- Chouinard Art Institute
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The Chouinard Art Institute was a professional art school founded in 1921 in Los Angeles, California, by Nelbert Murphy Chouinard (1879-1969).
Contents
Founder
Born in Montevideo, Minnesota, Mrs. Chouinard studied at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York, and in Munich, Germany. Believing an art school was both necessary and important on the West Coast, she devoted herself almost exclusively to her school, setting aside her own painting. In 1935, the state of California recognized her institute as a nonprofit educational university.
Students
Among her early students was Anthony Heinsbergen, who went on to become a leading muralist. Also attending, with film careers in mind, were three time Academy Award winner for Art Direction, John DeCuir, Sr.; Randal Duell; and legendary Disney artists such as Herbert Ryman, Mary Blair and John Hench. Every major Hollywood film studio in the late 1930s and early 1940s looked to Mrs. Chouinard to provide the talent pool for their art departments and many legendary film and entertainment design careers were launched under her guidance.
Merger
Nelbert Chouinard's age and health led to Walt and Roy Disney along with Lulu May Von Hagen, then chairman of the Los Angeles Conservatory of Music, overseeing a 1961 merger of the Chouinard Art Institute with the Music Conservatory to create the California Institute of the Arts.
Asked how to say her name, Chouinard told the Literary Digest: "Properly, oui as the French for 'Yes': almost shwee-nar'; but generally spoken shu-nard', u as in shun." (Charles Earle Funk, What's the Name, Please?, Funk & Wagnalls, 1936.)
Notable alumni
- Manuel Gregorio Acosta
- John William Akre
- Terry Allen
- John Altoon
- Pete Alvarado
- Charles Arnoldi
- Ralph Bacerra - ceramicist
- Larry Bell
- Marjorie Best
- Mary Blair - painter, conceptual artist of mosaics
- Preston Blair
- Robert Blue
- Dave Brain
- Milo Baughman
- Timothy J. Clark
- Ron Cooper
- Richard Cromwell - actor, ceramicist, painter
- Alice Estes Davis
- Tony Duquette - stage and costume designer
- Jim Evans
- Jules Engel
- Sandra Fisher
- Ed Flynn
- Llyn Foulkes
- Paul Frees
- Gyo Fujikawa
- S. Neil Fujita (1921-2010), graphic designer.[1]
- Jack Goldstein
- Joe Goode
- Hardie Gramatky
- Rick Griffin
- John Van Hamersveld
- Harwell Hamilton Harris
- Laverne Harding
- Edith Head - costume designer, Academy Award winner
- Anthony Heinsbergen - muralist
- John Hench
- Mentor Huebner
- Karl Hubenthal, cartoonist
- Robert Irwin
- Elois Jenssen - Oscar-winning costume designer
- Chuck Jones - animator, director
- Ollie Johnston
- Keichi Kimura
- Sueko Matsueda Kimura
- Bob Kurtz
- Mary Tuthill Lindheim - sculptor, studio potter
- Bud Luckey-- Animator, Director, Composer
- Bob Mackie
- John Mason - artist
- Gary McKinnon
- Bill Meléndez
- Reid Miles
- Jimmy Murakami Animator, Director
- Patrick Nagel
- Maurice Noble
- Virgil Franklin Partch
- Robert Nichols
- Sally Pierone
- Kenneth Price
- Wolfgang Reitherman
- Allen Ruppersberg
- Ed Ruscha - painter, printmaker, photographer
- Retta Scott - First credited female animator at the Walt Disney Animation Studios
- Frances Senska
- Richard Serra
- Millard Sheets
- John Shrum
- Candy Spelling
- Dan Spiegle — comic book and comic strip artist
- William Stout
- George T. Tamura
- Frank Thomas - animator
- Morton Traylor
- Robert Williams
- Roy Williams artist and entertainer for The Walt Disney Studios
- Delmer J. Yoakum
- Alan Zaslove
- John DeCuir, Sr. Three time Academy award winner for Art Direction
Instructors, in alphabetical order
- Jorge Juan Crespo de la Serna
- Paul T. Frankl
- Henry Grace - of MGM
- Gyo
- Harwell Hamilton Harris
- Edith Head
- Hans Hofmann
- Herbert Jepson
- Rico Lebrun
- Henry Lee McFee
- William Moore
- Millard Sheets
See also
References
- ^ Grimes, William. "S. Neil Fujita, Innovative Graphic Designer, Dies at 89", The New York Times, October 27, 2010. Accessed October 27, 2010.
External links
Categories:- Art schools in California
- Educational institutions established in 1921
- Universities and colleges in Los Angeles County, California
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