Donna Meistrich

Donna Meistrich (born February 28, 1954) is a San Francisco wax carver, model maker, painter, sculptor, jewelry designer and animator. She is the co-creator of the Tacky People animated series with her animating partner, co-creator Terry Blumberg.

Early life

Meistrich was born in Brooklyn, New York to Syd and Pearl Meistrich and was the oldest of three children. Growing up on Long Island with her two younger brothers, she graduated Northport High School in 1972. She also attended the Academy of Art College from 1974 to 1978 in San Francisco, where she majored in illustration and graphic design.

Artistic career

Meistrich began carving wax and making models in 1974. She won first place in the Tahitian Trophy Competition for North America Earrings Division in 2004-2005. She worked in advertising and designing products as an independent designer. She worked on accounts like Harley-Davidson and Rolling Stone magazine. After leaving advertising to make jewelry professionally, she continued her education at the College of Marin.

Meistrich's work is best known in movies. She carved a ring for Jim Carrey to wear in The Truman Show. She built a Dolphin ring that was used in the movie Independence Day. She also created the mesmerizer and various spider props in the movie Wild Wild West with Will Smith.

Tacky People

In 1987, Donna began developing the concept of Tacky People through her jewelry and through her figurine design. In 1978, she met Terry Blumberg at a drawing class at City College of San Francisco. The duo became instant friends and began collaborating on the Tacky People cartoon in 1988. The concept behind the Tacky People figurines was that they were characters that brought positive energy to people who bought them. The characters were designed to be outrageously tacky and make people laugh.

In the 1990s, the duo decided to turn the Tacky people into an animated series. After several aborted attempts and after building a website, the duo added the Negs. The Negs are the nemesis of the Tacky People. They live in the Land of No and represent very negative feelings.

In 2009, the project came together when the duo hired writer, Tony DiGerolamo, to write the series bible and pilot script to outline a more detailed world for the Tacky People. The pilot is currently in production.

Other work

Donna continues to work in various media including wax, clay, wood, plaster, stone and cast paper. She has made master models for snow villages, porcelain objects, dolls, toys and gifts. Donna volunteers every year at the Italian Street Painting Festival creating 8'x6' chalk drawings since 1994.