I Just Want You All To Know
THE CARTOON ART MUSEUM IS CURRENTLY PERFECT.

www.cartoonart.org

Seriously, this is the best lineup of shows I've seen in the seven years I've been volunteering there.





In the first gallery: "The Art and Flair of Mary Blair," a retrospective of the great Disney concept artist, children's book illustrator, and creator of the "it's a small world" ride at Disneyland. I'm a huge Mary Blair fan, and I've been pushing for this show for ages. (Yes, I also love "it's a small world." I know it's one of those things I'm only supposed to enjoy ironically, like the George Michael song "Faith," but I honestly love it. You know how sometimes radio stations in the Anaheim area will offer people cash prizes to ride "it's a small world" all day? I WOULD PAY THE RADIO STATION.)

As the co-curator, I got to do amazing stuff like spend an afternoon at the house of Mary Blair's wonderful son Kevin, poring over art by Mary, her husband Lee, and Lee's brother Preston. I also had the honor of writing the (admittedly over-wordy) wall text for the show.





Andrew's got more images from the show here.



In the second gallery: "Edward Gorey's Dracula," featuring Gorey's concept art for the stylish 1970s Broadway production. If you want to see the actual Boston Globe clipping that inspired my strangely popular Gorey Star Trek pastiche, this is the place to go.







All this, plus a gallery devoted to fantastic local artist Lark Pien. Lark's show includes a really cool installation project: over the course of several weeks, she painted a complete comic on a set of canvases, painting over the canvases for each new set of panels. She filmed herself working, so we'll be able to show a time-lapse video of the comic being created.







And the current Small Press Spotlight is on gifted local cartoonist Hellen Jo, who deserves way more attention.

Best. Cartoon Art Museum. EVER.