Finding Treasure in a Tsunami of Tchotchkes

SF Gate recently ran an article highlighting one of Disneyland’s most unusual jobs, and I was absolutely delighted to read their write up on the talented artists that work in the little Silhouette Studio Shop on Main Street USA.

Bob Carlson works on a pet silhouette at the Silhouette Studio in Disneyland in Anaheim, Calif., on Nov. 30, 2023. Photo by Ashley Hayes-Stone for SF Gate.

Nostalgic elegance is the best way to describe these unique keepsakes, and seeing as I'm a sucker for nostalgia, I still have my very first silhouette of my mom and I, cut during our very first visit to Disneyland in 1990! I've added a few more to my collection since then, but my most recent silhouette was cut in November ‘23, by a very talented cast member named Jan-- who was the nicest, sweetest person ever! Here's a video of her talking to me while she was busy working.

This special silhouette was in commemoration of my beloved Oakland terrier, Lillian, who passed away on August 21, 2023 at 15 years old.

Her regal profile stands right above her urn, and is the most apropos memorial for my majestic best-good-girl.

I'm always impressed by how silhouette artists manage to infuse so much personality / character into a very binary simple medium. Believed to have its origins in either Ancient Rome or Chinese papercutting, silhouettes gained popularity in the 18th and 19th centuries because it was accessible to people of more modest means, who couldn't afford to have portraits painted. By tracing and filling in the sitter's profile with ink on paper, the "poor man's portrait" were an inexpensive way to have an accurate keepsake of a loved one's likeness. (Vive l'egalite, indeed!)

While the silhouettes at Disneyland are definitely not "cheap" in any sense of the word, I’m thrilled to know, that the popularity of this ephemeral souvenir means this lovely art tradition is still being kept alive, and passed on for a whole new generation to treasure, in spite of the tsunami of tawdry tchotchkes that flood the theme parks.