Stanley Mouse
Encyclopedia
Stanley George Miller better known as Mouse and Stanley Mouse, is an American
artist
, notable for his 1960s psychedelic
rock concert
poster designs and Grateful Dead
album cover art.
, Miller grew up in Detroit, Michigan
. He was given the nickname Mouse as a ninth grader. He was expelled from Mackenzie High School
in 1956 for mischievously repainting the facade at The Box, a popular restaurant across the street from Mackenzie. Following his junior year at nearby Cooley High School
, Mouse completed his formal education at Detroit's Society of Arts and Crafts.
By 1958, Mouse had become fascinated by the Weirdo Hot Rod art movement that had begun in California a decade earlier. Having developed skills using an airbrush
he began painting t-shirts at custom car
shows. There he met and worked with Ed "Big Daddy" Roth
, the leading exponent of Weirdo Hot Rod art. Mouse was also strongly influenced by the art of Rick Griffin
, with whom he would later collaborate on posters and album covers. In 1959, Mouse and his family founded Mouse Studios, a mail-order company, which sold his products. In 1964, he was invited to help in the design of Monogram
automobile model kits using the "monster" cartoon characters he had developed to compete with Roth's "Rat Fink
" character.
with a group of art school friends. Settling initially in Oakland, Mouse met Alton Kelley. Kelley, a self-taught artist, had recently arrived from Virginia City
, Nevada
, where he had joined a group of hippies who called themselves the Red Dog Saloon gang. Upon arrival in San Francisco Kelley and other veterans of the gang renamed themselves The Family Dog, and began producing rock music dances. In 1966, when Chet Helms
assumed leadership of the group and began promoting the dances at the Avalon Ballroom, Mouse and Kelley began working together to produce posters for the events. Later the pair also produced posters for promoter Bill Graham
and for other events in the psychedelic community.
In 1967, Miller collaborated with artists Kelley, Rick Griffin, Victor Moscoso
and Wes Wilson
to create the Berkeley Bonaparte Distribution Agency. Miller and Kelley also worked together as lead artists at Mouse Studios and The Monster Company - producing album cover
art for the bands Journey
and Grateful Dead
. The Monster Company also developed a profitable line of hot rod
memorabilia.
The psychedelic posters Mouse and Kelley produced were heavily influenced by Art Nouveau
graphics, particularly the works of Alphonse Mucha and Edmund Joseph Sullivan
. Material associated with psychedelics, such as Zig-Zag
rolling papers
, were also referenced. Producing posters advertising for such musical groups as Big Brother and the Holding Company
, Quicksilver Messenger Service
, and Grateful Dead led to meeting the musicians and making contacts that were later to prove fruitful.
where he ran a Yorkville
waterbed store called The Waterbed Gallery -- with the walls featuring his artwork. Mouse returned to California to live in Marin County near Kelley. The pair resumed their partnership in 1971, producing commercial artwork related to the Grateful Dead and later Journey. The pair are credited with creating the skeleton and roses image that became the Grateful Dead's archetypal iconography, and Journey's wings and beetles that appeared on their album covers from 1977 to 1980. Mouse and Kelley continued to work together on rock memorabilia until 1980.
In 1989, Mouse illustrated the cover of The Grateful Dead Family Album
, a photographic music reference book written by Jerilyn Lee Brandelius
.
Mouse continued to produce album cover art and other music-related graphics through the 1980s. Early in the decade, he moved to New Mexico where he began producing fine art in a variety of media. In 1993, Mouse required a liver transplant, which the Grateful Dead raised money to pay for. In 1999, he contributed a portrait of Skip Spence
to the tribute album
, More Oar: A Tribute to the Skip Spence Album
, being a collection of cover versions of songs by the co-founder of Moby Grape
performed by such artists as Beck
, Tom Waits
and Robert Plant
.
Mouse now lives in Sonoma County, California
where he continues to paint. Rockin' Roses Gallery in Healdsburg, California features Stanley's art along with other artists such as Grace Slick, Mickey Hart, Jerry Garcia, Bill and Adrianna Weber and Bob Siedemann. The gallery features the iconic rock posters of the sixties in San Francisco, creations of Mouse and Alton Kelley and also Mouse’s more recent works in oils.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
artist
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
, notable for his 1960s psychedelic
Psychedelic
The term psychedelic is derived from the Greek words ψυχή and δηλοῦν , translating to "soul-manifesting". A psychedelic experience is characterized by the striking perception of aspects of one's mind previously unknown, or by the creative exuberance of the mind liberated from its ostensibly...
rock concert
Rock concert
The term rock concert refers to a musical performance in the style of any one of many genres inspired by "rock and roll" music. While a variety of vocal and instrumental styles can constitute a rock concert, this phenomenon is typically characterized by bands playing at least one electric guitar,...
poster designs and Grateful Dead
Grateful Dead
The Grateful Dead was an American rock band formed in 1965 in the San Francisco Bay Area. The band was known for its unique and eclectic style, which fused elements of rock, folk, bluegrass, blues, reggae, country, improvisational jazz, psychedelia, and space rock, and for live performances of long...
album cover art.
Early life
Born in Fresno, CaliforniaFresno, California
Fresno is a city in central California, United States, the county seat of Fresno County. As of the 2010 census, the city's population was 510,365, making it the fifth largest city in California, the largest inland city in California, and the 34th largest in the nation...
, Miller grew up in Detroit, Michigan
Detroit, Michigan
Detroit is the major city among the primary cultural, financial, and transportation centers in the Metro Detroit area, a region of 5.2 million people. As the seat of Wayne County, the city of Detroit is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan and serves as a major port on the Detroit River...
. He was given the nickname Mouse as a ninth grader. He was expelled from Mackenzie High School
Mackenzie High School (Michigan)
Mackenzie High School was a public secondary education facility in Detroit, Michigan.-The early years: 1928–1940s :Located on Detroit's west side, David Mackenzie High School was named to honor the innovative educator who had served as principal of Central High School, and as first dean of the...
in 1956 for mischievously repainting the facade at The Box, a popular restaurant across the street from Mackenzie. Following his junior year at nearby Cooley High School
Cooley High School
Thomas M. Cooley High School is located at the intersection of Hubbell Avenue and Chalfonte Street, on the northwest side of Detroit, Michigan. The three-story, Mediterranean Revival-style facility opened its doors on September 4, 1928....
, Mouse completed his formal education at Detroit's Society of Arts and Crafts.
By 1958, Mouse had become fascinated by the Weirdo Hot Rod art movement that had begun in California a decade earlier. Having developed skills using an airbrush
Airbrush
An airbrush is a small, air-operated tool that sprays various media including ink and dye, but most often paint by a process of nebulization. Spray guns developed from the airbrush and are still considered a type of airbrush.-History:...
he began painting t-shirts at custom car
Custom car
A custom car is a passenger vehicle that has been modified in either of the following two ways. First, a custom car may be altered to improve its performance, often by altering or replacing the engine and transmission. Second, a custom car may be a personal "styling" statement, making the car look...
shows. There he met and worked with Ed "Big Daddy" Roth
Ed Roth
"Big Daddy" Ed Roth was an artist, cartoonist, custom car painter, and pinstriper who created the hot-rod icon Rat Fink and other extreme characters. As a custom car builder, Roth was a key figure in Southern California's Kustom Kulture and hot-rod movement of the late 50's and 1960's...
, the leading exponent of Weirdo Hot Rod art. Mouse was also strongly influenced by the art of Rick Griffin
Rick Griffin
Richard Alden Griffin was an American artist and one of the leading designers of psychedelic posters in the 1960s. As a contributor to the underground comix movement, his work appeared regularly in Zap Comix. Griffin was closely identified with the Grateful Dead, designing some of their best known...
, with whom he would later collaborate on posters and album covers. In 1959, Mouse and his family founded Mouse Studios, a mail-order company, which sold his products. In 1964, he was invited to help in the design of Monogram
Monogram models
Monogram has been a premier maker of scale models of aircraft, spacecraft, ships, cars, and military vehicles since the early 1950s. The company was formed by two former employees of Comet Kits, Jack Besser and Bob Reder...
automobile model kits using the "monster" cartoon characters he had developed to compete with Roth's "Rat Fink
Rat Fink
Rat Fink is one of the several hot-rod characters created by one of the originators of Kustom Kulture, Ed "Big Daddy" Roth. Roth conceived Rat Fink as an anti-hero answer to Mickey Mouse...
" character.
Psychedelic posters
In 1965. Mouse travelled to San Francisco, CaliforniaSan Francisco, California
San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...
with a group of art school friends. Settling initially in Oakland, Mouse met Alton Kelley. Kelley, a self-taught artist, had recently arrived from Virginia City
Virginia City
Virginia City is a city located in Storey County, Nevada.Virginia City may also refer to:* Virginia City, Montana* Virginia City, Nevada* Virginia City, Virginia* Virginia City , a 1940 film starring Errol Flynn...
, Nevada
Nevada
Nevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its...
, where he had joined a group of hippies who called themselves the Red Dog Saloon gang. Upon arrival in San Francisco Kelley and other veterans of the gang renamed themselves The Family Dog, and began producing rock music dances. In 1966, when Chet Helms
Chet Helms
Chester Leo "Chet" Helms , often called the father of San Francisco's "1967 Summer of Love," was a music promoter and a cultural figure in San Francisco during its hippie period in the late Sixties....
assumed leadership of the group and began promoting the dances at the Avalon Ballroom, Mouse and Kelley began working together to produce posters for the events. Later the pair also produced posters for promoter Bill Graham
Bill Graham (promoter)
Bill Graham was an American impresario and rock concert promoter from the 1960s until his death.-Early life:...
and for other events in the psychedelic community.
In 1967, Miller collaborated with artists Kelley, Rick Griffin, Victor Moscoso
Victor Moscoso
Victor Moscoso is an artist best known for producing psychedelic rock posters/advertisements and underground comix in San Francisco during the 1960s and '70s....
and Wes Wilson
Wes Wilson
Wes Wilson is an American artist and one of the leading designers of psychedelic posters. Most well known for designing posters for Bill Graham of the The Fillmore in San Francisco, he invented a style that is now synonymous with the peace movement, psychedelic era and the 1960s...
to create the Berkeley Bonaparte Distribution Agency. Miller and Kelley also worked together as lead artists at Mouse Studios and The Monster Company - producing album cover
Album cover
An album cover is the front of the packaging of a commercially released audio recording product, or album. The term can refer to either the printed cardboard covers typically used to package sets of 10" and 12" 78 rpm records, single and sets of 12" LPs, sets of 45 rpm records , or the front-facing...
art for the bands Journey
Journey (band)
Journey is an American rock band formed in 1973 in San Francisco by former members of Santana. The band has gone through several phases; its strongest commercial success occurred between the 1978 and 1987, after which it temporarily disbanded...
and Grateful Dead
Grateful Dead
The Grateful Dead was an American rock band formed in 1965 in the San Francisco Bay Area. The band was known for its unique and eclectic style, which fused elements of rock, folk, bluegrass, blues, reggae, country, improvisational jazz, psychedelia, and space rock, and for live performances of long...
. The Monster Company also developed a profitable line of hot rod
Hot rod
Hot rods are typically American cars with large engines modified for linear speed. The origin of the term "hot rod" is unclear. One explanation is that the term is a contraction of "hot roadster," meaning a roadster that was modified for speed. Another possible origin includes modifications to or...
memorabilia.
The psychedelic posters Mouse and Kelley produced were heavily influenced by Art Nouveau
Art Nouveau
Art Nouveau is an international philosophy and style of art, architecture and applied art—especially the decorative arts—that were most popular during 1890–1910. The name "Art Nouveau" is French for "new art"...
graphics, particularly the works of Alphonse Mucha and Edmund Joseph Sullivan
Edmund Joseph Sullivan
Edmund Joseph Sullivan , usually known as E. J. Sullivan, was a British book illustrator who worked in a style which merged the British tradition of illustration from the 1860s with aspects of Art Nouveau.Sullivan was the son of an artist...
. Material associated with psychedelics, such as Zig-Zag
Zig-Zag (company)
Zig-Zag is a brand of rolling papers that originated in France. It is marketed in the USA by National Tobacco, in Europe by Republic Technologies, and in Japan by Tsuge Pipes...
rolling papers
Rolling papers
Rolling papers are small sheets, rolls, or leaves of paper which are sold for rolling one's own cigarettes either by hand or with a rolling machine...
, were also referenced. Producing posters advertising for such musical groups as Big Brother and the Holding Company
Big Brother and the Holding Company
Big Brother and the Holding Company is an American rock band that formed in San Francisco in 1965 as part of the same psychedelic music scene that produced the Grateful Dead, Quicksilver Messenger Service and Jefferson Airplane. They are best known as the band that featured Janis Joplin as their...
, Quicksilver Messenger Service
Quicksilver Messenger Service
Quicksilver Messenger Service is an American psychedelic rock band, formed in 1965 in San Francisco.-Introduction:Quicksilver Messenger Service gained wide popularity in the Bay Area and, through their recordings, with psychedelic rock enthusiasts around the globe and several of their albums ranked...
, and Grateful Dead led to meeting the musicians and making contacts that were later to prove fruitful.
Later career
In 1968, Helms and Graham began turning to other artists for their poster work, and Mouse's career languished. After brief periods in London and Massachusetts, he moved to TorontoToronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
where he ran a Yorkville
Yorkville, Toronto
Yorkville is a district in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, well known for its shopping. It is a former village, annexed by the City of Toronto. It is roughly bounded by Bloor Street to the south, Davenport Road to the north, Yonge Street to the east and Avenue Road to the west, and is considered part of...
waterbed store called The Waterbed Gallery -- with the walls featuring his artwork. Mouse returned to California to live in Marin County near Kelley. The pair resumed their partnership in 1971, producing commercial artwork related to the Grateful Dead and later Journey. The pair are credited with creating the skeleton and roses image that became the Grateful Dead's archetypal iconography, and Journey's wings and beetles that appeared on their album covers from 1977 to 1980. Mouse and Kelley continued to work together on rock memorabilia until 1980.
In 1989, Mouse illustrated the cover of The Grateful Dead Family Album
The Grateful Dead Family Album
The Grateful Dead Family Album is a photographic music reference book by Jerilyn Lee Brandelius, cover art by Stanley Mouse with hundreds of intimate photographs and stories from members of the Grateful Dead and the Dead Family....
, a photographic music reference book written by Jerilyn Lee Brandelius
Jerilyn Lee Brandelius
-Personal life:Jerilyn Lee Brandelius was born June 25, 1948 in La Jolla, California to homemaker Dorothy Anne Reid and Marine Edwin Carl Brandelius II. Jerilyn was the first of five children....
.
Mouse continued to produce album cover art and other music-related graphics through the 1980s. Early in the decade, he moved to New Mexico where he began producing fine art in a variety of media. In 1993, Mouse required a liver transplant, which the Grateful Dead raised money to pay for. In 1999, he contributed a portrait of Skip Spence
Skip Spence
Alexander Lee "Skip" Spence was a Canadian-born musician and singer-songwriter. He was co-founder of Moby Grape, and played guitar with them until 1969. He released one solo album, 1969's Oar, and then largely withdrew from the music industry...
to the tribute album
Tribute album
A tribute album is a recorded collection of cover versions of songs or instrumental compositions. Its concept may be either various artists making a tribute to a single artist, a single artist making a tribute to various artists, or a single artist making a tribute to another single artist.There...
, More Oar: A Tribute to the Skip Spence Album
More Oar: A Tribute to the Skip Spence Album
More Oar: A Tribute to the Skip Spence Album is a 1999 tribute album completed shortly before and released shortly after the death of Moby Grape founding member Skip Spence. The album contains cover versions by various artists of Spence's music from his Oar album, released in 1969, presented in...
, being a collection of cover versions of songs by the co-founder of Moby Grape
Moby Grape
Moby Grape is an American rock group from the 1960s, known for having all five members contribute to singing and songwriting and that collectively merged elements of folk music, blues, country, and jazz together with rock and psychedelic music...
performed by such artists as Beck
Beck
Beck Hansen is an American musician, singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, known by the stage name Beck...
, Tom Waits
Tom Waits
Thomas Alan "Tom" Waits is an American singer-songwriter, composer, and actor. Waits has a distinctive voice, described by critic Daniel Durchholz as sounding "like it was soaked in a vat of bourbon, left hanging in the smokehouse for a few months, and then taken outside and run over with a car."...
and Robert Plant
Robert Plant
Robert Anthony Plant, CBE is an English singer and songwriter best known as the vocalist and lyricist of the iconic rock band Led Zeppelin. He has also had a successful solo career...
.
Mouse now lives in Sonoma County, California
Sonoma County, California
Sonoma County, located on the northern coast of the U.S. state of California, is the largest and northernmost of the nine San Francisco Bay Area counties. Its population at the 2010 census was 483,878. Its largest city and county seat is Santa Rosa....
where he continues to paint. Rockin' Roses Gallery in Healdsburg, California features Stanley's art along with other artists such as Grace Slick, Mickey Hart, Jerry Garcia, Bill and Adrianna Weber and Bob Siedemann. The gallery features the iconic rock posters of the sixties in San Francisco, creations of Mouse and Alton Kelley and also Mouse’s more recent works in oils.