It IS Spring, and all over the world, people are planning to get their kites out and into the air.

It is appropriate that the Museum would feature a kite-flying exhibition.

This is a particularly joyful exhibition, and we hope visitors will resonate with the pure fun of it and will have compassion for Charlie Brown’s perennially failed efforts to get HIS kite in the air.

I was surprised and delighted to see Sparky as part of the wall design. Here, he and Bill Melendez are seen with Jill in April of 1965, preparing to get a kite into the air.

These large photos are cropped to match the kite-shaped wall decor. It is visually very clever and engaging to see Sparky himself being Charlie Brown. The Schulz property, Coffee Grounds, was covered with Redwoods and other trees, so kite flying may have been another pipe dream.

Exhibition designer, Rachael Veramay, has followed through with the building materials of kites: sticks, fabric, and string, which add to the show’s whimsy.

 

The kite-eating tree has moved from the courtyard to the gallery and has a rather evil look to it. (At least Charlie Brown would characterize the smile that way)

 

The exhibition also tells the March 1, 1977, story of Charlie Brown getting a letter of reprimand from the Environmental Protection Agency, a relatively new governmental agency at the time.

 

The cause of the reprimand is the bite that Charlie Brown took out of this tree.

A frightened Charlie Brown packs a sack and heads out into the world to escape the law.

Visitors will find all these adventures and more in the galleries at the Museum.

The Exhibition Team has also installed another photo opportunity at the Museum to allow visitors to become a part of and remember such a stunning display of Peanuts art.

 

For the interactive portion of the exhibition, we encourage visitors to offer advice or condolences to the ever-hopeful Charlie Brown. It seems that people do like to write something and share their feelings about Museum and the exhibit.

The show will be up until September 17, but when you are here, don’t forget to check out our other exhibitions, Dream a Little Dream and The Pen is Mighty: The Lettering of Charles M. Schulz, before it’s too late!

—Jean Schulz