Gumby Fest Brings in the Biggest Names in Stop Motion

On June 14th 2014 the first ever Gumby Fest, a major film festal and celebration for Stop Motion animation will be taking place in Glendora, CA.  Below is a reprint article from the press release from their blog announcing their world-class Stop Motion guests...

Academy Award-Winner Rick Baker Joins ‘Meet Gumby’s Gang’ Panel at Inaugural Gumby Fest in Glendora on June 14

Animators for ‘The Nightmare Before Christmas,’ ‘Robot Chicken’ ‘Coraline’ to share stories from the Gumby studios

Glendora, CA – Academy Award-winner Rick Baker will join the “Meet Gumby’s Gang” panel at the premier Gumby Fest to be held June 14 in Glendora, California.

Gumby, the world’s original clayboy and pop-culture legend who starred in more than 230 TV episodes and a movie, “grew up” in Glendora, where the iconic TV series was produced from 1960 to the late 1970s by Clokey Productions.

The celebration of all-things Gumby as well as stop-motion animation will take place on the grounds of Glendora City Hall and Public Library at the corner of Glendora Avenue and Foothill Boulevard.

“Meet Gumby’s Gang” will be held at 2 p.m. in the Bidwell Forum at Glendora Library, preceded by other discussion panels.

Rick Baker won the first ever Academy Award-winner for Best Make-up/Hair Styling for An American Werewolf in London; other credits include Disney’s upcoming Maleficent, Men in Black,, Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope, and many others.

Joining Baker on the “Meet Gumby’s Gang” panel will be stop motion and visual effects pioneers who got their start at Clokey Productions:

·         Joe Clokey is president of Clokey Productions/Premavision Studios. Son of Art and Ruth Clokey, the pioneering creators of Gumby, Clokey was raised as Gumby’s little brother. In fact, Gumby’s adventures first came to life in bedtime stories that Art Clokey invented for his children. Today, Joe carries on his parents’ legacy, introducing Gumby to the next generation of fans, as the head of Gumby’s animation studio and business affairs.

·         Harry Walton began his professional film career in 1968 with Clokey Productions specializing in character animation as well as other areas of visual effects such as optical compositing, matte painting and compositing, plate photography, lighting and setup, stop motion puppet fabrication, miniature construction, visual effects supervision and animation direction. He worked on such films as Nightmare Before Christmas, The Abyss, James and the Giant Peach, Who Framed Roger Rabbit and more.

·         Doug Beswick has more than 40 years of visual effects achievements to his credit. His work can be seen in such mega hits as Star Wars, Ghostbusters, Terminator, Aliens, Evil Dead 2, Gremlins 2, Nightmare on Elm Street 3, and Beetlejuice. He began his career in special effects/animation in 1967 working at Clokey Productions, Doug worked on both the classic Gumby television show and the endearing Davey and Goliath program, building props, and later applying his animation skills.

·         Norman DeCarlo first worked for Art Clokey to help him create 99 episodes of the Gumby television series.  He then worked with Henry Selick to produce nationally televised commercials, MTV interstitials and his own private projects that eventually led Selick to direct The Nightmare Before Christmas, James and the Giant Peach and Monkeybone.

·         Richard Zimmerman (Rich Zim) – Gumby was Rich Zim’s first professional animation job after graduating college back in 1987.  Since then, he has animated on such projects as Pee Wee’s Playhouse, The Nightmare Before Christmas, James and the Giant Peach, and Coraline. Birdhouse, a 7-minute animated short he directed, played at over 25 festivals including Cannes and Sundance, where it won an award. He currently works on Robot Chicken and other feature films.

·         Carl Jabloski completed two 30-minute specials and four Davey & Goliath 15-minute television episodes and later participated on a health series called I Am Joe’s Heart. After leaving Clokey Productions Jabloski’s career evolved into project/cost management for the theme park industry.

·         Ron Dexter has been the head of production for Clokey Productions / Premavision since the early 2000s. His 30 years in the film industry has included directing and shooting TV commercials. He owned a studio in Hollywood for 20 years, and has shot films in 18 countries and 40 states. He has made numerous documentary films and worked on both feature films and TV shows. He made camera gyros for helicopter shots, steady cams (before they were developed commercially) and smooth track systems for dolly moves.

For the full schedule or more info visit: http://gumbyfest.net/festival-schedule

Gumby Fest