Preserving the magic of Disney

The Disney archives are a vast resource of over 65 million drawings, sketches, and digital paintings, spanning over 100 years of Disney magic. The exhibition at Tākina Wellington Convention and Exhibition Centre is a curated selection of these works, hand-picked by Mary Walsh and her team. The exhibition explores the stories of Mickey Mouse, Mufasa, Moana, and more.

Mary celebrated 30 years working for Disney in 2024. Ending up in her position was not expected. “I came in on a contract for a couple of months to help with recruitment. I’m still here,” she says. Her skills lie in overseeing how all the cogs keep moving — a job she loves.“ I can barely draw a stick figure, but I get to work in an environment with hugely creative people. It’s fun, challenging, and very rewarding.” Mary says the fun she witnesses in her role is on display in the exhibition. “You can dance in the ballroom from ‘Beauty and the Beast’ or pose with Elsa and Olaf from ‘Frozen’. Crank the handle of a zoetrope [a pre-film animation device that produces the illusion of motion] and watch Donald Duck jump, or walk around with a clipboard practising your own artistic skills.”

It’s the inspiration these artists offer that drives much of the archive’s purpose. According to Mary, Walt Disney and his brother Roy knew the value of archiving movie artwork, so they made sure drawings were kept and documented. Future artists would be able to use them as a reference point to enhance their own work. Mary uses ‘Cinderella’ and ‘Frozen’ as examples. The artists for ‘Frozen’ wanted to connect Elsa’s transformation in ‘Let it Go’ to Cinderella’s famous dress transformation scene in 1950. “They studied the patterns of stars in the scene using original artwork from the archive.” 

Disney: The Magic of Animation has been on the road since 2015, and it continues to evolve. In its Wellington iteration, ‘Moana 2’ has been added to the lineup of featured animated movies. For Mary, it’s important to engage local audiences and with Moana’s Pacific themes, it was an obvious choice. “Timing was so fortunate — it was only released in November, but we wanted the exhibition to be as up to date as possible.”