A set of five Google-coloured clay balls spring to life on Google's home page as a tribute to Arthur 'Art' Clokey, a pioneer in the art of stop motion clay animation.
2011-October-Art-Clokey-90th-birthday-Google-Doodle
Past Doodles have at times been interactive such as The Muppets and its creator Jim Henson, what would have been Freddie Mercury‘s 65th birthday, Les Paul the guitar hero and so on.

Born in Detroit, Michigan, Art Clokey began experimenting with stop-motion clay animation in the 50′s. He and his wife created the Gumbasia project, which morphed into the Gumby series. Gumby has remained popular more or less ever since, even spawning a movie as recently as the mid-90′s.

Art Clokey died in 2010 and is remembered today as one of the key figures in American animation. His influence extends to many of the 20th century’s key animators, ranging from the likes of the Czech Republic’s Jan Svankmajer to Britain’s own Tony Hart.

The Gumby Google Doodle features a wooden block for the "G," with clay balls following the Google color scheme sitting in a row, just waiting for you to click and bring them to life. Gumby, in place of the "L," gives a wave when you land on the page, pointing to the clay balls. At the top of the screen, "Art Clokey’s 90th Birthday" links to the search results page for Clokey.

Hovering over each clay ball causes it to compress; moving away releases it to full shape... but when you click on them, they come to life.

Google doodles have gained immense popularity over the past few years and the Google team has put out commemorative doodles on events ranging from news events, civic milestones, birthdays, death anniversaries and important dates in history.

Google estimates it has created more than 900 doodles since 1998, with 270 of them running in 2010 and about 200 in 2011.

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