Preserving Pixie Dust: Inside the Walt Disney Imagineering Art Collection

Step inside the art vault at Walt Disney Imagineering to learn how Imagineers preserve the artwork that brings your favorite Disney experiences to life. From Disney Legend Mary Blair’s collages to fellow Disney Legend Dorothea Redmond’s watercolors, the collection team will share a behind-the-scenes look at the processes that go into preserving Imagineering’s artistic legacy, while highlighting lesser-known artists and artwork from Disneyland® Resort’s history.

The Walt Disney Imagineering Art Collection maintains and preserves more than 200,000 individual original hand-rendered and digital works of art, showcasing the creativity of thousands of Imagineers who bring the Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, Disney Cruise Line® fleet, and other projects to life. In 2023, the collection team began a legacy preservation initiative utilizing a state-of-the-art cultural heritage scanner to capture high-resolution images of iconic and unseen artwork from 70+ years of Imagineering’s history. Beyond digitization, the project prioritizes preventative conservation care, object rehousing, cataloging, and curation.

Children under 12 years of age must be accompanied by an adult who shall be responsible for the child at all times.

Tickets for Preserving Pixie Dust: Inside the Walt Disney Imagineering Art Collection will be available as follows:

• Walt’s Circle Donors: Purchase tickets beginning Tuesday, May 12 at noon PT by emailing membership@wdfmuseum.org.
• Founding, Supporter, and Friend-level members: Purchase tickets beginning Wednesday, May 13 at noon PT by emailing membership@wdfmuseum.org.
• All member levels: Tickets available beginning Thursday, May 14 at noon PST via the Member Portal.
• Public (non-members): Remaining tickets available beginning Friday, May 15 at noon PST online.

Join as a member or upgrade your current membership to receive priority access and discounts to programs like these. For more information, please visit our Membership page.

Gabrielle Biasi is a Senior Art Collection Specialist at Walt Disney Imagineering and is part of the team that digitizes, catalogs, curates, and researches the artwork of the more than 1,700 artists within the Walt Disney Imagineering Art Collection. She holds a B.A. in studio art from the University of California, Los Angeles, and is currently pursuing a Master of Library and Information Science at San José State University. She previously held positions at The City Art Collection of Los Angeles and NBCUniversal.

Sara Rouse is a Senior Art Collection Specialist with the Walt Disney Imagineering Art Collection, working on the legacy preservation initiative with the priorities of digital imaging, cataloging, curation and preventative care of concept artwork. Before joining Imagineering, Rouse worked as an archivist and collection manager for private collectors of contemporary fine art, artists’ estates, and artists’ studios. Rouse received her M.F.A. in Visual Art from the University of Chicago in 2015.

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