Celebration! A History of the Visual Arts in Boulder

This book commemorates the lively history of the visual arts in Boulder, Colorado. Launched as an unprecedented event in 2016, Celebration! A History of the Visual Arts in Boulder, exhibited the work of 300-plus artists from the 19th century to the present in 18 local venues. Few places the size of Boulder have comprehensively documented their art histories with an inclusive catalogue, as well as city-wide exhibitions and multiple programs. Twenty-six essays in this full-color volume - many by noted writers and art historians - consider the historic, demographic, geographic, institutional, and political conditions that shaped the arts in Boulder, from the early establishment of a Chautauqua through the artists who pioneered and fostered the city's cultural life to the post-WWII introduction of big science, the 1960s counter-culture, the blossoming of the university's art museum, and today's profound ecological concerns. Celebration! looks at varieties of cross-fertilization - such as a visiting artist program that for seven decades has kept local artists in touch with the outside art world ? various micro-schools of art ? for example, the Criss-Cross Collective, Front Range Women in the Visual Arts, or Stan Brakhage and the experimental film movement ? which have been powerful influences affecting social and artistic change locally and nationally. It examines how Boulder artists (for instance, renowned master printmaker Bud Shark), presenters (e.g., Marda Kirn of EcoArts Connections), curators, and other arts supporters who have nourished new ideas and practices that coalesce around individuals and styles in addition to local, regional, national and international interpenetrations. Boulder is notorious for its independent spirit and its rich, vibrant art scene. This book honors that bold history and aims to serve as a lasting legacy for future generations.