back in February, I had noticed his post about this particular drawing on his Facebook account, so I knew to keep my eyes open over the following weeks.

As far as historians know, Brenda Banks may be the first African-American woman animator. And in a special features video on the Wizards DVD, Ralph states a few facts about Brenda and how they met, as well as some recollections about working with her--specifically her work on animating the Goons, these characters that we see in her production drawing.

So when it went live on eBay, I quickly bought the drawing and had it shipped to Michigan. Now when you buy a cel or a drawing, Bakshi Productions offers to have Ralph autograph them before delivery. But I politely declined, making the request that the drawing be delivered in as close to original condition as possible since I would be having it framed and using it as a visual aid in my animation history class.

Turns out, this struck a chord with Eddie and Liz Bakshi (Ralph's son and wife). Turns out Liz had attended Michigan State University back in the '60's and when she saw my Michigan address, she decided to do me a solid. Liz and Eddie took a couple photographs of the production folder from Wizards that contained the drawing I had just purchased. It had Brenda's name written on the front under "Animator"--a little something extra to authenticate its history.

A week later, the drawing arrived in a full-sized priority shipping box. Inside, it was sealed carefully between two sheets of cardboard which were taped to the box's interior in such a way that it wouldn't rattle around during transit. At Bakshi Productions, they really go the extra mile to ensure that these works of art from the history of animation arrive in mint condition. And there it was, under the Goons at the bottom of the page: Brenda's signature.

Why did I need this treasured piece of artwork in my permanent collection? In my animation history class, I have no small number of African-American women who want to be animators and graphic designers. When I talk about Brenda Banks in my class, they always sit up a little straighter and furiously scribble notes. I honestly don't know how many of them dig into Brenda's history after my class is over. And there's not a lot of information out there, Brenda was apparently a very private woman who seemed to prefer letting her body of work speak for itself. But I've wanted to have something special, something tangible on hand to inspire those ladies, something that would help connect them to their cultural heritage. I see how the other ladies in my class light up when I bring in an actual oil painting from Helena Smith Dayton (as far as we know, the world's first woman animator). So I hope that when I show them this production drawing in all its glory, it will inspire them not just to watch Wizards for the scenes that Brenda animated, but that they will be inspired to make their own artistic dreams happen, much like Brenda did.

Know your history. Find your voice. And tell your own story.

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