Scenic Artist Bill Anderson, Oscar®-nominated Matte Artist Harrison Ellenshaw and Set Designer William J. Newmon, II join Emmy®-winning and Oscar®– winner Production Designer Patrizia von Brandenstein to be honored with Lifetime Achievement Awards at the 20th Annual Art Directors Guild Excellence in Production Design Awards (IATSE Local 800), announced today by ADG Council Chairperson Marcia Hinds and Awards Producer Thomas Wilkins. The Awards Gala, presented by DXV by American Standard, will be held on January 31, 2016 at a black-tie ceremony at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.
Last year was the first time in Art Directors Guild history in which Lifetime Achievement Awards were awarded to outstanding individuals in each of the guild’s four crafts: Art Directors; Scenic, Title and Graphic Artists; Illustrators and Matte Artists; and Set Designers and Model Makers. Previous recipients of the ADG Lifetime Achievement Award include Designers Jim Bissell (Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation), Rick Carter (Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens) and Stuart Craig (Harry Potter). A complete list can be found on the ADG's website.
Scenic Artist Bill Anderson’s backgrounds and mural artistry can be seen in films such as Cleopatra (1963) and The Sound of Music (1965), as well as at various Disney attractions around the world. Anderson started his career at J.C. Backings, painting backgrounds for 20th Century Fox films such as What a Way to Go (1964), Fantastic Voyage (1966), Hello, Dolly! (1969) and Beneath the Planet of the Apes (1970). He went on to work as a scenic supervisor for Grosh Scenic Studios, while serving as president of IATSE Local 816 (Scenic, Title and Graphic Artists). From 1979 to 1982, Anderson oversaw scenic design for Disney’s Epcot Center. In the 1980s, he freelanced on various Disney projects such as Disneyland, Tokyo Disneyland, Disney’s California Adventure and El Capitan. He later went on to start Disney’s Tujunga facility as well as Mural Makers, a family run company that specializes in murals, theme and faux painting for theme parks, museums, theatres, etc.
Academy Award® nominee Harrison Ellenshaw is not only a Matte Artist, but also the first visual effects supervisor to be credited in a film (for 1982’s Tron). The son of Oscar®-winning Matte Designer Peter Ellenshaw, Harrison got his start in Walt Disney Studio’s matte department. He later joined George Lucas's effects studio Industrial Light and Magic, where he produced many of the matte visual effects backgrounds for Star Wars (1977) and The Empire Strikes Back (1980). The Black Hole (1979), which earned Peter and Harrison an Academy Award® nomination for best visual effects. In addition to producing visual effects for Tron (1982), Captain EO (1986), Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (1987), Ghost (1990) and Dick Tracy (1990), Ellenshaw also headed Disney Studio's effects department Buena Vista Visual Effects from 1990-1996, overseeing 63 films. Ellenshaw is a founding board member of the Visual Effects Society (VES).
William J. Newmon, II became the first African-American Set Designer in Hollywood when he joined IATSE Local 847 (Set Designers and Model Makers) in 1975. He later went on to serve three terms as vice president of Local 847 until his retirement in 2000. Newmon started his career at NBC as a stock scenery draftsman, and later was hired by Disney to set design The Apple Dumpling Gang (1975) and The Shaggy D.A. (1976). His film credits include Poltergeist (1982), Big Top Pee Wee (1988), The Meteor Man (1993), Deep Rising (1998) and Purgatory (1999). Newmon’s television credits include Starsky and Hutch, Little House on the Prairie, MacGyver, Murder She Wrote, Amen, Matt Houston, Scarecrow and Mrs. King, 7th Heaven and The Wayans Bros.
As previously announced, Patrizia Von Brandenstein began her film career in 1972 as a Set Decorator on the acclaimed drama The Candidate (1972) and subsequently worked as a Costume Designer on both Between the Lines (1977) and Saturday Night Fever (1977). Von Brandenstein moved into art direction on Hester Street (1975), Breaking Away (1979) and Milos Forman’s lavish period recreation Ragtime (1981), for which she shared an Oscar nomination as Art Director. By the early 1980s she was a full-fledged Production Designer. Among her notable projects are Heartland (1979), Silkwood (1983), Working Girl (1988) and Postcards from the Edge (1990). Von Brandenstein won the Academy Award® for her vividly detailed rendering for Amadeus (1984) and her third Oscar nomination for Brian De Palma’s The Untouchables (1987). Her additional production credits include Beat Street (1984), A Chorus Line (1985), The Money Pit (1986), Billy Bathgate (1991), Sneakers (1992), Leap of Faith (1992), Six Degrees of Separation (1993), Just Cause (1995), The Quick and the Dead (1995), The People Vs. Larry Flynt (1996), Mercury Rising (1998), as well as A Simple Plan(1998), Man on the Moon (1999), Shaft (2000), The Emperor’s Club (2002), The Ice Harvest (2005), All the King’s Men (2006), Goya’s Ghosts (2006), and The Last Station (2009). Most recently, she designed the acclaimed Irish drama Albert Nobbs (2011) and Phil Spector and designed the sets and costumes for the Broadway production of The Anarchist, written and directed by David Mamet.
As previously announced, Turner Classic Movies host Robert Osborne will be the first to receive ADG’s newly created William Cameron Menzies Award for championing classic motion pictures. Four legendary women – Production Designer Carmen Dillon, Production and Costume Designer Patricia Norris, Production Designer and Illustrator Dorothea Holt Redmond and Art Director and Set Designer Dianne Wager – will be inducted into the Art Directors Guild (ADG) Hall of Fame. The Outstanding Contribution to Cinematic Imagery Award recipient will be announced in upcoming weeks.
Producers of this year's ADG Awards (#ADGawards) are Production Designers Tom Wilkins, James Pearse Connelly and Judy Cosgrove. Nominations for ADG Excellence in Production Design Awards will be announced on January 5, 2016. The ADG will present winners in 11 competitive categories for theatrical films, television productions, commercials and music videos on January 31.
The presenting sponsor for the 20th Annual Awards is DXV by American Standard. Media sponsors include The Hollywood Reporter, Variety and SHOOT.
ABOUT THE ART DIRECTORS GUILD
The Art Directors Guild (IATSE Local 800) represents 2,300 members who work throughout the United States, Canada and the rest of the world in film, television and theater as Production Designers, Art Directors, Assistant Art Directors; Scenic, Title and Graphic Artists; Illustrators and Matte Artists; Set Designers and Model Makers; and Previs Artists. Established in 1937, the ADG's ongoing activities include a Film Society, an annual Awards Banquet, a creative/technology community (5D: The Future of Immersive Design), a bimonthly craft magazine (Perspective); and extensive technology-training programs, figure drawing and other creative workshops and year-round Gallery 800 art exhibitions. The Guild's Online Directory/Website Resource is at www.adg.org
