Esteemed Art Critic Lectures at Colorado State University

Colorado State University will present a public lecture by Christopher Knight, art critic for the "Los Angeles Times," April 21.

Knight’s visit is part of the Critic and Artist Residency Series, a program through which the art department brings national and international artists and art critics to campus. Knight has been the art critic for the "Los Angeles Times" since 1989.

Knight will talk about "Why Americans Hate Art…and Other Thoughts for a Spring Day" at 7 p.m. April 21 in the Lory Student Center Theatre on campus. The lecture is free and open to the public. Knight also will give informal presentations in the Hatton Gallery at 3 p.m. April 19 (a reception will follow), and presentations from noon-1 p.m. April 20 and 21.

Knight has served as the art critic for the "Los Angeles Herald Examiner," as the assistant director for public information at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and as curator of the Museum of Contemporary Art in San Diego. He has published catalog essays for exhibitions at several U.S. museums and his articles have appeared in numerous publications including "The New York Times Book Review," "Art in America," "Art Forum" and "Art Issues." Knight has lectured extensively on 20th century art at American museums and institutions and is the author of two books, "Last Chance for Eden: Selected Art Criticism, 1979-1994" and "Art of the Sixties and Seventies."

Knight received the 1997 Frank Jewett Mather Award for Distinction in Art Criticism and is a five-time recipient of the Chemical Bank Award for Distinguished Newspaper Art Criticism. He also has been awarded a fellowship in critical writing from the National Endowment for the Arts.

The Critic and Artist Residency Series was created from an anonymous $1 million endowment given to the art department in 1997. The program was developed by the art department as a way to put students, faculty and the community in touch with the latest creative thinking and practices in the art world.

In addition to the Critic and Artist Residency Series, the endowment is being used to maintain and enhance the Stanley G. Wold Visual Resource Center, an electronic library housed in the Visual Arts Building on campus.

For more information, call the Hatton Gallery office at (970) 491-7634.