It’s only a couple of hundred miles between the Walt Disney studios in Burbank and the Central Coast, but the journey has been transformational for noted animator Mauro Maressa, who is recreating himself in Cambria.
Maressa has been an animator for over 40 years, many of those spent at Walt Disney Animation Studios. At the Mouse House, he’s credited with working on films that impacted a generation, including “The Lion King,” “Hercules,” “The Black Cauldron,” “The Emperor’s New Groove,” “The Princess and the Frog,” and many more.
Now a Cambria resident, Maressa just wrapped up his latest show at the Cambria Center for the Arts, called “Here and Back Again”.
Maressa was born in a small town in the Calabria region of southern Italy. In 1959, his family moved to the US and settled in Massachusetts. His father, a tailor, and his mother, a seamstress, owned their own business and Maressa says they encouraged their three children to follow their dreams.
“I was always interested in art, and my mom and dad constantly encouraged us. They worked until their 80s. They enjoyed what they were doing. We got our work ethic from them,” Maressa said.
Maressa studied sculpture in college and said he fell into animation accidentally, and it started on his honeymoon. He and his wife, Cynthia, took a road trip across the country.
“In the van! Very, very cool,” Maressa recalled. “And we stopped off at Disney on a fluke. I parked the van across the street from the main entrance. I went in there and said, ‘Can I get an interview?’ I had my little portfolio.”
Maressa got that interview, and it was encouraging. The Disney people told him to reach out if he ever moved to California. Six months later, Maressa and Cynthia were on their way to Los Angeles.
He entered the training program at Disney under Eric Larson, one of Walt Disney’s “Nine Old Men,” a group of famed animators who worked at the studio starting in the 1920s.
But like many creative endeavors, there were ups and downs. Maressa was laid off after the training program, and several more times throughout his career.
“(Disney) sent me to Hanna-Barbera. I stayed there for three years. I kept doing tests over and over again. There was a plethora of old Disney, MGM, and Warner Bros. animators there who were incredibly generous with information and loved sharing their craft,” Maressa said.
Eventually, he returned to Disney for a short stint before venturing into live-action films. He worked on movies like “Poltergeist II,” “Big Trouble in Little China” and “Alien 3.”
In 1993, Maressa returned to Disney again and contributed to some of the most pivotal and successful films in animation. The list includes “The Lion King,” “Pocahontas,” “The Hunchback of Notre Dame,” “Hercules” and “The Emperor’s New Groove.”
For Hercules, he won an Annie Award, presented annually by the International Animated Film Association to recognize excellence in animation in American cinema and television.
After another layoff, Maressa said he returned to his first love; sculpture. He spent several years working on notable statues featured at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena and the University of Southern California. He primarily works with clay now, creating imaginative sculptures such as “This is For You and Little Slugger.”
About six years ago, Mauro and Cynthia said goodbye to Hollywood and relocated to Cambria. They opened Maressa Studio Art Gallery, which features a variety of his work, Cynthia’s photography, and works from other local artists.
“In animation, you need to get the footage out right away. Get it out quick because the production has to move forward,” Maressa said. “Here, I can slow down. I’m re-learning to do my own work and think a little more about what I want to put on canvas. I get a lot of inspiration just being around here. The Central Coast is such a visually attractive place.”
Maressa said he’s excited to bring fellow artists he’s worked with over the years to be featured on the Central Coast in the coming year, looking forward to adding more "spice" to the area.
“I spent a lot of time furthering my career, but I never got a chance to focus on what I studied in college and what I did since I was eight years old– creating my own artwork,” Maressa said. “And finally, I got my opportunity when I moved up here– my adventure. I got a chance to go back to doing what I truly love, which is creating my own work.”
You can visit the Maressa gallery year-round in Cambria.
This reporting is made possible by a grant from The Community Foundation, San Luis Obispo County.
