This exhibition, co-curated by cartoon historian Brian Walker, is the second in a trilogy exploring the foundations of cartooning. How Cartoonists Create Characters explores iconic characters, cartoon heroes and villains, and dynamic duos. A section featuring Peanuts strips displays how four major characters—Charlie Brown, Lucy, Linus, and Snoopy—developed over the 50-year history of the strip. The exhibition contains over 65 original comic strips and includes a children’s discovery area where children can exercise their imaginations to create their own characters or alter egos.

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As a cartoonist read by millions of fans, Charles Schulz felt an obligation to get his facts straight about the subjects he tackled in Peanuts. This exhibition of 70 original Peanuts strips reveals Schulz's dedication to detail in order to ensure that sports plays and positions (from ice skating to surfing), medical conditions, musical notes, and even Woodstock’s shorthand were accurately depicted.

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A reader could get positively hungry reading Peanuts! Pizza, hotdogs, angel food cake, “sour” marshmallow (and lemonade!), doughnuts, and bread and butter sandwiches have all been subjects of the strip. Schulz even vented his intense dislike for coconut on several hilarious occasions. The exhibition includes 20 Peanuts strips, Peanuts cookbooks and other ephemera, and Schulz’s World War II-era drawings featuring him and his buddies “chowing down.”

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While newspaper publishers and editors saw comic strips as a way to attract readers to their papers and away from their competitors, comic strips in general and the Sunday funnies in particular also served important functions that were most likely not recognized by the “bean counters” at the newspapers. One of those roles was in helping to teach generations of American children how to read in an enjoyable and non-threatening setting. Sunday at the Funnies features original art and newspaper tear sheets, a section on coloring the Sunday funnies, and a children’s creative play area.

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Who can forget Snoopy’s exuberant suppertime dance, his feel-good-all-over happy dance, his riotous appearance as Peppermint Patty’s date at the “turn-about” dance, or his sublime partnering of a gracefully falling leaf? Long before popular dancing television shows took the nation by storm, Schulz recognized the nearly universal appeal of dance. Almost every character in Peanuts from Charlie Brown to Woodstock has kicked up their heels in an expression of joie de vivre. Visitors can vicariously experience the joys and mishaps of dance in this exhibition featuring 70 original Peanuts strips.

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Charles Schulz’s interest in the environment and ecology is reflected in Peanuts, but as is always the case, he does not approach the subject matter in a shrill or preachy manner, but examines it with humor and wit. The reader’s attention is cleverly drawn to Rachel Carson’s groundbreaking book, Silent Spring, in strips from 1962/1963, for example, while Snoopy and Woodstock carry the ecology storyline.

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From the richly detailed dream world of Little Nemo to the minimalist surroundings of Peanuts in the later years, cartoonists have embedded their characters in very distinctive environments. The final exhibition in the Language of Lines trilogy, co-curated by cartoon historian Brian Walker, examines how cartoonists create these imaginary worlds and how the depiction of these worlds has evolved.

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Explore how Peanuts reflected the youth culture of the day from coon skin caps and 3-D glasses to cool jazz, surfboarding, and “streaking” in this exhibition of 70 original strips.

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Sports were important to Charles Schulz, and golf was one of his favorite games. He reported in 1967, “The things I like to do the best are drawing cartoons and hitting golf balls.”  From playing on his high school golf team to his late-in-life weekly foursome, Schulz not only enjoyed the game, but he excelled at it. This exhibition features photographs and memorabilia of Schulz’s game and also looks at how he portrayed golf in Peanuts, as Snoopy assumed the role of “World Famous Golf Pro.”

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A Legacy of Peanuts investigates the impact Charles Schulz has had on cartoonists of the 21st-century and the cartoons they create. Schulz’s influence is felt in each cartoonists’ graphic style, strong character development, and exploration of emotion. The exhibition, guest curated by contemporary cartoonists Stephan Pastis (Pearls Before Swine) and Patrick McDonnell (Mutts), will also include observations by other 21st-century cartoonists.

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Charles Schulz tested the bounds of his comic world from time to time but quickly learned to discard characters (the extremely loud Charlotte Braun and Faron the cat, for example), themes (Linus’ glasses), and portrayals (Lucy and Charlie Brown’s “google” eyes) that distracted from the strip. Take a look at these little-remembered Schulz experiments in this exhibition featuring 60 original Peanuts strips.

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With the great success of Peanuts Charles Schulz’s other artistic endeavors often get overlooked. This exhibition introduces the visitor to other facets of Schulz’s creativity through the display of his illustrated manuscripts, paintings, advertising art, and early one-panel cartoons.

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Because relationships between brothers and sisters can be the most intense, rewarding, and challenging in a person’s life, they provide cartoonists with extremely rich comic possibilities. Sibling Relationships examines the depiction of siblings throughout the history of cartoons with special emphasis on the brothers and sisters in Peanuts: Lucy, Linus, and Rerun Van Pelt, and Charlie and Sally Brown.

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Creating Holograms presents a behind-the-scenes look at how the Schulz Museum’s birdbath hologram in the back courtyard was created by sculptor-in-light Michael Hayden. This exhibition will include the Peanuts strips from which the line drawings were taken to create the holograms and drawings, as well as diagrams of how holograms are made and how they work.

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"Who Let the Dots Out"
by Tom Everhart

This exhibition examines the intersection between fine art and cartoon art in the works of such artists as Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein. Co-curated by Sonoma State University Gallery Director and Professor of Art History Michael Schwager the exhibit will feature two and three-dimensional works of art.

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In Charles Schulz’s storied career he won not one, but two, Reuben Awards (1955 and 1964) given by the National Cartoonists Society for outstanding cartoonist of the year, the highest honor that the profession bestows. Discover who the past winners have been and who, along with Schulz, has won on multiple occasions.

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