Bob Gardiner (animator)

James Robbins "Bob" Gardiner (March 19, 1951 – April 21, 2005) was a multi-talented artist, painter, cartoonist, animator, holographer, musician, storyteller, and comedy writer.[1][2] He invented the stop-motion 3-D clay animation technique which his collaborator Will Vinton would later market as Claymation, although Bob preferred the term Sculptimation for his frame-by-frame method of sculpting plasticine clay characters and sets.

Bob Gardiner
Gardiner, c. 1978
Born
James Robbins Gardiner

(1951-03-19)March 19, 1951
Torrance, California, US
DiedApril 21, 2005(2005-04-21) (aged 54)
Grass Valley, California, US

He and Vinton shared the 1974 Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film for Closed Mondays.[3] The film was preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2012.[4]

Gardiner killed himself on April 21, 2005, while living at the Everhart Hotel in downtown Grass Valley.[5]

Filmography
  • Closed Mondays (1974), writer, art direction, and sculptimation
  • Mountain Music (1975), art direction and sculptimation (uncredited)[6]

Graphic art
1979 advertising posters by Bob Gardiner
  • Advertising poster for Bob Gardiner's multi-media event, January 25, 1979, at Strutters' Hall, Portland, OR.
    Advertising poster for Bob Gardiner's multi-media event, January 25, 1979, at Strutters' Hall, Portland, OR.
  • Advertising poster for Bob Gardiner's multi-media event, February 1, 1979, at Strutters' Hall, Portland, OR.
    Advertising poster for Bob Gardiner's multi-media event, February 1, 1979, at Strutters' Hall, Portland, OR.
  • Advertising poster for Bob Gardiner's multi-media event, July 27-29 & August 3-5, 1979, at The Alligator Palace Vaudeville Theatre, La Conner, WA.
    Advertising poster for Bob Gardiner's multi-media event, July 27-29 & August 3-5, 1979, at The Alligator Palace Vaudeville Theatre, La Conner, WA.
  • Advertising poster for Bob Gardiner's multi-media event, October 25,1979, at Merchants' Public House, Portland, OR.
    Advertising poster for Bob Gardiner's multi-media event, October 25,1979, at Merchants' Public House, Portland, OR.
  • Advertising poster for Bob Gardiner's multi-media fundraiser event on behalf of The Food Front, November 28, 1979, at The Earth Tavern, Portland, OR.
    Advertising poster for Bob Gardiner's multi-media fundraiser event on behalf of The Food Front, November 28, 1979, at The Earth Tavern, Portland, OR.
Lost mural by Bob Gardiner
  • Lost mural painted by Bob Gardiner on exterior wall of a Portland repertory theater no longer in business, circa early 1980s.
    Lost mural painted by Bob Gardiner on exterior wall of a Portland repertory theater no longer in business, circa early 1980s.

Accolades

Gardiner and Vinton won the Oscar for Best Animated Short in 1975[7] for Closed Mondays (1974).[8][9]

Long time friend, Richard Livoni had this to say about "Closed Mondays":

"This is my college room mate and best friend Bob Gardiner's, 2nd film. We invented "Claymation" after seeing an old black and white film called "Permutations". It was a film that our other room mate Will Vinton brought from the Berkeley film library where he worked at the time. Once we saw that, we borrowed an old movie camera from Will. It had the ability to snap a couple of frames at a time. We set up some lights and a tripod and started our first film. It would take us days to get 30 seconds of animated stuff. That first movie won the Berkeley Film Festival! I had to get real and stop cutting classes at California College of Arts (where Bob and I attended) But, Bob went all in. That next film that he made in our dining room was "Closed Mondays". I'll never forget when they announced that he had won an Academy Award. He was the one who came up with the name Claymation btw. Will Vinton was the guy who happened to own the camera so he kinda rode on Bob's coat tails. Later he was the guy who did the California Raisins commercials. Bob was a troubled, complicated, hilarious genius. I was lucky to be his friend. R.I.P. Bob! Richard "Blitz" Livoni."[10]

See also

References
  1. James Gardiner Obituary -CA|San Francisco Chronicle
  2. James Robbins 'Bob' Gardiner -- Oscar winner - SFGate
  3. Nordheimer, Jon (April 9, 1975). "'Godfather, Part II' Wins 7 Oscars". The New York Times. p. 28.
  4. "Preserved Projects". Academy Film Archive.
  5. "An artist's life and sudden death".
  6. Oddball Films (2015-11-19). Oddball Films: Tunes and Toons: Animated Adventures in Musicland - Thur. Nov. 19th - 8PM. Oddball Films, 19 November 2015. Retrieved from Oddball Films.
  7. 1975|Oscars.org
  8. "The Portland DIY Clay Experiment That Changed Animation Forever.TV|OPB". Archived from the original on 2019-01-05. Retrieved 2018-09-09.
  9. Short Film Winners: 1975 Oscars
  10. "Closed Mondays" on YouTube
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