Portland Animation Studio Holding Huge Auction

Wednesday, February 04, 2015

Emily Goldman, GoLocalPDX Contributor

Coraline by LAIKA

The animation studio LAIKA, creator of the Academy Award nominated stop-motion films “Coraline” and “ParaNorman," will auction off a veritable wealth of puppets, props, artwork, and design concepts used in the making of its films in one giant auction titled “The Art of LAIKA.”

The auction will be held by Heritage Auctions on February 12 in Beverly Hills. Preview viewings of the collection have been taking place since late January in Dallas and New York, and will continue to take place in Beverly Hills up to the day of the auction.

The auction will include items from LAIKA’s three animated films: Coraline, ParaNorman, and The Box Trolls. Coraline and ParaNorman were both nominated for Academy Awards in Best Animated Feature, and The Boxtrolls is currently a nominee for the 2015 Academy Award in the same category.

Some of the highlights of the auction include the production puppets of Coraline wearing her blue-starred sweater, Other Mother following her grotesque transformation, Norman wearing his baseball shirt outfit, Zombie Judge, and Eggs and the Boxtrolls in their “Box” outfits.

LAIKA is a leader in the production of stop-motion animated films, in which entire movies are created using handcrafted puppets, models, and sets that are manipulated by hand, inch by inch, to create 90 minute-long feature films.

Located in Hillsboro, LAIKA has strong ties to the city of Portland. The studio’s owner and chairman is Philip Knight, also known as the owner and co-founder of Nike. His son, Travis Knight is the President and CEO of LAIKA, who also works in the studio as an animator and producer.

A portion of the proceeds of the auction will be donated to the non-profit arts organization The Art of Elysium, which pairs artists with critically ill children to help them develop their own creative skills and encourage a love of the arts through fashion, fine arts, music, theatre, or visual art.

The auction will be held in Beverly Hills, Calif., Feb. 12 at 2 p.m.