In the “Year of a Million Dreams”, it was most fitting to pay homage to a gentleman artist whose work brightened the childhood years of many generations. Scattering his magic throughout the lives of old and young alike with the antics of Mickey Mouse, Peter Pan, and Aladdin, Walt Disney’s legacy promises to endure as long as stories are read, movies are watched and visitors cross a magnificent bridge to begin a breathtaking walk through the doors of Cinderella’s Castle.
Walt Disney not only influenced the entertainment industry with his foresight and ingenuity, but he also made it possible for countless children to begin an amazing journey of joy and wonder, long before Cinderella’s Castle was ever constructed.
In Europe, works of art have for centuries been accessible for viewing and sketching by rich and poor alike. Although the names of Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and Raphael may have sounded slightly familiar to American children in the 1940s. comic books with Disney characters were far more prevalent than elaborate museums in small towns as well as large cities. Those books were treasured by youngsters and used to usher their eyes, hands, and minds into enduring art adventures.
Inspired by the magic of colorful Disney characters, youngsters across the country were content to spend hours sitting in their childhood corners. Wishing upon a star as young dreamers do, they sketched, erased, and sketched again until a perfect image of Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck or Pluto took form on treasured drawing pads.
Not until many years later would those children, now grown to adulthood, look back and marvel at how great the debt owed to Walt Disney. When thousands of children turned small, delightful comic books into art workbooks, Walt Disney became both a legend in his lifetime and a greatly respected “Art Hero” to those who used them.