CHARLES M. SCHULZ MUSEUM CELEBRATES 5TH ANNIVERSARY—
August 2007 through July 2008

Peanuts ~ March 18, 1969

June 8, 2007—Santa Rosa, CA. To celebrate its 5th Anniversary the Charles M. Schulz Museum has planned special anniversary events and exhibitions throughout the year! When it opened on August 17, 2002, the Schulz Museum set forth with the charge to preserve, display, and interpret the art of Charles M. Schulz, cartoonist of the world famous Peanuts comic strip starring Snoopy, Charlie Brown and the rest of the Peanuts Gang. In the past five years the Schulz Museum has: welcomed over 250,000 visitors from around the world; installed nearly 50 exhibitions; hosted nearly 40 presentations by professional cartoonists; and taught over 500 children the art of cartooning and other hands–on activities.

HIGHLIGHTED ANNIVERSARY EVENTS

Free Anniversary Celebration ~ Thursday, August 9, 5–8pm
Live music and free ice cream cake provided by Cold Stone Creamery of Sonoma County.

Special Guided Tours ~ August 11–18, 1pm
As a treat for visitors during the week of August 11–18, the Museum will offer Special Guided Tours highlighting the areas where Charles Schulz spent his days; the tours will include the surrounding Santa Rosa property.

Cartoonist Open House & Sketch-a-Thon ~ Saturday, August 11, 1pm
Celebrate our 5th Anniversary with over a dozen cartoonists! All cartoonists will speak with visitors and draw something for the Museum’s collection. Featured cartoonists include Jorge Pacheco (CEO Dad), Joe Wos (Once Upon a Toon), Thomas Yeates (Tarzan), and many more. Also enjoy docent–led tours of the Museum and property at 11am, 1pm, and 3pm.

Guest Cartoonist Scott McCloud ~ Saturday, August 18, 1–3pm
Cartoonist and leading comic theorist Scott McCloud has written several books, including Understanding Comics and the newly released, Making Comics. Scott will answer questions, talk informally with visitors, and sign his newest book.

Members–Only Opening  Reception ~ Saturday, August 18
For the second installment of the exhibition Peanuts Lives: A Tribute, featuring guest presenter Steve Benson, Pulitzer Prize–winning editorial cartoonist from the Arizona Republic. Museum members are invited to attend this event. For membership information, call Sid Burwell at (707) 579-4452 #269.

Guest Artist, Tom Everhart ~ Saturday, September 22, 2pm
Join artist Tom Everhart for a talk about his work and his relationship with Charles Schulz. Tom’s layered oil paintings featuring the Peanuts characters are shown around the world. The Joe Cool statue that he designed will be up for auction at Snoopy’s Home Ice at 4pm.

Guest Cartoonist, Tom Tomorrow ~ Saturday, September 29, 1–3pm
Meet Tom Tomorrow, creator of the award-winning weekly cartoon of social and political satire, This Modern World. Tom will talk about Charles Schulz’s influence on his work, answer questions, and sign books.

Guest Cartoonist, Jerry Van Amerongen ~ Saturday, October 20, 1–3pm
Meet Jerry Van Amerongen, creator of the single-panel gag cartoon Ballard Street, winner of the 2003 and 2005 Best Newspaper Cartoon Panel of the Year award. Jerry will speak about his work at 1pm and sign his new book, Practicing People Skills on Ballard Street, from 2–3pm.

YEAR–LONG ANNIVERSARY–THEMED EXHIBITIONS & EVENTS

Special Features: The Museum Building (July 18 through November 19, 2007)
What better time to investigate the Schulz Museum building and the art behind the architecture than the Museum’s 5th Anniversary? This multi-faceted exhibition includes a timeline video of the Museum’s construction as well as working models and architectural drawings. Visitors will also learn about architect C. David Robinson’s philosophy about the building’s design, including the mystery of the “Queen Mary Wall” and other special features scattered throughout the Museum.

Peanuts Lives: A Tribute (2nd Installation: August 18, 2007 through January 28, 2008)
Peanuts Lives continues with a new exhibition component of tribute cartoons created specifically to honor Charles Schulz’s receipt of the National Cartoonists Society’s Milton Caniff Lifetime Achievement Award; these tribute cartoons ran in newspapers in May 2000, just three months after Schulz passed away.  Also on display is an expanded selection of never-before displayed newspaper comic strips and editorial cartoons featuring Peanuts characters and/or well–known gags that were created in the last seven years since Schulz’s death—providing proof that, indeed, Peanuts Lives!

His Life in Peanuts (September 19, 2007 through January 14, 2008)
Charles Schulz often remarked that to know his strip was to know him. This exhibition of over 70 original Peanuts strips is, in a real sense, Schulz’s “autobiography.”  Many aspects of Schulz’s personal life—including childhood memories, friendships, medical issues, his life with five children, and more—were revealed in his internationally renowned comic strip.

In Love and Friendship: Schulz Originals from the Community
(November 14, 2007 through March 17, 2008)
Over the course of his life and career, Charles Schulz reached out to others in many ways. One of those ways was to present a friend or acquaintance with an original drawing, letter, birthday greeting, or get well wish. In Love and Friendship is comprised of examples of these items, including a birthday card given to a co–worker at Art Instruction Schools in Minneapolis in the 1950s that contains a self–portrait of a tall, gangly, thirty–something Schulz.  These examples of Schulz’s humor and compassion are made available to the Museum by the generosity of Schulz’s many admirers, both near and far.

Charles Schulz’s 85th Birthday Celebration ~ FREE DAY
Sunday, November 18, 10am–5 pm
The Schulz Museum will be FREE all day in honor of what would have been Charles Schulz’s 85th Birthday. (His actual birthday is November 26th.)

Special “Inside the Comic Strip" Tours ~ November 12–18, 12noon & 3 pm
Celebrate Charles Schulz’s 85th birthday by learning more about his work. At 12 and 3pm daily, enjoy a docent–led tour inside the Peanuts comic strip.

Non-Verbal Language of Comic Arts (February 2 through August 11, 2008)
Much of what readers interpret from cartoon art is non–verbal: audiences largely take their cues from the language of symbols, a language they may not even realize they know.  For instance, characters that are drawn with stars for eyes or swirling around their heads depict a certain non–verbal message, while other symbols can depict panic, anxiety, or movement.  This exhibition explores the visual shorthand of comic art—symbols—and their meanings in Peanuts and other strips.

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