{"id":51683,"date":"2019-03-28T00:01:30","date_gmt":"2019-03-28T07:01:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cartoonresearch.com\/?p=51683"},"modified":"2019-03-28T00:01:59","modified_gmt":"2019-03-28T07:01:59","slug":"larry-larson-1946-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cartoonresearch.com\/index.php\/larry-larson-1946-2019\/","title":{"rendered":"Larry Larson (1946-2019)"},"content":{"rendered":"\"\"\n

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I thought I\u2019d use this space to pay a mini tribute to a wonderful soul; this past week I\u2019ve been both smiling at memories\u2014in-between bouts of being devastated\u2014 remembering one of my favorite people on the planet.<\/p>\n

\"\"Last Friday, we lost Larry Larson, an incredible instructor in stop motion, especially in armature building and maquette sculpture. Larry started at CCS (The College for Creative Studies in Detroit, Michigan) just after I did in 2000. For these past 19 years he\u2019s been a great friend and inspiration to me and nearly everyone he worked with. He had a wonderful ability to connect with people and help them figure out what they wanted to pursue. I learned so many things from Larry, especially in teaching. His 73 years on the planet were really just not enough.<\/p>\n

Helping others was truly one of Larry\u2019s callings. He loved working with the students at the college, and was so proud that many of them went on to work as stop motion animators and fabricators. Even if you didn\u2019t have a class here with Larry, there\u2019s a pretty good chance you still had at least a little chat with him, and possibly even a deep conversation. Larry was also the only instructor here who would likely play his guitar during class, and sometimes sing too. He also played live for many years here in Detroit at the Gaelic League. One of my favorite memories was Larry singing ‘The Rainbow Connection’ at Puppeteer and animator Alex Thomas’ wedding.<\/p>\n

Larry\u2019s memorial service will be Saturday, April 6th. The family has set up a gofundme<\/u><\/a> to help with the funeral and memorial expenses.<\/p>\n

Here is a great little film made by Ellen Coons in 2012 as her thesis film at CCS. Ellen is a wonderful animator and fabricator, working in the industry in LA. She was one of Larry\u2019s (and my) students, and this little film seems like a nice and fitting tribute to Larry\u2019s helping talented people (animation history-related note: the Bimbo deck of cards and toys at the end may or may not be from my stash of stuff):<\/p>\n