This year’s Gumby Fest Stop Motion Festival (gumbyfest.net) will be celebrating the iconic claymation character’s 60th birthday with 16 presentations by TV and film professionals that celebrate and go behind the scenes of this time-honored animation and effects technique. The two-day event Sept. 19 & 20 will take place at Citrus College in Glendora, Calif. Presentations will be held in the Haugh Performing Arts Center, the Little Theater and in lecture halls.
Among the special guest speakers is Malificent director Robert Stromberg (Saturday, 3 p.m., Haugh). Stromberg won Art Direction Oscars for Avatar and Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland, and his credits span Pirates of the Caribbean to Hunger Games. Also on Saturday is the Gumby Through the Years anniversary celebration, with a film and talk by Joan and Joe Clokey (son of creator Art Clokey) at 11 a.m. Following is The World of Visual Effects with vfx master Harry Walton (Indiana Jones, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Terminator) at 1 p.m.
Sunday will bring to Haugh Putting It All Together: The Components to Produce a Stop-Motion Animation (11 a.m.) with Red Giant Studios owner Dalton Grant, LAIKA supervising gaffer and stage manager Bryan Garver, Jay Clay Trilogy creator and animator Tim Hittle (The New Adventures of Gumby, The Nightmare Before Christmas, James and the Giant Peach) and producer Sarah Serata, who has worked with stop-mo legend Henry Selick. At 1 p.m. is Film Focus: The Nightmare Before Christmas and the Gumby Connection with animators Tom Hittle, Anthony Scott and Harry Walton — all Gumby Studios veterans who worked on the Tim Burton classic. At 3 p.m. is Creature Feature: Puppets from Jim Henson’s Creature Shop with senior puppet builder Julie Zobel (Sesame Street, Fraggle Rock, Where the Wild Things Are, George of the Jungle, Dr. Doolittle).
Tickets for Haugh presentations are available through the Haugh Box Office, 626-963-9411; proceeds go to the Citrus College Foundation to benefit Visual Arts Department students.
Free Panels:
Women in Animation (Sat. noon, Little Theater) with Kristal Babich (Tumble Leaf storyboard artist), Margaret Meyer (character designer and builder, Coraline, Robot Chicken) and Victoria Cloyes (prop master, Tumble Leaf).
Running an Animation Studio (Sat. 2 p.m., Little Theater) with Kelli Bixler (founder, Bix Pix Ent.), Joe Clokey (president, Clokey Prod./Premavision Studios) and Ron Dexter (head of production, Clokey/Premavision).
Stop-Motion Puppet Makers (Sun. 10:15 a.m., Little Theater) with Liz Allen (Coraline, Paranorman, Hell and Back), Nikki Rice Malki (Robot Chicken, Hell and Back) and Margaret Meyer (Coraline, Robot Chicken).
Stop-Motion University: Colleges Offering Stop-Motion (Sun. noon, Little Theater) with moderator Matt Jackson (digital arts instructor, Citrus Coll.) with a look at Citrus’ plans for its new 37,000 square foot Visual Arts Complex and representatives from animation departments at CalArts, USC, Cal State Los Angeles and Academy of Art.
How I Got into the Industry: What It Takes to Be an Artist (Sat. 10:15 a.m., Rm. PA 133) with Kristal Babich, Bryan Garver, Dalton Grant, Alex Kamer (animation director, Stoopid Buddy Stoodios) and Margaret Meyer.
State of the Art – What’s Next? (Sat. noon, Rm. PA 133) with Brian Garver, John Harvatine IV (co-founder Stoopid Buddy Stoodios) and Tim Hittle.
3-D Printing for Stop-Motion (Sat. 2 p.m., Rm. PA 133) with John Ikuma (vfx and digital effects artist, Tumble Leaf founder and exec. editor Stop Motion Magazine), Tommy Keiser (Robot Chicken, Hired Gun) and Jesse Standlea (visual artist/instructor).
Cultivating a Creative Community (Sun. noon, Rm. PA 133) with Ron Dexter (Clokey Prod./Premavision), John Ikuma and Anthony Scott (head of animation, Clokey/Premavision).
In the Art Studio (Sun. 2 p.m., Rm. PA 133) with designer/art director Jason Kolowski (Pirates of the Caribbean, Dark Knight Rises, SpongeBob SquarePants, Robot Chicken), Victoria Cloyes, Margaret Meyer and Alex Kamer.
