John Canemaker is an American animator and animation historian, who grew up in Elgin, New York. He has designed and directed numerous animation sequences for award-winning documentaries, such as Break the Silence: Kids Against Child Abuse (1994), You Don't Have to Die (1998), What do Children think of when they think of the Bomb? (1983) . His award-winning short films include Confessions of a Stand-Up (1993), Bottom's Dream (1983), and Confessions of a Stardreamer (1978). John Canemaker attended Marymount Manhattan College, from 1971-1974. While receiving his degree in communications, he undertook independent research at the Walt Disney archive, where his interest in animation blossomed. At Disney, he had the opportunity to interact with animation pioneers, who he eventually began to interview and record. After graduating from Marymount, Canemaker entered the New York University's film program, where he continued to conduct interviews with animators in the area. Two resulting works from this were Otto Messmer and Felix the Cat (1977), and his master-of-fine-arts thesis, Remembering Winsor McCay (1976). Mr. Canemaker has also written and contributed to many books, notably The Animated Raggedy Ann and Andy (Bobbs-Merrill: 1977), Treasures of Disney Animation Art (Abbeville: 1982), and Winsor McCay: His Art and Life (Abbeville: 1987). He has also written essays, reviews, and articles on animation for national periodicals such as The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, Time, and Print . Canemaker began teaching at N.Y.U. in 1980, and became chair of the animation department at N.Y.U.'s Tisch School of the Arts in 1988. The John Canemaker Animation Collection opened to students and scholars in the Fales Collection at the Bobst Library at N.Y.U. in 1989. It is an archival resource on animation history that includes many of the recorded interviews he earlier collected. Canemaker continues to lecture throughout the United States and abroad.
Sources used:
Canemaker, John. Felix: The Twisted Tale of the World's most Famous Cat. New York: Pantheon Books, 1991.
Ingalls, Zoe. "Designs that Come to Life." The Chronicle of Higher Education . 4 April 1997.
From the guide to the John Canemaker Collection, 1870-1991, 1984-1990, (The Ohio State University Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum)
