“Although the human characters appear to be extremely life-like, on close examination viewers find the size of nose, cheekbones, ears, mouth and eyes enhanced to visually telegraph the emotional attitude of each character.�? Thinking of each Pirate Audio-Animatronics figure as a three-dimensional electronic caricature is fairly accurate; they appear human, only more enhanced to play their part subliminally. It’s through exhibits like this, where you can get up close to the faces you’re so familiar with and see the art that inspired them that you begin to understand the depth of the talent that created the attraction. This collaboration between artists of different disciplines is vital to the success of any theme park attraction, and Pirates of the Caribbean makes this point wonderfully.

And there is the “Pirates of the Caribbean - Curse of the Black Pearl", a room dedicated to the summer release. Here guests will find art and sculpture from the making of the movie. A large portrait of Captain Barbossa, as portrayed by Academy-Award winning actor Geoffrey Rush, dominates one wall and digital reproductions of production art hang on the walls. For those who want to remain spoiler free, you can look at, but not read the plaques under each piece as parts of the plot are given away. If the art is any indication, the feature seems to have completely captured the spirit of the attraction while finding its own story. As the release date gets closer, more art and select movie props will join the exhibit.

There is also a new array of core and logo merchandise in both the Disney Gallery and in Pieces of Eight, which includes a boxed set of note cards featuring four scenes from the ride, new t-shirts, a new sweatshirt and a wonderful parchment-like scroll which features select lyrics from X. Atencio’s “Yo-Ho - A Pirates Life for Me�?. There is more exhibit-specific merchandise planned as the Pirates of the Caribbean as the premiere and special event draws nearer. So keep a weather-eye out for additions to the merchandise selection. But, the largest slice of the merchandise pie is given over to the Print on Demand gicleé print system.

Making a wide-range of Disney-themed and inspired art available is something that the Disney Gallery has done, and done well, since its opening on July 11, 1987. And, for this exhibit, thirty-two of the images have been digitally scanned into the PoD system, with more in the works, and are available on both acid-free fine art paper and acid-free studio canvas in three sizes -

Ordering a print is very easy. A guest simply comes into the gallery and goes to one of the two touch-screen kiosks, they choose their pieces, then enter the product code and choose what sized print they want and what surface they will be printed on and then check-out of the system. That print order is then relayed to the main register until the order is conformed and paid for, from that terminal it is then relayed into the system in the print room where it is placed onto the print queue and sent to whichever of the on-line printers will be handling the job - the one loaded with paper or the one printing on canvas. From there the job is printed and quality checked and then the job is packaged so that the guest can pick it up later or have it shipped to their homes.

Care for these prints as you would any other gicleé-like image. No direct sunlight, no dramatic temperature or humidity changes, no handling with bare hands - the same kind of reasonable care you would take with any framed work of art. Each canvas print that leaves the Disneyland Gallery also includes care instructions, which suggest that the print be sealed with a proprietary sealant before the print is handled or stretched and framed. For the Pirates of the Caribbean exhibit there will also be concept art available on PoD system that is not hanging in the gallery, so check the kiosks to see what has been added. The Walt Disney Imagineering Archives have, quite literally, been opened up to showcase the art for this exhibit.

I first met Peter Moger, Director of the Art Group during the Official Disneyana Convention at the Disneyland Resort in September of 2001. And have been able to speak with him before the last two shows at the Gallery. I first interviewed him for the One-Hundred Mickeys opening and have chatted with him several times since. We kick the Disneyana fine art market around and I pass along what the collectors I speak to ask. Mostly the concern seems to be with the size of the prints, as most of us don’t have the wall-space for even the smallest PoD print and we’re being “sized out of the market�?. He told me that they had been speaking with Research and Development at Hewlett Packard and that the limitations were technological. It seems that HP doesn’t make a UV ink cartridge small enough to make smaller Design Jet printers viable and that the printer software they use doesn’t allow for two images to be printed side-by-side so the waste of paper and canvas would make the smaller prints unprofitable.

At the moment collector demand is driving product development. Peter assured me that as soon as the technology met the Gallery’s needs the prints would be offered in sizes as small as 11�? x 14. We also spoke about the expansion of the PoD system at the Resort, as there is talk of putting a kiosk or two in Off the Page at Disney’s California Adventure to house a more animation rich print catalog. He admitted to being surprised at the reception that Print on Demand has had at the park, “exceeded my expectations, I can tell you that.�? He’s looking forward to the run of this current show and gearing up for the next. It seems that he’ll be making the flight from London to LA a lot more often in the future to make sure that we have a lot more images to choose and print.

The prints themselves, are a wonderful opportunity for nearly anyone to own a piece of art from Pirates of the Caribbean - I know that I’ll have added several to my art collection by the time the exhibit ends. They are also an opportunity for the Disneyland fan and collector to support the addition of this technology to the park. If this new breed of Gallery exhibit/merchandise event is a success there will be more to come. And, if we fail to support the risk that the merchandise division has taken with this partnership, we’ll not see more. Now that we have these cool printers - let’s wear their print heads off, and then ask for more images.