American Illustration, the leading juried annuaL and advocate of contemporary illustration in North America and the world, celebrates its 25th anniversary with a special edition that’s been turning heads since the launch party in November. Not only does it have a circular jacket, illustrated by Yuko Shimizu; it also has an interpretive timeline of the last 25 years, illustrated by 25 of today’s top artists.

The artists, in date order, from 1982 to 2006: Seymour Chwast, Sue Coe, R.O. Blechman & Nicholas Blechman, Vivienne Flesher & Ward Schumaker, Henrik Drescher, Anita Kunz, Filip Pagowski, Ruth Marten, Matt Mahurin, Steven Guarnaccia, Jordin Isip, Frances Jetter, Jeffrey Fisher, Juliette Borda, Jason Holley, Karen Barbour, Mark Ulriksen, Roberta Parada, Steve Brodner, Guy Billout, Katherine Streeter, Tomer Hanuka, Saelee Oh & Souther Salazar, John Hendrix, Nathan Fox

Mark Heflin, Director of American Illustration and American Photography, wanted to mark the occasion with something special. “Rather than reprising the best of AI,” he said, “I decided to offer the task of expressing the particular meaning of each year to 25 artists whose work has had significant influence.

"The delight in the curatorial process was assigning an artist to a particular year based on their style and sensibility, while anticipating an event or a mood from that year they might be particularly drawn to. Watching the work emerge with just a small bit of nudging on my part was very exciting and very satisfying."

The twenty-five pieces were shown at the Angel Orensanz Foundation Center for the Arts last fall. Reproduced as giclée prints nearly twice the original size, the images have again been assembled as a exhibition that will travel to art schools around the country.

The first stop is Savannah College of Art and Design, where the show, opening Friday, January 19th, will be on view through February 9.

SCAD has organized two public programs in conjunction with the show. On Monday, January 22, illustrator Peter Kuper, a regular contributor to DART, will present his new work at the Red Gallery at 6:00 pm. On Tuesday at 7:00 pm, Mark Heflin, Director, AI-AP, will give a talk about American Illustration, also at the Red Gallery. Both events are free and open to the public. The Red Gallery is located at 201 E. Broughton Street, in Savannah.

The exhibition is on view Monday – Friday, 10am – 5pm, at the Hall Street Gallery, 212 West Hall Street, in Savannah.

If your organization would like to present the American Illustration 25 show, please contact Mark Heflin: mark@ai-ap.com