13th International Poster Exhibition Opens Sept. 12 at Colorado State: Opening Weekend Includes Honor Laureate Presentation, Reception, Play

More than 190 original posters created by the world’s most acclaimed artists will be showcased on the Colorado State University campus at the 13th Colorado International Invitational Poster Exhibition beginning Sept. 12. The six-week-long exhibition, the only international poster presentation organized in the United States, features works by over 100 graphic artists from 35 countries. The posters feature international perspectives on contemporary political, social and cultural issues. The exhibition is free and open to the public. Updated exhibition information is available on the Web at http://www.colostate.edu/Depts/Art/poster.

The exhibition’s honor laureate is world-renowned artist, design consultant and film maker Chaz Maviyane-Davies. For several years Maviyane-Davies operated a design studio in Harare, Zimbabwe, and is presently teaching graphic design at Massachusetts College of Art in Boston.

Opening ceremonies for the 13th Colorado International Invitational Poster Exhibition, featuring work by the honor laureate, exhibition directors and high-school students, will take place from 5-7 p.m. Sept. 11 at the Fort Collins Lincoln Center. The evening will include a presentation by Maviyane-Davies, student award presentations and a guest reception.  

The international poster show officially opens with a reception from 7-9 p.m. Sept. 12 at the Visual Arts Building on the Colorado State campus. During the reception, exhibition winners will be announced and a poster sale will take place in the Hatton and Curfman galleries, located in the Visual Arts Building and Lory Student Center, respectively. A limited number of copies of exhibition posters, as well as exhibition catalogs, will be available for purchase.

As a special feature of the exhibition’s opening weekend ceremonies, Colorado State’s Department of Music, Theatre and Dance will present a special encore performance of "A Lesson From Aloes" by South African playwright Athol Fugard. The play, which sold out to audiences in the spring, addresses issues related to apartheid. The play is directed by Laura Jones and features Thomas Sutherland. The performance will take place at 8 p.m. on Sept. 13 in Johnson Hall on the Colorado State campus. For ticket information, call (970) 491-5116 after Aug. 25.

Posters from the international poster show’s invited artists will fill the Clara Hatton and Curfman Galleries on the Colorado State campus through Oct. 24. In addition, posters by exhibition directors and high-school students from the Poudre School District will be displayed in the Fort Collins Lincoln Center, 417 W. Magnolia St. Exhibits will remain open 8:30 a.m.-4 p.m. weekdays and 1-4 p.m. Saturdays throughout the exhibition.

Honor laureate Maviyane-Davies has exhibited around the world and has been honored with numerous awards for his work, including winning the international design competition for the National Library and Documentation Service in Zimbabwe; earning the bronze medal at the 11th Biennale of Graphic Design Brno, Czechoslovakia; and winning several gold, silver and bronze awards for best design in television and advertising from AAZ in Zimbabwe. Maviyane-Davies also was named "Visual Artist of the Year 1993" by the National Arts Council of Zimbabwe.

The 13th exhibition catalog will include reproductions of poster images as well as information from the artists themselves. Artists will address how the information age has changed poster design, how posters are used in different countries and locales, how posters are restricted or distributed and what types of posters are produced with frequency in different parts of the world.

In addition to the main exhibits at Colorado State and at the Lincoln Center, satellite poster exhibits will be held throughout the Front Range as part of the international exhibition.

    The Fort Collins Museum of Contemporary Art will host an exhibition titled "AIDS in Africa: Awareness Posters." The show is open Sept. 2-Oct. 24, with an opening reception from 7-9 p.m. Sept. 26. Museum hours are Tuesday through Friday 10 a.m.-6 p.m. and Saturday noon-5 p.m.

    The Colorado State University Morgan Library’s First National Bank Gallery will host an exhibition titled "Contemporary Russian Posters: The Art of Vladimir Chaika." The show is open Sept. 8-Dec. 5. Gallery hours are Monday through Thursday 7 a.m.-midnight, Friday 7 a.m.-10 p.m., Saturday 9 a.m.-10 p.m. and Sunday noon-midnight.

    The Fort Collins Museum will feature posters by artist Sam English. The show is open Aug. 22-Oct. 26, with an opening reception from 5:30-7 p.m. Aug. 29. Museum hours are 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and noon-5 p.m. Sunday.

    The University of Northern Colorado will host a satellite exhibition titled "Contemporary Chinese Posters" in the Oak Room Gallery Sept. 17-Oct. 10. An opening reception will be held from 4-6 p.m. Sept. 17.

In addition, an online satellite show will feature recent work from invited artists whose posters focus on current political happenings and social concerns. The online show, titled Graphic Responses, will be available on the Web at http://www.colostate.edu/Depts/Art/poster beginning Sept. 1.

This year’s exhibition is coordinated by Linny Frickman, art history lecturer and director of the Hatton Gallery. Fort Collins designer Phil Risbeck, art Instructor Bob Coonts and graphic art Professor John Gravdahl are exhibition co-directors.

The poster exhibition is presented by Colorado State, Fort Collins Lincoln Center, Poudre

School District, Fort Collins Chamber of Commerce and the Fort Collins Convention and Visitors Bureau. Financial sponsors include Nita Crisp by All Occasions Catering, Colorado State’s Department of Art, Arts Alive, Colorado Council on the Arts and Fort Fund from the city of Fort Collins.

The poster exhibition was first organized in 1979 by a group of Colorado State art professors and Fort Collins designers, including Risbeck, Coonts, Shelton Stanfill, Miriam Harris and John Sorbie.

Posters in the show have historically mirrored the issues of foremost public concern, and this year’s exhibition continues the tradition through the artists’ exploration of global peace, environmentalism, human rights, social justice and concerns with corporate consumer culture. At the 10th biennial event in 1997, artists addressed concern over ecology, racism, war in Bosnia and political and religious tensions in the Middle East. In the ninth biennial event in 1995, artists addressed concern over the spread of AIDS and the survival of endangered species. During the seventh biennial event in 1991, a number of works reflected the fall of the Soviet Union and political shifts in Eastern Europe.

For additional information about the 13th Colorado International Invitational Poster Exhibition, contact Colorado State University’s Clara Hatton Gallery at (970) 491-7634, Monday through Friday from 9 a.m.- 4 p.m.