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Mission Statement: The Pacific Pinball Museum (PPM) is a non-profit organization dedicated to teaching science, art and history through pinball, and to preserve and promote one of America's great pastimes.

Thanks to our Sponsors: Autodesk, Clear Channel, Fuze Beverages, Alameda Sun, Chabot Space and Science Center, the Exploratorium, John Kistner State Farm Insurance, and Warren Law Group PC

Pinball Art: Fine Art Exhibition

One of the most outstanding features of the Pacific Pinball Museum is the growing collection of hand-painted murals of pinball backglass art that grace the walls.

L to R: Eric Kos, Dan Fontes, Larry Zartarian, Doug MacFarland and Ed Cassel

We are fortunate to have a dedicated artist on the Board of Directors, Dan Fontes, who spearheaded this project and brought artists Ed Cassel and Eric Kos into the fold.

In the planning stages of the first ever Pacific Pinball Exposition, 2007, when it was becoming clear that over 300 antique machines would be assembled for the public to play at San Rafael’s Marin County Civic Center, Dan Fontes came up with an excellent use of the 20’ high walls of the interior of the Exposition Hall. He suggested doing a mural of a pinball backglass and within weeks began painting an 8 X 10 foot canvas of Gottlieb's Majorettes. The game Majorettes recalls an optimistic moment in America’s history when the future was bright with promise. College students are taking the field with squeaky clean faces and freshly pressed uniforms to cheer on the home team.

Dan Fonte's Houseboat Basement studio, 2007.

Working in the cramped basement of his houseboat in Sausalito, painting over a canvas that had previously been used as a backdrop for former Governor Jerry Brown’s inaugural in Oakland (from 1999), Dan painted a massive reproduction of the 1965 Gottlieb backglass called Majorettes. Because the houseboat had only 5' 7" of height the mural had to be painted on it's side and rolled on both ends like a scroll-just three feet at a time, left to dry, rolled out again and painted over again and again until finished.

Since most pinball events included very little, if any, pinball related artworks, this might be a way to secure the reputation of the new Pacific Pinball Exposition as one of the serious shows. Even the Chicago Exposition, a show that had been around almost 25 years and the home of pinball manufacturing, had little in the way of artwork on display.

Most, if not all, attendees to Pacific Pinball Expo #1 did not recognize that Majorettes had been painted by hand, perhaps mistaking it for a digital Mylar reproduction. A few insiders stood in wonder gazing up at the mural.

Between 2007 and 2008, well known Bay Area mural painter and illustrator Ed Cassel joined in to create marvels such as 2001 and Double Up. And so it began.

Ed Cassel painting Double Up and later working on 2001

After the success of the first mural and with Ed Cassel and Dan working on more murals, it was decided to make Pinball Art the main theme of the 2nd Annual PPE.

Hanging of Dan Fontes' Skyraiders at the 2008 PPE

In 2008 at the 2nd PPE, Dan Fontes made an announcement on Saturday that if anyone would step up to the plate and buy any of the murals for sale, he would donate the entire proceeds to the museum. One person, Steve Tsubota, rose to the occasion and purchased Majorettes for $7,500 and then turned around and donated the mural to the museum.

Steve Tsubota at California Extreme, 2006

Today, the ten canvases presented here represent weeks of meticulous work with small brushes. Some of these larger pieces like Scuba, Sky Raiders, Wonderland and Mermaid have taken months of 10 hour days to create.

Murals from the 2008 PPE Dan Fontes works on Mermaids

In 2010 Eric Kos joined the mural team creating a 10' x 10' reproduction of El Dorado one of Gottlieb's most legendary titles.

Eric Kos' first mural El Dorado hangs next to it's namesake at the PPM.

Also in 2010, Ed Cassel organized a show of all the murals at Oakland's world renowned Art Murmur in the Uptown Autobody Art Gallery. Hundreds of people were treated to an incredible opening and were blown away by the huge canvases on display.

Ad for the Mural Show in Oakland's Art Murmur Ed Cassel reflecting on Scuba

This year's pinball backglass murals, now in progress, will include Williams' Skyway, Gottlieb's Joker and Gottlieb's Out of Sight.

Dan Fontes' work in progress, Skyway.

Ed Cassel and Dan Fontes in front of Joker , a work in progress.

Eric Kos with his latest mural in Progress, Gottlieb's 1975 Out Of Sight.

Today the Pacific Pinball Exposition, hosted by Alameda’s Pacific Pinball Museum (a 501c3 non-profit organization,) is going into it’s 5^th year and will display over 400 machines. The Pacific Pinball Exposition is the largest pinball show in the World.

Please join us to celebrate this artistic achievement at the Pacific Pinball Expo on September 23rd, 24th and 25th, 2011 at the Marin County Civic Center.

Also stop by and see the current lineup of murals at the museum: Skyraiders, Skyway, Double Up, El Dorado, Majorettes and Fireball.

One of the primary purposes of our Museum is to introduce people to the incredible world of coin op art and in particular, pinball art. Our gallery curator Melissa Harmon produced a fantastic show about Art Galleries and Museums that have displayed Pinball as fine art.

Pinball Art: Fine Art