Jack Johnson, best known for his work on films such as Edward Scissorhands, Toys and Jurassic Park III, will receive a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Art Directors Guild’s (ADG, IATSE Local 800) Illustrators and Matte Artists (IMG) Council at the 24th Annual “Excellence in Production Design” Awards. The 2020 ADG Awards will be held at the InterContinental Los Angeles Downtown in the Wilshire Grand Ballroom on Saturday, February 1, 2020. This is the final of four Lifetime Achievement Awards to be announced by the Art Directors Guild.
“Jack’s cinematic eye, combined with his amazing artistic talent, has been an integral part of over 60 critically acclaimed films in his over four decade career. We are thrilled to honor that legacy and his contributions to the craft as this year’s Lifetime Achievement Award recipient,” said Tim Wilcox, ADG Illustrators & Matte Artists Council chair.
Johnson has worked in the motion picture industry as a production illustrator, conceptual artist or art director on more than 60 features including such hit films as Goonies, Edward Scissorhands, Toys, Jurassic Park III, Pleasantville, Big Fish, The Perfect Storm, Jerry Maguire, Independence Day, Beetlejuice, The Color Purple, and Star Trek: The Motion Picture, among others. He started his career as an advertising art director at Foote, Cone and Belding and J. Walter Thompson.
Johnson has also won national acclaim for his personal work and his paintings have been featured in traveling exhibitions throughout the United States. His artwork has won numerous awards in major exhibitions including the National Watercolor Society, American Watercolor Society, and California Art Club.
The ADG Lifetime Achievement Awards are presented to outstanding individuals in each of the guild’s four crafts. As previously announced, Joe Alves will receive the ADG Lifetime Achievement Award from the Art Directors Council (AD), Denis Olsen from the Scenic, Title and Graphic Artists Council (STG) and Stephen Myles Berger from the Set Designers and Model Makers (SDMM) Council. Previous ADG Lifetime Achievement honorees include AD: Jeannine Oppewall (2019), Norm Newberry (2018), Renรฉ Lagler (2017); STG: Jim Fiorito (2019) John Moffitt (2018), Albert Obregon (2017), Bill Anderson (2016); SDMM: William F. Matthews (2019), James J. Murakami (2018), Cate Bangs (2017); and IMA: Ed Verreaux (2019), Marty Kline (2018), Joe Musso (2017).
The producer of this year’s ADG Awards (#ADGawards) is production designer Scott Moses, ADG. Online nomination voting will be held November 18–December 6, 2019. Nominations will be announced December 9, 2019. Online balloting will be held December 18, 2019–January 30, 2020 and winners will be announced at the dinner ceremony on Saturday, February 1, 2020. ADG Awards are open only to productions when made within the U.S. by producer’s signatory to the IATSE agreement. Foreign entries are acceptable without restrictions.
Additional honorees for Cinematic Imagery and new inductees into the Guild’s Hall of Fame will be announced at a later date.
AP sues 3 Trump administration officials, citing freedom of speech
The Associated Press sued three Trump administration officials Friday over access to presidential events, citing freedom of speech in asking a federal judge to stop the 10-day blocking of its journalists.
The lawsuit was filed Friday afternoon in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C.
The AP says its case is about an unconstitutional effort by the White House to control speech โ in this case refusing to change its style from the Gulf of Mexico to the "Gulf of America," as President Donald Trump did last month with an executive order.
"The press and all people in the United States have the right to choose their own words and not be retaliated against by the government," the AP said in its lawsuit, which names White House Chief of Staff Susan Wiles, Deputy Chief of Staff Taylor Budowich and Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt.
"This targeted attack on the AP's editorial independence and ability to gather and report the news strikes at the very core of the First Amendment," the news agency said. "This court should remedy it immediately."
In stopping the AP from attending press events at the White House and Mar-a-Lago, or flying on Air Force One in the agency's customary spot, the Trump team directly cited the AP's decision not to fully follow the president's renaming.
"We're going to keep them out until such time as they agree that it's the Gulf of America," Trump said Tuesday.
This week, about 40 news organizations signed onto a letter organized by the White House Correspondents Association, urging the White House to reverse its policy against the AP.
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