A New Year's Note from the Chairman of the Chuck Jones Center for Creativity

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Greetings from the Chuck Jones Center for Creativity,It has been a monumental year for the Center with creativity programs that have impacted well over 5,000 people both at the Center and throughout the Community. Additionally, our Chuck Jones Museum Exhibitions have been enjoyed by over 100,000 people this year alone.

With our sights set on tremendous continued growth in 2015, we are grateful for your continued interest and support of our vision of Igniting Imagination for Life!

We wish every a Happy, Safe, and Healthy New Year in 2015!

With utmost respect,

Craig Kausen, Chairman of the Board

and the entire Chuck Jones Center for Creativity Board of Directors

Chris Bailey

Charles Carney

Linda Jones Clough

George Daugherty

Jeff DeGrandis

Stephen Fossati

Marian Jones

Bill Kroyer

Bob Kurtz

Dave Lowenstein

Rob Minkoff

Dave Master

John Ramirez

Kim Sudhalter

Tracy Tanner

Image of the Day: The Night Watchman + a Bonus Feature!

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Chuck Jones’s first cartoon as a director premiered in October of 1938 “The Night Watchman”. His advancement to ‘supervisor’ from animator at Leon Schlesinger Productions was noted in the film trade journal, Daily Variety, prompting not only a flurry of congratulatory letters from co-workers (Grim Natwick, for instance) and family (his brother Dick, an in-betweener at Schlesinger), but also a few telegrams from the likes of Mickey Mouse, Walt Disney, and Max Fleischer (sent, we believe, with a wink from his co-workers.)Top: Model drawing of the head rat from “The Night Watchman” by Chuck Jones, colored pencil on 12 field animation paper, 10.5” x 12.5”. Model drawings of the Night Watchman by Chuck Jones, graphite on 12 field animation paper. 

Make an end of the year donation to the Center and help keep creativity flourishing. You can donate directly from the website or go to UrgencyNetwork.com/ChuckJones and for your donation select a gift. Thank you!

The Chuck Jones Reindeer Merry Christmas Card Is Now Available!

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Chuck Jones created Christmas cards for himself, his family, and for friends for much of his entire life. We are thrilled to be able to share one that he created for the Jensen Family in the early 1960s with you.This fine art print has been created with archival inks on acid-free paper. Although reproduction of this image is protected by copyright laws, we know you’ll enjoy this print for years to come. We are currently working on the ability to use this and other classic Chuck Jones cards by our patrons for their own Holiday cards in the future. An interest list is forming, please contact info@ChuckJonesCenter.org to add your name. 

Available at the Chuck Jones Center's online gift shop in either the 5" x 7" version for $20 or customize it for your family and receive it printed at 11" x 14" for only $100.

It's "Giving" Season!

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What better way to honor your spirit of community engagement than by donating to the programs of the Chuck Jones Center for Creativity. The Center has teamed up with Urgency Network to bring you an easy way to donate and in doing so, you'll receive a free gift! Drawings by Chuck Jones, baseball caps, sericels, lithographs, and hand-painted cel art editions are all waiting to find a new home with you this "Giving" Season. Go to Urgency Network today and contribute! By donating today, you are automatically entered to win a trip to outer space! 

Elephant Walk

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A few words from Craig Kausen, Chuck Jones's grandson on this elephant walk:"Whether you’re an artist, an animator, a scientist, a veterinarian, or just an observer of life, you can probably get inspired and intrigued by this simple yet elegant six frame walk sequence created by Chuck Jones in the 1960s.

"Notice the bends in the joints, the weight of the steps, the rhythm of head movement, or the minor details of the tail.

"The details and small nuances are what historians discuss when they look at the work of Chuck Jones.  He was a student of life and had the passion and the skill to translate his observations into character and movement."

Creativity Camp ~ Thanksgiving Week!

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Join us for a Creativity Camp the week of Thanksgiving. We’ve designed a 3-day camp to give kids an array of endeavors such as painting, drawing and music. Yes, the whole gamut of creative adventure!

Construct a GIANT-sized turkey!

Paint a “Thanks”-giving mural with Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck and other Looney Tunes characters.

Make one-of-a-kind holiday ornaments.

Get creative with cranberries! Invite your family for Camp on Wednesday (11/26)! Call to find out more information!

Dates: November 24, 25, and 26, 2014

Time: 9:00am to 1:00pm

Ages: 7-12 years old

 

Location: 3321 Hyland Ave, Suite A, Costa Mesa, CA 92626

Pricing: $100 for 3 days*, $40 daily rate*

*Sibling Pricing: $75 for 3 days, $30 daily rate

Register today! Click here!

Call for more information! Programs@ChuckJonesCenter.org (949) 660-7793 x107

Other details: Drop off by 9am, pick up at 1:00pm. No early morning or late afternoon childcare will be provided. Bring a snack, water and lunch. You can purchase lunch from Greenleaf Chopshop (neighbor to CJCC). Place your order at the time of drop off with payment. Dress for a mess!

Chuck Jones's Letters to His Daughter, Linda: Wednesday, November 12

Wednesday, November 12?Post # 54

Dearest Linda:

I owe you more letters than I do apologies for not writing to you oftener.  The preceding sentence defies logic but it sounds logical.  As the mid-Victorian magician said to his wife as he sawed her in two, “I could not half thee, dear, so well loved I not Honoré best.  (Honoré was a popular ladies’ name in the nineties.)

Enclosed find one (1) explanation by John Burton of the theory and practise of 3-d for your Physics project.  Since it is fairly brief, though reasonably clear, I thought I had best check with Mr. Pickwick [Hollywood bookstore] for further information.  I found an excellent volume, though somewhat technical, which will be mailed today and should arrive not too much after this letter.  As I say, a lot of it is technical and can be skipped, but the introduction and the last part, I believe titled “The Human Element” look very interesting and inside the back cover is a sleeve containing a pair of 3-d glasses and a series of charts.  The chance of pulling this material into shape for an interesting article is very good I would think.  One thing to always stress, I think, is that it is manifestly impossible to attain 3-d without insuring separate viewpoints for the two eyes.  So far, spectacles seem the only possible answer.  All the other processes only simulate stereo: Cinemascope, Cinerama, Vistavision all are concerned with greater size and different dimension, but they are no more 3-d than a mural is.  They can force the eyes to move around by the very nature of their shape and size, but the truth is that a one-eyed person will see exactly what a two-eyed person will, and this is the significant difference.   In three-d we get binocular vision, or depth perception or whatever you want to call it. Anyway, I hope this will serve your needs and that your paper will be a huge success.  I love you.

The C-plus in Spanish is far from fatal and I am very, very pleased with the way your academic progress is going, but this is the big year and there is no question that you have the ability, the diligence and the desire to get top grades and to learn, too.  Whether they will be sufficient to get you into Stanford we do not know, there are other factors.  Doing top work does not always get top grades, we know that too; teachers are often very human, but I know that you are going to merit high grades this year because you will bend yourself to it and not as a drudge but because you can, because this is the time to do so and because, as Roger Bannister shows, the final drive is the supreme satisfaction and the supreme achievement.  This is the big year in your high school career and I am not asking what your report card will be, but I am asking truly and simply that you give your best.  And that is asking a great deal.

I can’t wait to see you behind the wheel of this beautiful Oldsmobile with your horse-tail flying and your pretty, proud head thrown back.  Wow!

So much for now..I know you want this material so I had best get it in the mail.

Shall I write to [your boyfriend] re grades?  Would it help?

I love you…

Chuck Jones Center for Creativity Hosts Community Projects This Sunday!

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Ripple Kids, a nonprofit seeking to inspire and empower kids to take action in their communities is hosting a Project Fair this Sunday, October 19, from 12 PM to 3 PM at the Chuck Jones Center for Creativity, SoCo and the OC Mix. A Ripple Kid is a kid who has identified an issue and has taken action to resolve it. This event will feature 10 free service projects located at several retailers addressing a variety of causes from hunger to the environment. In addition, we will have several nonprofits there to let kids know about their cause and how they can get involved.

 

The Chuck Jones Center for Creativity will serve as a venue for two projects – Stop Hunger Now and Project Hope Alliance. Stop Hunger Now packages meals for kids in 3rd world countries using an assembly line formation that is very energetic and engaging for the participants.  During our last event in June, we packaged 15,000 meals for kids in Vietnam. For the Project Hope Alliance project, volunteers will be assembling art supply kits for kids in need serviced by PHA. 

 

Please join us in welcoming Ripple Kids to the Center and come on down to participate in these worthy causes! Sunday, October 19, from noon to 3 PM. The Chuck Jones Center for Creativity is located at 3321 Hyland Avenue, Suite A, Costa Mesa, CA 92626. Visit https://rkia.eventbrite.com to RSVP or to volunteer!

Creativity Season 2014 The "UN"GALA--A Looney Masquerade!

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Chuck Jones Center for Creativity presents Creativity Season: The 'Un'Gala, A Looney Masquerade where "character required, costume optional" is the motto. Join us Saturday, October 11, 2014 from 6 to 10 PM for an 'un'gala like none you have ever been to before with Silent and Live Auctions, Creativity Stations (Mask Making, Performance Poetry by Jacqueline Suskin, Caricatures by Naylene, Photo Booth, Hands-on Animation, Guitar Playing, Mural Painting to Beautify the Orange County Zoo), and Creative Culinary Delights provided by 24 Carrots, CeCe Le Creme, Susan Heaton--Authentic Chef, and other local Cuisine Artists! Buy your tickets by October 10, 2014 for $50 per person or $75 per at the door the night of the event. A limited number of VIP tickets for $100 per person are available. VIP tickets include hosted bar and a gift bag. But that's not all, folks! Buy your tickets before Wednesday, October 8th, and be automatically entered to win a Chuck Jones "In Character" cel art edition or a Fabio Napoleoni "Seriously" fine art edition on paper. Go VIP and if you win the raffle a Kindle Fire will be included!

Become a Benefactor of Creativity Season by donating $10,000 to $500 and receive a special gift! All sponsorships offer additional entitlements which may include program book recognition, audio visual inclusion, and event signage. Please call 949-660-7791 x 107 for more information on these benefits. Donations are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law. Tax I.D. #45-2982522

Buy your tickets here by clicking on this sentence. Visit our online silent auction and bid on fun, delicious, and beautiful stuff!

Special Guests @ Chuck 102Gether!

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Chuck 102Gether at the Alex Theatre, Sunday, September 21 from 3 to 5 PM!

 

A Film Festival celebrating the collaborative creativity of the Golden Age of Looney Tunes!

 

Need another reason to attend besides being able to see these great cartoons on the big screen as they're meant to be shown? Here's a partial list of guest panelists:

 

GEORGE DAUGHERTY, creator of "Bugs Bunny at the Symphony" will be the afternoon's Master of Ceremonies. 

ROB MINKOFF--Director of "The Lion King" and "Mr. Peabody & Sherman"

TOM SITO--Key figure in the Disney Renaissance and one of the 100 most influential people in animation

LEITH ADAMS--Longtime Executive Director of the Warner Bros. Archive

JEFF DEGRANDIS--Now at Dreamworks, formerly a supervising producer at Nickelodeon

ERIC GOLDBERG--Animator of the Genie in "Aladdin" and director of "Fantasia 2000" and so much more!

 

Other special guests may include: JUNE FORAY, AURIL THOMPSON, and MARTHA SIGALL (their health permitting.)

 

 

Tickets from $10 available at AlexTheatre.org!

Chuck Jones's Letters to His Daughter, Linda #4

Friday, October 3, 1952Good morning, my darling!

We put the finishung touches on “Duck Dodgers in the 24 ½th Century”

yesterday, saw it complete with music, sound, color—the works, in

short.  It’s a parody on the “Space Cadet”, “Captain Video”, type

television show, but the funny thing is, it came out not only quite

funny, but exciting, too.  The backgrounds were beautiful and very 24 ½

th cen-tury-ish.  Try to say 24 ½ th century.  It’s very difficult, is

it “twenty-fourth and a half” or “twenty-four and a halfth”?

There’s a nice word in the first sentence up there:  “Fin-ishung”,

sounds like a Chinese fabric.  SPECIAL TODAY!!  GENUINE FINISHUNG,

Imported from Lontung, China!!  $2.34 a yard!!  Don’t be pitied by your

neighbors!  You, too, can be dressed in fashionable, easy-to-clean

FINISHUNG!!

My diet ends tomorrow.  I have lost ten and one half pounds and look

quite stylish.  [We are going to a] dinner party tomorrow night and I

presume the food will be quite fancy.  I hope I have the good sense to

take it easy as my stomach has become used to what are genially called

“bland” foods.  You know, Linda, I really haven’t minded it.  I’ve

gotten to appreciate the rabbit’s point of view: green vegetables are

really delicious, especially raw.

I hear the Le Conte [Jr. High School] bugle tootling away behind me

(I’m at the studio pretty early, hm?)  and all the activity of the

schoolyard pauses for a moment. I look out occasionally, surprised to

realize that none of you kids are still there.  From a distance the

children look pretty much alike.  I became aware, only while you

attended Le Conte [Junior High School], that they were not the same

children year after year.  It is quite conceivable that there are

children of children attending school this year.  It will be twenty

years next March that I have worked on this lot.  It is hard to think

of myself as sixteen, having worked here that long, it means I started

four years before I was born.

I wrote to [my sister] Dottie on her birthday, Sept. 27th, and got a

lovely letter back.  She sends her love and highest regards to you.  A

very, very fine person, mother, and sister.

I’m sending a myriad of kisses this morning because I have always wanted to use that word and because it means innumerable.

Love lOve loVe lovE LOVE! …….

s/Chuck (thy sire)

A special thank you to Warner Bros. for allowing us to use their Looney Tunes characters in our programs.

The Chuck Jones Center for Creativity is a 501(c)3 public charity.