Animation Coming to a Museum Near You

If you love animation, and are looking for something interesting to do this weekend, I suggest heading to your nearest museum. Are you surprised I wrote “museum” and not cinema? Well, the fact is, there are several exhibitions happening all over the United States right now which feature animation. A museum setting is a wonderful venue for enjoying the fine details of some of your favorite cartoons! Here you can get up close and study individual pencil lines or learn more about the overall production process which brings the animation to life!

A pleasant exhibition featuring the drawings of animation master Chuck Jones, recently closed at the Bowers Museum in Santa Ana, California. Fortunately for fans of Chuck Jones, you can still enjoy in-person views of his art at the newly opened exhibition at the Museum of the Moving Image in New York. More details about this, and the other entertaining-educational-engaging animation exhibitions, are below. Enjoy your outing!

Watch Me Move: The Animation Show
The Frist Center for the Visual Arts, Nashville, TN
Until September 1, 2014
http://fristcenter.org/calendar-exhibitions/detail/watch-me-move

Funky Turns 40: Black Character Revolution. Animation Art from Classic Cartoons of the ‘70s
The DuSable Museum of African American History, Chicago, IL
Until October 20, 2014
http://www.dusablemuseum.org/exhibits/details/funky-turns-40-black-character-revolution-animation-art-form-classic-cartoo

Treasures of the Walt Disney Archives
Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago, IL
Until January 4, 2015
http://www.msichicago.org/whats-here/exhibits/treasures-of-the-walt-disney-archives/

Animation
McWane Science Center, Birmingham, AL
Until August 31, 2014
http://www.mcwane.org/calendar_items/1290-animation

Magic, Color, Flair: The World of Mary Blair
Until September 7, 2014
Leading Ladies and Femmes Fatales: The Art of Marc Davis
Until November 3, 2014
The Walt Disney Family Museum, San Francisco, CA
http://www.waltdisney.org/special-exhibitions

 
What’s Up, Doc? The Animation Art of Chuck Jones
Museum of the Moving Image, Queens, NY
Until January 19, 2015
http://www.movingimage.us/exhibitions/2014/07/19/detail/whats-up-doc-the-animation-art-of-chuck-jones/

Note: Many of these exhibitions are traveling, so if you don’t see an exhibition in a city near you yet, there is still the possibility! And it wouldn’t hurt if you let your local museum know that you want to see animation displayed!

Have you already seen one of these exhibitions or know of others? Let me know in the comments section!