Photo by Carlos Baena

Wow, what an incredible event!  This past Saturday night we saw over 200 beautiful artworks get sold at the Totoro Forest Project auction that took place at Pixar.  Every single piece sold!  Now that is a resounding success!  The estimated final tally for the Sayama Forest charity is $201,236!  Wow, that’s double what they were hoping for!  I was salivating myself over all the incredibly beautiful art, and getting the chance to meet so many artists that I deeply admire and am truly inspired by.

Unfortunately we weren’t allowed to bring cameras inside, but a select few photographers were there to document the event.  You can see some photos here at AWN’s blog.

There’s more to come!  All of the artwork will be exhibiting at the Cartoon Art Museum in San Francisco from Sept 20th through February of 2009.  On a rotating basis I believe though, because of space constraints at the museum.  Opening reception will be held sometime in early December.

Also the Totoro Forest Project book will be available soon for purchase online.  Keep checking the blog for details.

A special thanks to all the hard work of Dice Tsutsumi, Enrico Casarosa, Ronnie del Carmen, and Yukino Pang who worked so tirelessly to make this entire thing possible!

For the Totoro Forest Project!  Visit the website and start bidding away on all the fantastic art for this great cause!  Online bidding ends, I believe, Friday night, and the highest bid for each piece will be the starting bid for the final auction this Saturday night, Sept. 6th.  You may still end up with the piece you want even if you can’t attend the auction in person!

Keep checking the official blog as the organizers are constantly updating with new information and showcasing many of the artists.