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GLitcH!
cartoonist's work is part of team that receives the Premier's Silver
Award of Excellence for work
in new museum exhibition gallery on Alberta's Oil Sands
Professor Nositall in the 2D form by Ed Wiens (left) and in 3D (right), developed and animated by Dynacor Media Group, Edmonton. |
June 6/03 , EDMONTON, ALBERTA, CANADA "Man,
those brownies at the social were gooooooood." The Oil Sands Discovery Centre's Exhibition Redevelopment in Fort McMurray, Alberta has won a Silver Premier's Award. Ed Wiens, who had worked on the project as the head of graphics was a recipient, along with a talented team of Capital Development staff, of this group award. Ceremonies were held at the Northern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium in Edmonton, Alberta with Alberta's Premier, Ralph Klein attending to hand out the awards. "This was very much a team process that resulted in a successful product," said Ed Wiens, interviewed on the occasion. The Exhibit has been widely applauded for its innovative design. In no small part, Ed Wiens' cartoon work contributed greatly in that it made complicated processes used in the oil sands industry easier to approach and understand. Mr. Wiens was also the screenwriter for the introductory video and was the creator of "Professor Nositall," a cartoon character who interacts with a live actor notable for his similarity to John Cleese. The Oil Sands Discovery Centre is located in Fort McMurray and can be seen on the web at: www. oilsandsdiscovery.com. (Note: the website is currently being redesigned to have more in common with the new exhibition.) SSP [ PREVIOUS ARTICLE ] Oct. 18/02, FORT McMURRAY, ALBERTA, CANADA Oil Sands Discovery Centre in Fort McMurray, Alberta opened to the public on Sept. 28/02 to rave reviews. The museum, or "Centre" as many museum facilities are called in Canada, looks at oil sand and the science, technology and industry that turns this gritty, brown dirt into billions of dollars as itsupplies an increasingly growing percentage of Canada's energy. When stepping into the museum, the first thing that strikes you is the colour and beauty of this exhibition. Text panels, which one might assume would be boring and stuffy in the classic museum tradition, come alive with colour, illustrations and cartoons and the occasional inset video monitor or "magic box." The exhibit hums with industrial sounds emanating from an actual Wabco truck where visitors can sit behind the wheel. The exhibit is a redevelopment of a previous exhibit that opened over 15 years ago. Costing $1.6 million (a low sum in the world of permanent exhibitions), the exhibit has stretched its dollars to get the maximum "bang for the buck." The museum will welcome a kid's "Playlab" in January, 2002. While you may not be travelling to Fort McMurray with the direct purpose of seeing this museum, if you are in the area, it is a must-see. Wiens and the team of exhibition designers, lighting and audio/visual specialists, computer game designers and researchers are to be applauded for this amazing creation which offers the visitor a unique look at an incredible resource. SSP [ PREVIOUS ARTICLE ]
May 6/02, EDMONTON, ALBERTA, CANADA Ed Wiens, cartoonist of the Canadian computer comic strip, "GLitcH!" will be contributing cartoon work for the permanent exhibition panels for the Oil Sands Discovery Centre in Fort McMurray, Alberta. The Oil Sands Discovery Centre is a provincially operated museum which is in the process of redeveloping its exhibition gallery to reflect current technologies. Although not using the GLitcH! character and not relating to computers as the strip has in the past, Wiens' cartoon work will assist with the explanation of diagrams for processes and concepts involved with the oil sands industry. "For the average person, myself included, the processes used by the Oil Sands industry can be mind-boggling in scale – such as the massive trucks, equipment, and vessels – or too complex as in the chemical reactions that take place when bitumen is turned into synthetic sweet crude oil. That's where cartoons can help by lightening the look of the interpretive panels and by providing an easier way to understand what goes on," says Wiens. "In fact, in many cases, the cartoon characters - "Hard Hats," and "Lab Coats" - simply appear to point out areas in a cartoon diagram that is described by text." "These cartoons aren't the gag-type or single-frame type of comic. The cartoons aren't there to provide humour as in jokes but to make the information more comfortable and understandable by the museum visitor." Wiens' involvement with this project goes back three years when cartoons had first been discussed as being a part of the overall look and feel of this exhibition gallery. "I'm quite pleased with this direction and that cartoon work can play an important role even in cultural institutions like museums. I'm also gratified to have been able to create a new character, "Professor Nositall," who will be the host of several videos and computer interactive displays by a live actor as well as a computer-rendered 3D character (produced by Dynacor Media, Edmonton). Professor Nositall may also appear in inked cartoons on some panels by myself as well," says Wiens. "I also had a chance to use my skills in writing dialogue by creating the concept for the combination live actor/computer simulation introduction video. After receiving valuable input from the Historic Sites Capital Development team which helped to shape the intro video concept, I also then wrote the first draft of the script which the production company could then take and work with." "It's been a terrific project and I think the public will really enjoy visiting the new Centre," says Wiens. The Oil Sands Discovery Centre opens in Fort McMurray, Alberta on September 27th, 2002.
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