Local artist Curt Chiarelli shows off a partially finished portrait of a local girl on which he’s using some very “old school” oil glazing techiques.
Marcus Larson/News-Register

Chiarelli, who once worked for the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago, uses his knowledge of biology to make his art more realistic.
Marcus Larson/News-Register

Chiarelli works in a variety of media — here, prosthetic makeup for the Judge Dredd character.
Marcus Larson/News-Register

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Maybe it's just coincidence - or maybe not - but an artist known for creating weirdly alien creatures and action heroes has ended up here in McMinnville, one of the main ports of the UFO universe.

"I loved Alien Daze last year, just loved it," said artist Curt Chiarelli. Up to that point, he thought he'd arbitrarily picked McMinnville as his new home, but said, "Then I started to wonder if there were more powerful forces at play."

Hmm. Could be.

Chiarelli has sculpted for himself what many would consider a charmed career.

He started creating story boards for McDonald's at the age of 20, before even graduating from Columbia University. Three years later, he was hired by HBO as its art director - becoming the youngest in the country - for the comedy feature "Men Will Be Boys."

He has been working continuously ever since in a variety of media. He has fabricated exhibits for the Shedd Aquarium in his native Chicago, designed and built stop-motion animation models, created Star Wars toys and action figures for video games, and even painted realistic portraits.

He balks at being asked to wedge his art into any one traditional genre. His genre, it seems, is creativity itself.

"If you cut me, I'll leak paint all over floor," he said. "I'm nuts about art."

In fact, he loves not just art, but the arts - all of them. And the sciences.

"I'm a hard-core fan of classical music," he said. "I love the humanities. And science is like mother's milk to me."

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As a child, Chiarelli played with GI Joes and rubber dinosaurs. He poured liquid vinyl into molds that came with his Creepy Crawler Thingmaker kit. He baked up his own pliable bugs and monsters.

He loved watching monster movies, especially the 1933 version of "King Kong."

The first time he saw the classic movie, he said, it was a transformative experience. "There was immediate ignition, sparks across the synaptic contact points in my brain," he said.

The same thing happened with Chiarelli watched an elephant film on "Sesame Street." Right before his eyes, he recalled, the image dissolved. It was replaced by an artist's hand creating a lifelike elephant from basic shapes.

"It was like, bang!" he said. "I knew what was going on there. Of course, it took me about 20 years to actually be able to do it."

From the time he started formally studying art in high school, he has loved symbolism and surrealism. But he's never seen the point of restricting himself just to those forms.

"I believe in expressing my fullest potential to serve my own species and God," he said. "I can't think of anything more noble than that."

Chiarelli started his career in Chicago, but moved to California in the 1990s to be closer to the movie industry. His work was featured in the Spectrum anthologies, and he got the chance to collaborate with fantasy illustrator Boris Vallejo.

He later created action figures for the "Halo" video game line and worked on the advertising campaign for "The Age of Empires III: The War Chiefs."

He's also done work on commission for Cirque Du Soleil Productions, the Miller Brewing Company, Walt Disney, Capital One, Universal Studios, MTV, IMAX, Nickelodeon, the toymakers Hasbro and Mattel, Dark Horse Comics, the Franklin Mint, the Field Museum of Natural History and many others.

For some projects, he has created figurines based on others' ideas. But his favorite projects are those he gets to see through from beginning to end.

"Those encompass all of my skills," he said. "I don't like to be a cog in some monstrous machine. I prefer to do it all."

Many of his designs are influenced, in some way, by his interest in paleontology and his experiences working at the Shedd Aquarium. His background brings a sense of reality to even the most fantastical creation.

"When I teach kids about fantasy illustration and sculpture," he said, "I say, 'Look to biology, history, sociology. Look at how creatures work within an environment. They should have their own history and mode of dress, their own culture.'"

He finds that missing in many of the special effects he sees coming out of Hollywood these days.

"Too much surface gloss," he said. "They're hollow."

Chiarelli came to Oregon in March 2007, looking for work on an animated film being produced in the Portland area. That didn't work out, but he found a new home in the process.

"I knew people in Portland, particularly one at the H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival, and they said this is a cool, very arts-friendly place," he said.

He chose McMinnville instead of the bigger city, though, partly because he noticed the favorable location, midway between Portland and the coast.

"This town has enormous commercial potential," he said. "I see nothing but opportunity and growth here."

He loves McMinnville's architecture and "turn-of-the-century feel" - the fact that it's not a cookie-cutter version of other places. Although "mass-produced, cheap and fast" is the American way, he said, it's not his way.

"Without artists and visionaries, and people who can look ahead, we still would be living in caves," he said. "Everything that's designed for human function and beauty, from the beautiful buildings downtown to the clothing on your back - everything that's agreeable to look at - is all due to an artist."

Art is not an extra, Chiarelli said. It's an integral part of society. He hates it when art is just seen an afterthought - the first thing that's cut from a budget.

While Chiarelli considers himself forward-thinking, he also looks to the past for inspiration and ideas.

"I'm enamored with older technology, with the early 20th century, when people actually crafted things with care," he said. "I believe in taking the best of every era.

"If there great things in the 18th Century, go ahead and use them. If there are great things today, absolutely use those. Use whatever, but only in ways it enhances your life."

Recently, Chiarelli has been expanding the scope of his art by writing as well as creating images. He plans to build on his longtime habit of writing letters by hand, often up to 25 pages long, using a fountain pen.

"There's something personal about handwriting," he said. "Strokes on the paper with a fountain pen is a very personalized way to communicate. And the gold pen tips wear in a way that uniquely suited to me."

His art has been on display at Currents Gallery. And it is being featured this month at the Ford Street Studio, which is open from 1 to 5 p.m. Thursday through Sunday.

An artist's reception is scheduled at the studio, 207 N.E. Ford St., from 4 to 8 p.m. Saturday, May 16.

In addition to making art, Chiarelli teaches classes at Currents Gallery and Chemeketa Community College. He has also worked with high school students through the Media Arts and Communications Academy.

He is currently leading a series of drawing and polymer clay sculpting classes at the McMinnville Community Center.

"Polymer Creature Sculpting" and "Fundamentals of Illustration," both aimed at students 10 and up, will meet on Thursdays from June 4 to 25, July 9 to 30 and Aug. 13 to Sept. 3. Call the community center at 503-434-7310 for details.

"I enjoy working with budding artists," Chiarelli said with a laugh. "I like to get in there and warp their minds early.

"I tell them to approach life with a sense of excitement and keep their mind open to possibilities. And they lap it up."

Starla Pointer, who is convinced everyone has an interesting story to tell, has been writing the weekly "Stopping By" column since 1996. She's always looking for suggestions. Contact her at 503-883-6263 or spointer@newsregister.com.