Two weeks ago The Daily Heller published an interview with the director of Modernism Inc., a documentary about Eliot Noyes, the godfather of postwar corporate modernism. Among the cast of eloquent on-screen experts were members of Noyes’s family. Eliot Noyes Jr., along with his two brothers and sister, were enthusiastic narrators of their father’s legacy. Their collective roles in the doc added first hand emotion to the well produced film. What I did not know until this past weekend, when I heard from his friend J.J. Sedelmeir, that Eli, as he was known, had died, is he was a major influence on modern animation in various media. Not knowing about the animation universe but nonetheless a fan, I was referred to his friend and business partner of 21 years, Ralph Guggenheim of Alligator Planet, and asked if he would share segments of the brief obituary he wrote. The following is, in part, adapted from and verbatim of this remembrance.
Clay received an Oscar nomination in 1965,
Eli was a notable figure in the New York animation scene of the 1970’s, while an undergraduate at Harvard, Noyes was nominated in 1965 for an Academy Award® for his 8-minute animated short film, “Clay, or the Origin of Species”. It is credited as establishing the genre of clay animation and remains a classic of stop motion filmmaking. Subsequent animated films employed diverse techniques:and animation (“Sandman”, 1973), pixelated stop motion (“Peanut Butter and Jelly”, 1976). He went on to make documentaries, animated TV series, and CD-ROM interactive content, usually ahead of the technology curve. He collaborated with the photographer Duane Michaels, created ID packages and TV series for Nickelodeon, even US postage stamps.
Accompanying his father to the Aspen Design Conference, Noyes and Claudia Weill documented the confrontation between established architects and the new generation of socially conscious young talents of the era in “Aspen 1970″.
Ralph Guggenhiem writes:
“An independent artist and animator, Noyes brought his playful creative talents to shape the look and
spirit of children’s programming in the early days of cable TV, especially for the Nickelodeon network. Eli was one of the first creative contributors to Nickelodeon. Nickelodeon’s first show, Pinwheel, featured Noyes’ animated pinwheels made with sand. In 1983, Eli and Kit Laybourne started Noyes & Laybourne Enterprises, an independent studio located in NYC’s Soho. In the early 80’s Nickelodeon was filled with content it acquired, with a variety of styles and looks. Packaging was the only way to express a
personality. Noyes & Laybourne contributed to the look of Nickelodeon and Nick at Nite with playful
network IDs. They subsequently created the original shows, “Eureeka’s Castle” and “Gullah Gullah
Island.“ For MTV they also produced network graphics and created a showcase of independent
animation in “Liquid Television”,which launched series like Mike Judge’s “Beavis and Butthead” and Peter Chung’s “Aeon Flux.” Other clients included HBO, IBM, Scholastic, ABC Sports, Reebok, and Xerox.
In 1988 Noyes and Laybourne joined Colossal Pictures. For MTV they jointly developed a showcase of
independent animation in “Liquid Television”,which launched series like Mike Judge’s “Beavis and
Butthead” and Peter Chung’s “Aeon Flux.” Known for the variety of special effects and animation
techniques Colossal was the ideal home for the wide-ranging curiosity that Eli brought to projects.
In 1991 Eli Noyes and family moved to San Francisco, where he directed animation, live action and
interactive projects for commercials and TV development. Always early to embrace technology, Eli
created “Ruff’s Bone” (1994) at Colossal, a groundbreaking interactive CD-ROM product for Broderbund Software. He moved on to work on interactive projects at Pixar, and with programmers at the Disney Channel and The Disney Imagineers to create one of the first program blocks that combined TV and th internet, ZOOG Disney. Eli subsequently brought that experience to the first “convergence network” Oxygen, as Creative Director in the late 90’s. Noyes partnered with “Toy Story” producer Ralph Guggenheim in 2003, forming Alligator Planet, where he created film, print and media works including short films, animated segments for documentary films including Oscar® nominee “The Most Dangerous Man in America” (2003). His 2011 “Go Green” stamps for the US Postal Service featured simple actions everyone can take to conserve natural resources and promote the health of the environment.
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