ART DIRECTORS GUILD Announces Lifetime Achievement Awards

Scenic Artist Bill Anderson, Oscar -nominated Matte Artist Harrison Ellenshaw and Set Designer William J. Newmon, II join Emmy -winning and Oscar - winner Production Designer Patrizia von Brandenstein to be honored with Lifetime Achievement Awards at the 20th Annual Art Directors Guild Excellence in Production Design Awards (IATSE Local 800), announced today by ADG Council Chairperson Marcia Hinds and Awards Producer Thomas Wilkins. The Awards Gala, presented by DXV by American Standard, will be held on January 31, 2016 at a black-tie ceremony at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.

Last year was the first time in Art Directors Guild history in which Lifetime Achievement Awards were awarded to outstanding individuals in each of the guild's four crafts: Art Directors; Scenic, Title and Graphic Artists; Illustrators and Matte Artists; and Set Designers and Model Makers. Previous recipients of the ADG Lifetime Achievement Award include Designers Jim Bissell (Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation), Rick Carter (Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens) and Stuart Craig (Harry Potter). A complete list can be found on the ADGs website.

Scenic Artist Bill Anderson's backgrounds and mural artistry can be seen in films such as Cleopatra , as well as at various Disney attractions around the world. Anderson started his career at J.C. Backings, painting backgrounds for 20th Century Fox films such as What a Way to Go , Hello, Dolly! . He went on to work as a scenic supervisor for Grosh Scenic Studios, while serving as president of IATSE Local 816 (Scenic, Title and Graphic Artists). From 1979 to 1982, Anderson oversaw scenic design for Disney's Epcot Center. In the 1980s, he freelanced on various Disney projects such as Disneyland, Tokyo Disneyland, Disney's California Adventure and El Capitan. He later went on to start Disney's Tujunga facility as well as Mural Makers, a family run company that specializes in murals, theme and faux painting for theme parks, museums, theatres, etc.

Academy Award nominee Harrison Ellenshaw is not only a Matte Artist, but also the first visual effects supervisor to be credited in a film (for 1982's Tron). The son of Oscar -winning Matte Designer Peter Ellenshaw, Harrison got his start in Walt Disney Studio's matte department. He later joined George Lucass effects studio Industrial Light and Magic, where he produced many of the matte visual effects backgrounds for Star Wars . The Black Hole (1979), which earned Peter and Harrison an Academy Award nomination for best visual effects. In addition to producing visual effects for Tron , Superman IV: The Quest for Peace and Dick Tracy (1990), Ellenshaw also headed Disney Studios effects department Buena Vista Visual Effects from 1990-1996, overseeing 63 films. Ellenshaw is a founding board member of the Visual Effects Society (VES).

William J. Newmon, II became the first African-American Set Designer in Hollywood when he joined IATSE Local 847 (Set Designers and Model Makers) in 1975. He later went on to serve three terms as vice president of Local 847 until his retirement in 2000. Newmon started his career at NBC as a stock scenery draftsman, and later was hired by Disney to set design The Apple Dumpling Gang . His film credits include Poltergeist , The Meteor Man , Deep Rising . Newmon's television credits include Starsky and Hutch, Little House on the Prairie, MacGyver, Murder She Wrote, Amen, Matt Houston, Scarecrow and Mrs. King, 7th Heaven and The Wayans Bros.

As previously announced, Patrizia Von Brandenstein began her film career in 1972 as a Set Decorator on the acclaimed drama The Candidate (1972) and subsequently worked as a Costume Designer on both Between the Lines . Von Brandenstein moved into art direction on Hester Street and Milos Forman's lavish period recreation Ragtime (1981), for which she shared an Oscar nomination as Art Director. By the early 1980s she was a full-fledged Production Designer. Among her notable projects are Heartland (1979), Silkwood and Postcards from the Edge (1990). Von Brandenstein won the Academy Award for her vividly detailed rendering for Amadeus (1984) and her third Oscar nomination for Brian De Palma's The Untouchables (1987). Her additional production credits include Beat Street ,The Money Pit , Sneakers , Six Degrees of Separation , The Quick and the Dead , Mercury Rising , Man on the Moon , The Emperor's Club , All the King's Men , and The Last Station (2009). Most recently, she designed the acclaimed Irish drama Albert Nobbs (2011) and Phil Spector and designed the sets and costumes for the Broadway production of The Anarchist, written and directed by David Mamet.

As previously announced, Turner Classic Movies host Robert Osborne will be the first to receive ADG's newly created William Cameron Menzies Award for championing classic motion pictures. Four legendary women - Production Designer Carmen Dillon, Production and Costume Designer Patricia Norris, Production Designer and Illustrator Dorothea Holt Redmond and Art Director and Set Designer Dianne Wager - will be inducted into the Art Directors Guild (ADG) Hall of Fame. The Outstanding Contribution to Cinematic Imagery Award recipient will be announced in upcoming weeks.

Producers of this years ADG Awards (#ADGawards) are Production Designers Tom Wilkins, James Pearse Connelly and Judy Cosgrove. Nominations for ADG Excellence in Production Design Awards will be announced on January 5, 2016. The ADG will present winners in 11 competitive categories for theatrical films, television productions, commercials and music videos on January 31.

The presenting sponsor for the 20th Annual Awards is DXV by American Standard. Media sponsors include The Hollywood Reporter, Variety and SHOOTonline.

ABOUT THE ART DIRECTORS GUILD:

The Art Directors Guild (IATSE Local 800) represents 2,3

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