Artist: Caroll Spinney
Title: Big Bird!
Year created: 2008
Medium: Felt-Tip Pen on Paper
Signed by the artist
Edition: Original Unique Artwork
Height (inches): 12 (image size)
Width (inches): 9 (image size)
Framed Size: 16" x 12"
This piece is framed.
Includes a certificate of authenticity.
Description of piece: Caroll Spinney, world-famous puppeteer, is best known for having played Big Bird on “Sesame Street” since 1969. He is the voice of Big Bird, and the person inside and animating the 8-foot 2-inch tall Big Bird puppet!
This one-of-a-kind original and highly collectible Big Bird sketch was hand-drawn by Spinney using 3 shades of felt-tip marker: black, along with lighter and darker shades of grey, distinguishing it from most of Spinney's sketches which were drawn in black only. The grey shading adds depth, detail and subtlety to the Big Bird figure. Big Bird's smiling and cheerful expression is quintessential Spinney.
Hand-signed and dated by Spinney, it reads: "BIG BIRD!" followed by "Caroll Spinney 2008". Spinney has dotted the "i" in his name with a bright red dot, adding a 4th color to the work!
Measuring 12" in height x 9" width, this original Caroll Spinney Big Bird artwork comes framed and ready for display in an elegant black gallery-style frame, archivally mounted with a custom hand-cut beveled white mat with black core. The framed size measures 16" in height x 12" width.
The artwork has been examined and Caroll Spinney's signature authenticated by James Spence Authentication (JSA), and has been assigned a unique numeric certification label; it is accompanied by a full page Letter of Authenticity from JSA.
This is a classic Big Bird, Sesame Street, and Caroll Spinney hand-signed artwork and collector's item!
Artist bio: Caroll Spinney was born on the day after Christmas, December 26, in 1933. Born with a great gift for art, he created the cartoon strip “Crazy Crayon” before being discovered and making his television debut shortly after, as an artist named Mr. Lion on the Quickdraw portion of the Bozo the Clown show. After meeting Jim Henson, who told him "he liked what he was doing," Spinney joined Sesame Street for the inaugural season in 1969, where he performed both as Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch for over 45 years. As Big Bird/Oscar, he has performed in Australia, China, Japan, and across Europe, conducted orchestras across the US and Canada, including the Boston Pops, and performed seven times for several first ladies at the White House.
Spinney is the subject of a full-length documentary called I Am Big Bird: The Caroll Spinney Story, has been honored with four Daytime Emmy Awards for his work as Big Bird & Oscar, and two Grammy Awards for his related recordings. Two of the recordings Spinney's voice can be heard on have earned Gold Record status. For his body of work, Spinney has received both a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1994 and the Library of Congress' Living Legend award in 2000.
At the 2006 Daytime Emmy Awards, Spinney received the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences' Lifetime Achievement Award. "I am elated and amazed to receive this honor from those who are committed to the best of what television and media have to offer, for doing what I've always wanted to do." —Caroll Spinney
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