BOULDER, COLO.- Celebration! A History of the Visual Arts in Boulder (HOVAB) is a once-in-a-lifetime, seminal exhibition event that launches September 29, 2016 and closes January 15, 2017.

Boulder, Colorado, is notorious for its independent spirit and its rich and vibrant art scene. So it’s no surprise that HOVAB has assembled a unique and unprecedented cultural event that will honor the city’s dynamic and diverse visual artists, from the late 19th century to the present. Through paintings, photographs, experimental and narrative films, sculpture, crafts, and more, HOVAB will explore Boulder's vivid past and celebrate its present to create a living archive and lasting legacy for future generations to come.

HOVAB exhibits will be held in 18 venues, featuring over 300 artists and even more works of art. Exhibition venues include Boulder’s Dairy Arts Center, the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art, the Boedecker Theater, the Canyon Gallery at the Boulder Public Library, the National Center for Atmospheric Research, and many others.

HOVAB exhibits include

• paintings by the pioneers of art and culture in Boulder from the 19th century to the 1950s;

• a dazzling and often amusing array of Boulderite portraits by Boulder artists;

• films by internationally renowned Stan Brakhage;

• retrospectives of the 1970s Criss-Cross Collective, featuring George Woodman and Clark Richert, and of Front Range Women in the Visual Arts, who were in the national forefront of the neo-feminist movement;

• the work of Boulder artists, such as Ana María Hernando and Betty Woodman, who have collaborated with Shark’s Ink, known throughout Europe and the United States for unique printmaking partnerships with more than 160 artists worldwide;

• landscape, a profound focus from the beginning for Boulder artists and photographers, such as Robert Adams, will be explored in a variety of exhibitions;

• a review of some of the essential work of EcoArts Connections, which, in a city that is home to five Nobel laureates, has long examined the intersection of arts and sciences;

• HOVAB will honor Boulder’s devotion to artist books and the book arts, including Caldecott-awarded children’s book illustrators, the city’s many small presses, as well as Boulder’s role in furthering Western Buddhist traditions through Naropa University’s founder, Chogyam Trungpa, Rinpoche;

• And much, much more that will draw visitors from far and wide.

In addition to the exhibits, the project will feature staggered opening receptions at each venue and 42 adjunct programs, such as panel discussions looking at the artistic economy, art and aging, diversity, marginalized communities, science and art, and emerging artists. All HOVAB-sponsored events will be free and open to the public.

Few cities the size of Boulder have ever comprehensively documented their art histories with a both a catalogue and city-wide exhibitions. HOVAB will consider the historical, demographic, geographical, institutional and political conditions that generated Boulder's artistic efflorescence, to look at varieties of cross-fertilization, how micro-schools of art that emerged in Boulder were powerful influences affecting social and artistic change locally and nationally, how Boulder artists and art supporters nourished ideas and practices that coalesced around individuals and styles, and local, regional, national, and international interpenetrations.

HOVAB is dedicated to the memory of Karen Ripley-Dugan, a pillar of Boulder's arts community, who was an original member of the HOVAB committee until her passing on July 29, 2015. The committee includes Jennifer Heath, Chair, Sally Elliott, Kathy Mackin, Joan Markowitz and Kevin Kelley, Treasurer.