Celebrating 50 years of Gumby

Five decades after Gumby first captured the nation’s imagination, the little green guy and his chums are starring in a new art exhibit.

“Gumby is an icon,” said Diane Gibson-Gray, 49, executive director of the Arts and Cultural Foundation of Antioch, which is sponsoring the monthlong exhibit “Gumby and Friends: The First 50 Years” at the Lynn House Gallery in Antioch, about 45 miles northeast of San Francisco.

The Antioch exhibit is the first event planned this year to commemorate the 50 years since Art Clokey made a short art film called “Gumbasia,” featuring clay animation set to jazz music. It inspired the television series that debuted a year later in 1956. Clokey, now 83, attended the opening of the exhibit last weekend.

In mid-June, the Museum of the Moving Image in New York City will open a six-month exhibit about Gumby and creator Clokey. The first Gumby video game and a DVD of Gumby shows from the 1980s are scheduled for release this summer.