The Art Directors Guild (ADG, IATSE Local 800) announced today that Illustrator/Storyboard Artist Janet Kusnick will be presented with an Art Directors Guild Lifetime Achievement Award by the Illustrators and Matte Artists (IMA) Council. The celebration will take place at the 27th Annual ADG Awards on Saturday February 18, 2023, at the InterContinental Los Angeles Downtown. Making the announcement was Guild President Nelson Coates, ADG and Awards Producers Michael Allen Glover, ADG and Megan Elizabeth Bell, ADG.
Kusnick, who is known for her creative storyboards for Silverado, George of the Jungle, and Kill Bill 2, was selected by ADG’s Illustrators and Matte Artists (IMA) Council. She is one of four artists who will receive Lifetime honors, one for each ADG Council: Art Directors (AD); Set Designers and Model Makers (SDMM); Illustrators and Matte Artists (IMA); and Scenic, Title, and Graphic Artists (STG).
Said ADG Illustrators & Matte Artists Council Chair Tim Wilcox, “For over three decades, forty-four Films and TV Shows (and counting), Janet has been drawing storyboards and set sketches to visualize the script. As a formally trained artist in painting and sculpture, she discovered storyboarding while painting planets for “Buck Rogers in the 25th Century” and 2010: The Year We Make Contact. As there were no formal classes for live-action storyboarding at that time, she taught herself, and learned on the job. We are thrilled to be able to showcase Janet and her amazing career by honoring her with this year’s Lifetime Achievement Award.”
Kusnick’s extensive resume includes Danny Boyle’s 127 Hours, F. Gary Gray’s The Italian Job, Scott Derrickson’s The Day the Earth Stood Still, and John Hillcoat’s The Road. Like many of her colleagues, Kusnick was self-taught, falling in love with storyboarding after training in sculpture and painting. Her first significant motion picture credits were Silverado, directed by Lawrence Kasdan, and George of the Jungle, from director Sam Weisman. Kusnick served as treasurer of Local 800’s Illustrators’ Craft Council and was a member of the Guild’s Scholarship Committee.
As previously announced, Academy Award®-nominated filmmaker Baz Luhrmann (Elvis) and his producing partner and collaborator Academy Award- winning Catherine Martin will receive the prestigious Cinematic Imagery Award. Multi- Academy Award- winning filmmaker Guillermo del Toro (Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio) will be honored with the prestigious William Cameron Menzies Award, celebrating his visually striking and emotionally rich body of work.
The STG Council will present Michael Denering (Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events, Batman Returns, Jurassic Park) with an ADG Lifetime Achievement Award. Two additional awardees from the AD and SDMM Councils will be announced shortly.
The Art Directors Guild’s Excellence in Production Design Awards honor excellence in production design in theatrical motion pictures, television, commercials, music videos and animated feature films. The 2023 ADG Awards will be produced by Art Director Michael Allen Glover, ADG (Station Eleven, The Alienist, Solos) and Production Designer Megan Elizabeth Bell, ADG (Out of the Blue, Breakwater, American Murderer).
ADG Awards are bestowed upon productions filmed in the U.S. by producers signatory to the IATSE agreement and upon foreign entries without restrictions. Further inquiries regarding the ADG Awards may be directed to ADG Awards & Events Director Debbie Patton at (818)762-9995 [email protected].
A complete list of past honorees can be found on ADG’s website.
The ADG awards are proud to be sponsored by Presenting Level: Sweetwater/NEP Live Events; Premier Level: Astek Wallcovering, Cush Light, Dazian; Diamond Level: Paramout Pictures; Unreal Engine; Platinum Level: Goodnight Productions, Innovative Artists, Interior Design Solutions/ Belbien, Pixar, Universal Studios Operations Group, WPA Worldwide Production Agency; Gold Level: WME; Silver Level: First Entertainment Credit Union; Media Sponsors: Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, The Wrap, Below the Line, SHOOTonline.
LIVE STREAM: The 27th Annual ADG Awards will be held live this year and will also be Livestreamed. To register for access to the event Livestream, please CLICK HERE.
