International Poster Exhibition Opening Ceremonies, Events Coming to Region Beginning Sept. 9 at Colorado State

Note to Editors: Print quality, downloadable images of posters in the 14th Colorado International Invitational Poster Exhibition and from honor laureate Marta Granados are available at welcome.colostate.edu/poster_show or by calling Jennifer Dimas in the University Relations Office at (970) 491-1543. Images are for media use only and the Web address in not for publication.

The Fort Collins and regional community is welcome to attend opening ceremonies and related activities during the 14th Colorado International Invitational Poster Exhibition. The only exhibition of its kind in the United States, the show highlights excellence in poster design from around the world. This year, work by 86 artists from 34 countries will be featured.  

The exhibition features the work of Colombian designer Marta Granados, honor laureate for the 14th exhibition. Granados has carried out important projects for the Ministry of Culture, the Colombian Foreign Office, and the Museum of Modern Art in her native Colombia. Her professional work has been primarily related to the cultural and ecological activity of Colombia and promoting a positive visual identity for the people of her country. She is professor of graphic design at the National University.

Posters from the artists invited to the international poster show will fill the Clara Hatton and Curfman Galleries on Colorado State’s campus from Sept. 9 through Oct. 14. In addition, posters by the honor laureate, exhibition directors and high school students from the Poudre School District will hang in the Fort Collins Lincoln Center, 417 W. Magnolia St. Both exhibitions are free and open to the public. The exhibitions will remain open 9 a.m.-4 p.m. weekdays and 1-4 p.m. Saturdays through Oct. 14.

The international poster show officially opens with a reception from 7-9 p.m. Sept. 9 at the Visual Arts Building at Colorado State. During the evening, 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 will be available. Catalogs also will be available for purchase.

Opening ceremonies for the exhibition of work by the honor laureate, exhibition directors and high school students will be from 5-7 p.m. Sept. 10 at the Fort Collins Lincoln Center. The evening will include a presentation by the laureate, student award presentation and a reception.

The poster exhibition was first organized in 1979 by a group of Colorado State art professors and Fort Collins designers, including Phil Risbeck, Shelton Stanfill, Bob Coonts, Miriam Harris and John Sorbie. This year’s exhibition is coordinated by Linny Frickman, art professor and director of the Hatton Gallery. Risbeck, art Instructor Bob Coonts and graphic art Professor John Gravdahl are exhibition co-directors.

Posters in the show have historically mirrored the issues of foremost public concern. For example, in the 10th biennial event in 1997, artists explored issues in 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 event in 1991, a number of works reflected the fall of the Soviet Union and political shifts in Eastern Europe.

Following is a schedule of events, including satellite poster shows that are part of the international exhibition.

14th Colorado International Invitational Poster Exhibition

Hatton Gallery, Visual Arts Building; and Curfman Gallery, Lory Student Center, Colorado State University

Sept. 9-Oct. 14

Opening reception and poster sale, 7-9 p.m. Sept. 9, Hatton Gallery, Visual Arts Building

Honor Laureate, Directors and High-School Exhibition

Lincoln Center, 417 W. Magnolia St., Fort Collins

Sept. 10-Oct. 28

Opening reception, 5-7 p.m. Sept. 10

Felipe Taborda: Cultural Posters of Brazil

Fort Collins Museum of Contemporary Art, 201 S. College Ave., Fort Collins

Aug. 30-Oct. 22

Gallery talk with Felipe Taborda, 3 p.m. Sept. 10; opening reception 7-9 p.m. Sept. 10.

Designing Women: Selections from the International Poster Collection

First National Bank Gallery at the Morgan Library, CSU

Sept. 6-Dec. 16

Opening reception and gallery talk with Phil Risbeck, art professor, and Marta Granados, special guest of the International Poster Exhibition. Work will include posters by premier women artists several of whom have been jurors for past international poster exhibitions, including Paula Scher, Rosemarie Tissi and Luba Lukova.

5:30-7 p.m. Sept. 6

America: An Installation by Cedomir Kostovic

Directions Gallery, Visual Arts Building, CSU

Sept. 9-Sept. 30

Graphic Responses: An Online Exhibition

Glass Gallery, Visual Arts Building, CSU

Sept. 7-Sept. 30

Art Covers Science: Winds of Change, the Magazine of the American Indian Science and Engineering Society (in conjunction with the 3rd Annual Crossroads at Council Tree Native American Music Festival)

Fort Collins Museum, 200 Mathews Street, Library Park, Fort Collins

Aug. 23-Oct. 30

Opening reception, 5-8 p.m. Sept. 2

Visiting Critic: Rick Poynor (in conjunction with the Critic and Artist Residency Series)

University Center for the Arts, 1400 Remington St., Fort Collins

Public lecture: 6 p.m. Oct. 12

The 14th Colorado International Invitational Poster Exhibition is sponsored by the Department of Art and is made possible through donations from the Colorado Council on the Arts, Fort Fund from the city of Fort Collins and Citizen Printing.

All events are free and open to the public. Exhibition information is available on the Web at www.colostate.edu/Depts/Art/poster or by calling (970) 491-7634.

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