Spaceships & Creatures with Jeff Mann

Jeff Mann grew up in the Los Angeles area during the heyday of car culture and Saturday night cruising. His mechanical talents came in handy as he found himself deeply immersed in the nautical world, rebuilding a 90-foot freighter into a craft capable of circumnavigating the globe. A job offer with a fledgling company called Industrial Light & Magic, started by director George Lucas, fresh off his "Stars Wars" success, led him into another career as a visual effects supervisor for some of the most important films of the recent era, "Minority Report," "A.I. Artificial Intelligence," "Starship Troopers" among them. He eventually left Lucas' branched out into his own company, pairing his artistry with his love of gadgetry and mechanics. Meanwhile, he kept pursuing his art - pencil and pen-and-ink drawings of fantastical creatures.  We dive deep into Mann's career, but we also talk about his love of Ojai. "About 10 years ago after 25 years at LucasFilms' Industrial Light & Magic creating spaceships and creatures, working on visual effects for dozens of films and helping to run that Studio I decided to step away from that work," he said. "In my opinion I had seen the best of it. It was time to pursue my own artwork." "Lis and I had been coming to Ojai together as she had grown up in Ojai and had family here. We decided Ojai was a unique small town with a creative streak and history that suited us well. A good place to begin the next phase of our journey. We bought an old house in the East End and spent the next year making it livable. "We rebuilt that place and created a couple of art studios on the property. In the process we learned some new things, made some art, got to know the town and found our community," he said. Mann also talked about his friendship with Guy Webster, the incredible auction prices for Star Wars X-fighters and much more. We did not talk about George Perry's 90-year-old record for largemouth bass, the Boston Celtics or the lost wax method.