Participatory Exhibits at Colorado State University Galleries Invite Public Comments, Visual Responses

Note to Editors: 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 Images are for media use only and the Web address in not for publication.

Two special exhibits at galleries in the Visual Arts Building on Colorado State University’s campus invite public participation and response during this year’s 14th Colorado International Invitational Poster Exhibition.

An open exhibition, called "Graphic Responses," asks designers and design students from around the world to provide their visual responses to world events. Hard copies of posters, along with access to online images, will be exhibited in the Glass Gallery in the Visual Arts Building.  

"During preparation for the international poster show two years ago, we inaugurated a new online poster exhibition," said Linny Frickman, coordinator for the exhibit. "The venue provided a way for artists to respond immediately to issues of social concern, and consequently in the fall of 2003 we found that many artists took on topical issues ranging from the war in Iraq to the SARS epidemic.

"We’re continuing this online element of the program in 2005 with the hope that it will encourage artists from around the world to use visual means to freely express their thoughts and opinions." Frickman added that CSU students will also participate with designs.

In addition, designer Cedomir Kostovic, who was originally from Sarajevo in Bosnia, returns to the international poster exhibit program this year as a juror. He will create a participatory installation called "America" in the Visual Arts Directions Gallery based upon his posters, which have appeared in several CIIPE exhibitions.

Kostovic, who is on the faculty at Southwest Missouri, is known as a consummate teacher of and a tireless advocate for design education. He will join Marta Granados, this year’s honor laureate for the 14th CIIPE, in lectures and workshops for students. Granados is a professor of graphic design at National University in Bogota, Colombia.

Posters from artists invited to the Colorado International Invitational Poster Exhibition 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.

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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