(STOCKBRIDGE, Mass.) – In conjunction with its exhibition ‘Ice Age’ to the Digital Age: The 3D Animation Art of Blue Sky Studios, Norman Rockwell Museum will present an animation career day on Saturday, October 22, 2011, from 1 to 4 pm. The program will offer the rare opportunity to meet with staff from Blue Sky Studios, creators of such acclaimed feature length films as Robots, the Ice Age series, and Rio.

Working professionals will discuss the narrative, artistic, and technical skills that make modern animation possible, and explore the range of opportunities available to aspiring creators. Talks and tours of ’Ice Age’ to the Digital Age will provide a rare chance to network with an accomplished team of artists working in diverse aspects of the field.

Members of the Blue Sky Studios creative team scheduled to appear include Brian Anderson, rigging; William Frake III, story and layout artist; Sabine Heller, character technical director; Aditi Kapoor, materials technical director; and Antelmo Villarreal, assembly technical director.

Joining the Blue Sky Studios team will be representatives from colleges with related programs, including Fashion Institute of Technology, Hartford Art School, Springfield College, and the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

The exhibition ‘Ice Age’ to the Digital Age: The 3D Animation Art of Blue Sky Studios is on  view through October 31, 2011. The exhibit takes viewers behind the scenes with a look at the world of digital animation with the artists of Blue Sky Studios.

This first-ever exhibition brings art and technology together to explore how visual concepts are transformed into believable worlds for the big screen. Rarely-seen original character drawings, storyboards, and background paintings reflect the conceptual process, and a recreated sculpture studio will bring you face-to-face with Blue Sky’s amazing sculptural maquettes. Interactive stations reveal how today’s stunning computer generated imagery is built, from initial concept to finished frame.

Blue Sky Studios is the Academy Award-winning, feature CG animation studio behind the wildly successful Ice Age franchise.  Using their propriety rendering software, CGI Studio, Blue Sky creates photo-realistic, high-resolution, computer-generated character animation and rendering to create timeless stories for children of all ages.

Norman Rockwell Museum is located on 36 park-like acres in Stockbridge, Mass., Rockwell’s hometown for the last 25 years of his life. The museum is open year-round. From May through October, hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily; from November through April, hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday, and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekends and holidays. Rockwell’s studio is open May through October, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.. Museum admission is $16 for adults, $14.50 for seniors, $10 for college students, $5 for kids and teens 6 to 18, and free for kids 5 and under (five per adult). Antenna Audio Tour of select paintings from the Museum’s permanent Norman Rockwell collection is available. For more information, the public is invited to visit Norman Rockwell Museum or call 413.931.2221.