Steppenwolf, Charley Musselwhite, The 4th Way, Indian Head Band, Avalon Ballroom, April 19-21, 1968, 6 15/16 x 5; University of Arkansas at Little Rock Art Galleries

The 1960s are remembered for many things, among them a new wave of rock bands, centered in the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco, and the psychedelic posters that advertised their concerts. Vivid colors, obtuse lettering, imagery that ranged from the sensuous to the bizarre, and an overall visual intensity were the hallmarks of the psychedelic graphic style so closely associated with that exhilarating and tumultuous era.

Feelin' Groovy is an exhibition of 92 posters and handbills created between 1966 and 1970, the heyday of the Haight-Ashbury music scene. It traces the development of the psychedelic style, showing the influence of various European movements, like Art Nouveau and Jugendstil, and how they intersected with the American free speech tradition of political and social pamphleteering to create an exhilarating new art form. Posters played such an important role in the promotion of popular entertainment at the time that the poster as an art form enjoyed a rebirth. Indeed, the 1960s was not only the golden age of the rock poster, it was one of the great periods of poster art generally, and its impact on advertising and graphic design is still felt 30 years later.

There is a great deal of interest in the 1960s today, as young adults have discovered the music and fashion of the period. Feelin' Groovy is an exhibition that will appeal to viewers of all ages—those who lived through that heady time and those who are just discovering it.