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Stacia Martin
Disney Artist And Historian
When asked to describe her job, Stacia Martin is
likely to smile and reply, "How much time do you have?" Stacia,
who in 2011 celebrated her 33rd year with The Walt Disney Company,
is based out of Disneyland in California, but spends much of her
time on special projects for diverse Disney divisions including Walt
Disney World, Walt Disney Imagineering, Disney Consumer Products,
Walt Disney Records, D 23, Disney Destinations, Disney Cruise Line,
Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment, Disney Online and the ABC
Cable Networks Group. She is particularly proud to have been named
to the inaugural "classes" of Disney "Archives Angels" and Walt Disney Legacy Award recipients.
An early
predilection for art led Stacia to focus her professional goals at
age seven during a third grade "career day." She started her
Disney job a week and a day after graduating high school, and her
college studies in illustration shortly thereafter.
At first, it was not strictly art or the tricky
"quick sketch" skills that occupied her time; as an avid Disney fan
and collector, Stacia first found her niche in the original
Disneyana Shop on Main Street, U.S.A. in Disneyland. There,
and later when opening the original Disney Gallery in New Orleans
Square, she enjoyed spending time with the Park Guests whose
specialized questions were well met by her knowledge of Disney lore.
Today Stacia continues to share this history as a writer, and by
contributing to Disney video documentaries. Alongside art
assignments, Stacia has enjoyed an array of duties: being an Audio
Art Director" for Walt Disney Imagineering's New Fantasyland
attractions at Disneyland, an "Audio Archeologist" for the
innovative Disneyland Forever digital system, and
spearheading the restoration one of her favorite films, Walt
Disney's 1967 musical The Happiest Millionaire.
Since 1985, Stacia has traveled quite extensively
for Disney. In 2001 she opened the preview center for Hong Kong
Disneyland, and exotic locales such as Australia, Indonesia,
Scotland and Singapore have shared her calendar with trips
throughout the U.S.A.
Recent assignments have continued in
their variety: illustrating books, designing collectibles, radio and
television appearances, and researching and writing two books for
Walt Disney Records: The Sounds of Disneyland, an elegant volume
accompanying the 50th Anniversary CD box set A Musical History of
Disneyland, and the recent Walt Disney and the 1964 World's Fair,
part of a 5 CD package celebrating one of the most innovative
periods in Disney history.
Stacia says that some of her favorite moments are
the simplest ones. . . particularly the time spent drawing for
children. "To watch a child's face light up when three circles
suddenly become Mickey Mouse before their eyes, and then to show
them that this is something that they can learn to do, too - - their
reactions, to me, are the true definition of Disney magic."
"Being able to carry on the legacy of Walt Disney and his original
staff. . . to create images for people that will mean as much to
them as their predecessors have to me. . . it's not a job,
it's a privilege. |
*************
Visit the The Disney Gallery on Main Street,
U.S.A. to see some of the latest original pieces of artwork by
Stacia Martin.
Sweet Shop Sweethearts
Original
$1,250
Dimensions: 12" x 14"
In the happy world of Mouseketeers,
where calories didn't exist and each day brought the chance for a
new musical number, the tradition of meeting at the malt shop after
school was just about as typical a diversion as any All-American kid
of 1955 could hope for! The Mouseketeers gathered at the soda
fountain frequently to perform memorable tunes like
Sweet Rock Shop, Hey, Cubby Boy! and
1925 Charleston.
These two Mouseketeers seem to float
on air as they sip their ice cream soda. Their "Sweet Shop" set is a
copy of one of the stylized "flats" or set pieces actually used on
the show, showcasing the distinctive flair of The Mickey Mouse
Club's legendary Art Director, Bruce Bushman
****
Roll Up The Rug
Original
$1,000
Dimensions: 12" x
16"
The term "roll up the rug" was often
used in late 19th and early 20th century America, since when company
came to call, often the area rug in the parlour would have to rolled
up so that an impromptu dance party could be held. Here are two
dancing Mouseketeers, "cutting a rug" to the latest platters
spinning on their record player.
Music was an extremely important, and
therefore well-remembered part of Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse Club,
and in those days before home and internet media, recordings were
the only way that the show's fans could keep the songs of their
broadcast television favorites at home Among the Mouseketeers' many
musical releases was a disc entitled Roll Up The Rug For More
Mousekedances!
****
Mouseketeer 3-D Jamboree
Original
$1,200
Dimensions:
15.5" x 14"
Fans of Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse
Club on television were delighted when, on June 16, 1956, the
colorful featurette Mouseketeer 3-D Jamboree began its exclusive
Disneyland engagement in Fantasyland's Mickey Mouse Club Theatre.
Music, yo-yo's, runaway balloons and a custard pie all figured into
the fun, along with a bubble-filled Alma Mater finale which
literally leapt off the screen!
Also part of the proceedings were two
existing 3-D Disney cartoons: Melody and Working for
Peanuts. To introduce Working for Peanuts, its star,
Donald Duck, made a rare "dimensional" on-screen appearance with a
little assistance from his original voice, Disney Legend Clarence
"Ducky" Nash.
****
Merry Mouseketeers
Original
$1,000
Dimensions: 11.75" x
11.75"
"Meeska - Mooska-Mouseketeer!" Here
are two happy Mouseketeers representing the young stars of Walt
Disney's Mickey Mouse Club, the innovative daily children's
television series that made its debut on October 3, 1955 over the
ABC network. (The Mouseketeers' first public appearance was actually
at the grand opening of Disneyland on July 17th that same year!)
The Club's familiar round logo
appeared on countless items of "mousekemerchandise" and
publications, sometimes featuring the show's full title and
occasionally, as on the backs of cast's famous roll call shirts,
simply the special identity all 1950s kids soon aspired to:
Mouseketeers.
****
Triple-R Cowpoke
Original
$900
Dimensions: 12" x 14"
The Adventures of Spin and Marty was arguably the most popular of
the episodic adventures, or serials featured on Walt Disney's Mickey
Mouse Club. The 25-episode script by Lawrence Edward Watkin (whose
other Disney screenplays include Treasure Island and Darby O'Gill
and The Little People) told the tale of Marty Markham and Spin
Evans, instant adversaries who over an adventure-filled summer
become the best of friends. Set at the fictional Triple-R
Ranch. The Adventures of Spin And Marty premiered in November of
1955 and spawned two sequel serials.
The little cowpoke here shows off his official Triple-R hat and
shirt as worn by all the boys in the first season of Spin and Marty.
The ranch's barn was an actual one on Disney's Golden Oak Ranch,
where the series was filmed. The whimsical gopher popping in at the
corner salutes the Triple-R boys' favorite ranch hand, the
perpetually perplexed Ollie, and his oft uttered expression of
disbelief: "Well, I'll be a blue-nosed gopher!" |
