LAIKA, the Visit Downtown Campaign, Wild in Art, and OHSU Doernbecher Children’s Hospital will kick off the countdown to Coraline’s Curious Cat Trail on Thursday, February 22nd from 4:30-6:30 pm at LAIKA Studios. Coraline’s Curious Cat Trail is coming to Portland this August to celebration of 15th anniversary of LAIKA’s debut film. The trail will feature 30 almost six-foot tall ‘Cat’ sculptures stationed throughout downtown Portland, creating a free art trail for visitors complete with maps, website, and social media. Award-winning actress Teri Hatcher, who memorably voiced Mother, Other Mother and The Beldam in the Oscar®-nominated animated film, will join the launch event.
“We are honored to embrace Portland’s innate creativity with this amazing partnership between LAIKA and the Visit Downtown Campaign,” said Andrew Hoan of the Portland Metro Chamber. “We eagerly await these exciting summer installations in downtown Portland. This is the perfect opportunity to collaborate with Portland’s own award-winning movie studio LAIKA and showcase our city’s vibrant artist community with proceeds benefitting OHSU Doernbecher Children’s Hospital.”
Local artists will use these impressive cat statues as canvases and hand-paint each Cat Sculpture. It truly is the purr-fect celebration for Portland, where LAIKA’s cinematic brilliance meets the diverse talent of local artists, creating an unforgettable experience for all.
“We’re excited to collaborate with the Visit Downtown Campaign and Wild in Art to celebrate Coraline’s 15th Anniversary in LAIKA’s hometown of Portland, Oregon,” said LAIKA’s Chief Marketing and Operations Officer David Burke. “In the memorable cast of Coraline characters, Cat is a perfect fit for the trail. We believe this experience will bolster Portland’s vibrant creative community and support OHSU Doernbecher Children’s Hospital. We can’t wait for Summer!”
The Oscar®-nominated Coraline boasts stunning stop-motion animation, handcrafted puppets, and meticulously designed sets. Based on the novella by beloved author Neil Gaiman, Coraline is a wondrous, thrilling, fun and suspenseful adventure. A young girl walks through a secret door in her new home and discovers an alternate version of her life. On the surface, this parallel reality is eerily similar to her real life – only much better. But when this off-kilter, fantastical adventure turns dangerous and her counterfeit parents try to keep her forever, Coraline must count on her resourcefulness, determination, and bravery to save her family and get back home. Adapted for the screen and directed by stop-motion auteur Henry Selick (The Nightmare Before Christmas, Wendell & Wild), Coraline’s voice cast includes Dakota Fanning, Teri Hatcher, Ian McShane, Keith David (as Cat), and British comedy duo Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders. At the completion of the Art Trail, the cat statues will be auctioned off as a fundraiser for OHSU Doernbecher Children’s Hospital.
“OHSU Doernbecher is grateful to have been selected as the benefiting charity of the auction and we want to thank everyone at LAIKA, Wild in Art, Travel Portland and the Visit Downtown Campaign who made this possible,” said Dana A. Braner, M.D., physician-in-chief at OHSU Doernbecher Children’s Hospital, Credit Unions for Kids chair, and professor and chair of pediatrics in the OHSU School of Medicine. “With the community’s support of this project, we will continue meeting the needs of our patients and families throughout the region who turn to us for support in their most challenging moments. We are excited to see our families and supporters out on Coraline’s Curious Cat Trail.”
The trail is the first in the U.S. from the industry-leading installation producer Wild in Art. As creative producers of spectacular, meaningful, and innovative public art trails, Wild in Art has animated cities across four continents including Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Auckland, Christchurch, Cape Town, Nairobi, and São Paulo. Based in the UK, they’ve developed events the length and breadth of the country, including public art trails for the London 2012 Olympics and Paralympics.
The Portland Metro Chamber supports businesses of all types and sizes in succeeding and thriving throughout our region. For more than 150 years, it has been our honor to serve the business community of metropolitan Portland.
The Downtown Portland Clean & Safe district provides enhanced services to the people, places and businesses within a core 213-block area of our central city.
The Visit Downtown Campaign is a project of the Portland Metro Chamber, Downtown Portland Clean & Safe, and the City of Portland.