We here at Stan Can Design™ consider ourselves incredibly lucky to be chosen year after year to design the official Artown poster. We feel especially lucky to be doing it in 2015, twenty years after the very first festival took place here in Reno, then named Uptown Downtown Artown.
We know a little something about celebrating Artown anniversaries. When we designed our first poster with the festival in 2010, Artown was celebrating its 15th year. Our strategy then was the same as it is now: do something special that separates from prior years’ posters.
What was already special? Artist Franz Szony’s amazing rendition of Mnemosyne, the personification of memory in Greek mythology that will represent Artown 2015:
As in all my photographs, my goal is to depict a message or theme as a personified character. In a sense, think of her as "Lady Artown"... she is a showgirl, a goddess, and she represents the divine feminine (which is at the core of all the arts).
Franz also incorporated the starburst atop the Reno Arch to represent Lady Artown’s headdress, another tasteful nod to the city resulting in an incredibly well thought out piece that was a joy to design for. Besides the spectacular art, there were a few other special additions to this year’s poster to commemorate the 20th anniversary. The first is a limited edition 20th Anniversary Artown logo that will be in effect for this year only. The second is a commemorative grip of copy that briefly explains the humble beginnings of what is now a yearly staple in The Biggest Little City. Of course, you can always see the full list of this year’s events by heading over to RenoIsArtown.com. Here’s to July!
