The Cartoon Art Museum - no arty-farty here! (Cartoon Art Museum)

Member Name: sakura8

Product:	Cartoon Art Museum
Date:	10/02/09 (55 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Some very special exhibitions/artwork on display, quite cheap admission.

Disadvantages: Not to everyone's taste so might get bored.

The Cartoon Art Museum is located in downtown San Francisco at 655 Mission Street.

We went there because there was a special exhibition that we wanted to see. It was the Totoro Forest Project Charity Auction exhibition, which was an amazing display of artwork by an international array of animators, artists and illustrators that were inspired by Hayao Miyazaki's animated film My Neighbor Totoro. The artwork had been previously auctioned off at a fund raising event at Pixar, which is just across the Oakland Bay Bridge.

The museum is quite small, it only took us around an hour to walk around, but for $6 each it is good value for money. At the front desk my other half had to hand in his rucksack, but I was allowed to keep my small bag - I guess they were afraid someone would try to steal a picture!

For us, the Totoro exhibition was the most interesting part of the museum because the work was recent (I do realise we were in a museum and that the art would be predominantly old!) and on a subject matter that we were familiar with, as we have seen the film a few times.

What made it even better was we saw a picture by someone we knew! His name is Pascal Campion and how we know him is a very long story and I won't bore you with it! Anyway, I didn't actually know that Pascal had some art on display at this exhibition, so it was a real surprise. I'd seen some of his work and he has a very unique and recognisable style, so when I saw his picture at the museum I said to my fiancé "Wow that looks just like Pascal's work" and then I noticed his name tag next to the picture and was mightily impressed! My fiancé took a photograph of it before he noticed the sign forbidding photography - oops!

There are different exhibitions on all the time and when we went, there was one called Richie Rich to Wendy the Witch: The Art of Harvey Comics, who published Casper and the animated version was being shown on a TV screen in another room.

There was also a detailed history on animation so there were original cels from Disney and Hanna-Barbera (they did Yogi Bear). We also saw Gertie The Dinosaur by Winsor McCay, which is believed to be the first ever animated film, but apparently it's not. However, it's the one that made the public stand up and take notice of the fact that animation was a brand-new art form, with vast potential.

Unless you're a real cartoon/comic book aficionado then you might not find the museum that interesting - the only other work I was familiar with was Calvin & Hobbes and Peanuts!

I wouldn't say this was a place for kids to go to as the cartoon artwork on display is aimed at the older generation, so they would get bored really quickly. On certain days they do have workshops and cartooning classes for kids but you have to pay for them.

When it comes to museums my fiancé and I usually have the attention span of gnats! We start off very enthusiastically, but then our attention starts to wane very quickly. So if the Totoro exhibition hadn't been there, then it probably wouldn't have been worth going, so luckily we were in San Francisco just as it had started (we were there Aug to Nov 2008 and unfortunately the exhibition has recently finished). So if there's something in particular you want to see then it's well worth the money!

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www.cartoonart.org

Hours: Daily 11:00 - 5:00, Closed Monday
Also closed on the following holidays: New Year's Day, Easter, July 4, Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Admission Prices:
$6.00 - Adults
$4.00 - Students & Seniors
$2.00 - Children (ages 6 - 12)
FREE - Children (age 5 & below)
The first Tuesday of every calendar month is "Pay What You Wish Day."

There is also a small museum store where you can buy arty books, gifts and postcards.

Summary: For old school cartoon lovers - not so much for kids.