A Tribute to Mary Blair

Inspired by legendary illustrator, concept artist and ride designer Mary Blair. Although a prolific artist individually, illustrating children’s books, advertisements and other forms of commercial media, Mary is best known for her decades long collaborations with Disney starting in the 1940s. She happened to be Walt Disney’s personal favorite of all of his artists, and she spent the next 30 years working as a concept artist for dozens of animated features, to working as a “color stylist”, designing the entire look and color palette of entire films such as Cinderella, Peter Pan, and Alice in Wonderland. In 1964, Mary debuted what eventually became her signature creation, the It’s a Small World ride at the the 1964 New York World’s fair. Walt Disney gave her free reign in designing the ride, and it is a 3D representation of her whimsical and unique artwork. It remains virtually unchanged to this very day, having made its permanent home at Disneyland in 1966.