About the Exhibition

Building a Narrative features original artwork from popular films, animated television series, comics, and trading cards.  Curated from the collection of Trent Claus

Trent Claus is an award-winning Visual Effects Supervisor with Lola VFX in Los Angeles, CA. He has worked on over 120 feature films, including 19 Academy Award nominees for Best Visual Effects (4 winners), 10 nominees for Best Picture (1 winner), and with a cumulative worldwide box-office of over 44 billion dollars. Trent is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, and the Visual Effects Society (VES). In 2012, he was awarded the VES Award for Outstanding Compositing in a Feature Motion Picture for his groundbreaking work on Captain America: The First Avenger. He was nominated once again in 2020 for his work on the film Captain Marvel. 

Known primarily for his work with Marvel Studios, Trent has contributed to 21 of their 27 films to date, most recently as a VFX Supervisor for Black Widow, as well as for WandaVision, Avengers: Endgame, Captain Marvel, Ant-Man and the Wasp, Avengers: Infinity War, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Doctor Strange, Captain America: Civil War, Ant-Man, Avengers: Age of Ultron, and Guardians of the Galaxy. Other notable accomplishments include the television series The Mandalorian, and films such as The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The Social Network, Prometheus, Star Trek, Avatar, and Blade Runner.

Acknowledgements

Building a Narrative: Production Artwork from Popular Culture exhibition and catalog are made possible through the generous support of the Hixson-Lied College of Fine and Performing Arts, the School of Art, Art History & Design, Dan Howard, Emeritus Faculty, and the Johnny Carson Center for Emerging Media Arts.

A special thanks to Trent Claus for generously sharing his collection along with his expertise and knowledge about the film industry.  Warren Cradduck of Cradduck Productions crafted the custom-made frames used throughout this exhibition. Clay Smith kindly loaned pieces from his extensive lunch box collection at Speedway Motors Museum of American Speed. Tim Matthews and Ave Pickering for facilitating the loan.

Many individuals contributed to this exhibition:  

Emma deVries; curator and gallery director; the Gallery Management students, installation assistance; Asher Rey, audio mixing and installation prep; Daniela Chávez, research and content writing; Ashleigh Kawaoka, graphic identity and label design; Annie Wang, video editing; Sandra Williams, sparking the conversation; Ash Smith, narrative and video expertise; Reid Martin, installation assistance; Andrea Gruber, administrative support; Drew Davis, technical support; Kathe Andersen, public relations and advertising; and Francisco Souto, fundraising and academic leadership.