Animation Artifacts &Daily post 21 Nov 2006 07:46 am
Norman McLaren At MOMA
– The Museum of Modern Art will be celebrating the pioneering work of Norman McLaren by screening some newly stuck 35mm prints of some of his key works.
This also celebrates the recent issuing of a new DVD set of McLaren’s complete works by the National Film Board of Canada.
Norman McLaren: Master’s Edition
MoMA will present this eleven-film program on Nov.29th and 30th, which demonstrates the imagination, vitality, and versatility of the artist’s animation.
The program includes Opening Speech, Stars and Stripes, Hen Hop, Begone Dull Care, A Chairy Tale, Lines Horizontal, Blinkity Blank, La Merle, and Neighbors.
I urge you to attend since there aren’t often screenings of these films in 35mm. Maybe it’s just me, but somehow, it doesn’t feel the same in dvd or ipod.
We’re living in a world where everything has to be handed to us. When an artist, such as McLaren, comes along with films that are slightly abstract and force us to use our imaginations, films that have a strong intellectual content, we have to bask in the glow and absorb the inspiration.
(Images enlarge by clicking them.)
Wednesday, November 29, 6:00;
Thursday, November 30, 8:30.
The Celeste Bartos Theater
– To move to an artist of a different sort, I received a comment on my Splog (original post here) from Thaddeus Seymour who is the son-in-law of TV art instructor, Jon Gnagy. I’d written a post about Gnagy and talked about the impression that his art instruction made on a young me.
Thaddeus wanted to announce that he and wife, Polly, have put together a new site memorializing Gnagy which includes ten episodes of his show in YouTube format. Manna from heaven.
This may serve as a trip down memory lane for many; it may serve as art instruction for others. Either way it’s entertaining and informative about a television program that was big in the 40′s & 50′s.
Go here for the site.
Go here to order a Jon Gnagy kit.
Thank you Thaddeus and Polly Seymour.
on 11 Feb 2007 at 7:07 am 1.Thaddeus Seymour said …
Just ran across your nice comments about our Jon Gnagy site. Glad you enjoyed it. We have had over a thousand visitors and regularly receive tender messages and recollections. We are so glad to help keep Jon’s memory alive.
on 25 Aug 2007 at 1:33 pm 2.Chris Roscher said …
Thad…
Was searching around for you, and found you here.
I just wanted to thank you for making a deep and lasting impression on me as a kid. You were my Dumbledore, I suppose.
Walking into your Office for a Chat was always a treat… thimble magic was near at hand. Heck… Tarbell was on the shelf behind you (across from the infamous “door-on-the-wall”).
What always impressed me was that you always treated whomever walked through your door (as I fully trust you still do,) as an Equal. That, though expected in Adult Society, was truly Notable to me, as a ten-year-old.
The courtesy and graciousness you showed me decades ago is fondly remembered today… and now, with a little Nephew, I’m trying to pass on the Wonder. Which, I suppose, is the point of this e-mail.
Just wanted to let you know thst I’ve picked up the Tarbell volumes… they’re as wonderful as they were, when I was borrowing them from you, forty years ago.
I hope you, Polly, and Abigail are all doing well… times long past, fondly remembered.
My Best to you and your’s,
Chris R.
I still have an old Elmore Day T-shirt
on 31 Mar 2009 at 8:37 am 3.Mirte said …
Dear Sporn,
I’m curious about the colorfull music-sheet. I was wondering if you knew some information about it.
Was it made by McLaren? and for which movie was the music used.
Thank you for your time.
greetings, Mirte
on 31 Mar 2009 at 8:46 am 4.Michael said …
The music sheet is from what’s called a “bar sheet.” The director works with music bars and printed dialogue to detail for himself what the film will look and sound like at any given frame. McClaren was obviously using this music sheet to choreograph the colors at all points in the film.