Short version:
Oregon Cartoon Institute was founded in 2007 by Anne Richardson and Dennis Nyback to promote a greater awareness of Oregon’s rich animation and cartooning history. Conceived as a colloquium of interested organizations and individuals, the Institute has no brick and mortar home, and always works in partnership with institutions and organizations which do.
Oregon Cartoon Institute is fiscally sponsored by Oregon Cultural Heritage Commission, a 501 (c) (3) non profit organization.
Anne Richardson | Dennis Nyback | Oregon Cultural Heritage Commission
Long version:
Oregon Cartoon Institute was founded in 2007 by Anne Richardson and Dennis Nyback to raise awareness of Oregon’s rich animation and cartooning history. Oregon Cartoon Institute creates public events which celebrate figures and events from Oregon’s animation and cartooning history, with the intent of laying the groundwork for a deeper understanding of Oregon’s contributions to American pop culture and American film.
Anne Richardson | Dennis Nyback
How do we do this?
Oregon Cartoon Institute designs public programs which bring current Oregon artists before live audiences to serve as interpreters and guides to this neglected aspect of Oregon’s cultural past and present. In so doing, we hope to prepare Oregonians of all ages, but especially Oregonian children, to think of themselves as coming from a state which has consistently produced very high achievers. OCI is fiscally sponsored by Oregon Cultural Heritage Commission, a 501 (c) (3) non profit organization.
Oregon Cultural Heritage Commission
Why do we do this?
Animation is an intensely collaborative, powerfully expressive form of filmmaking. Oregon has a track record of excellence in this field which sets it apart from virtually every other state in the union. Currently Matt Groening (Portland), Brad Bird (Corvallis) and Bill Plympton (Oregon City) form a triumvirate at the top of all three branches of American animation: television, studio, and art house animation. A clean sweep. Yet this remarkable array of talent is not unprecedented. Oregon’s history of achievement in this field goes all the way back to the first days of the art form.
Pinto Colvig, from Jacksonville, directed one of the first feature length animated films. Mel Blanc, from Portland, contributed the the voice of Bugs Bunny, Porky Pig and Daffy Duck for almost 50 years. George Bruns, from Sandy, received four Oscar nominations for scores written for animated features. Harry Smith, a pioneering experimental animator, was born in Portland. The first top international film festival prize brought home by an Oregonian went to animator Ralph Wright, from Grants Pass. Carl Barks, the animator who created the Uncle Scrooge McDuck comic books, came from Merrill. Marc Davis, graduate of Klamath Union High School, designed Bambi, Sleeping Beauty and Cruella Deville, before being tapped by Walt Disney to help design Disneyland.
These are achievements Oregon school children should know about.
The above list is of artists who left the state to achieve their professional goals. Today, Portland animators do not have to leave town. Most Oregonians do not understand how unusual it is to live in a state – other than California — which has a full fledged animation studio. Portland has several, a situation which goes back to 1976, the year Will Vinton flew home with Oregon’s first Oscar. Over the years, Portland has made a large number of correct moves to nurture film artists, but one move it has not made is to internalize the self image of success. No other city has what we have. We are animation drenched, yet the self perception does not match the reality.
Oregon Cartoon Institute wants to change that situation.
