FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 6, 2005

Contact: Sarah McGreer
sarah@maaa.org

Fly Now! Aviation Posters from the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum Begins National Tour in Hutchinson, Kansas

Fly Now! Aviation Posters from the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum, an exhibition organized by the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum and toured with support from ExhibitsUSA, opened on September 22, 2005, at the Kansas Cosmosphere & Space Center in Hutchinson, Kansas. This exhibition showcases aviation posters from 1860 to the present, representing countries from North and South America, Europe, Asia, and Africa.

Fly Now! allows visitors to follow advances in flight through colorful and fantastically designed posters. Late 19th-century posters portray aviation as a spectator sport, featuring balloons, air show pilots, and exotic performers. Years later, in the late 1930s, speed, “winning time,” and unprecedented views became prevalent themes. However, after World War II, poster artists began featuring remote destinations rather than airplanes themselves in order to sell air travel.

The 40 posters featured in the exhibition are high-quality digital reproductions from the Aviation Poster Collection at the National Air and Space Museum. The history of advertising, technology, business, transportation, tourism, and cultural geography are illustrated throughout the exhibition, giving visitors an opportunity to immerse themselves in the remarkable field of aviation history.

Fly Now! Aviation Posters from the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum closes at the Kansas Cosmosphere & Space Center on January 19, but it will continue to travel nationally through November 2007. The exhibition is curated by Joanne Gernstein London, PhD, of the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.

The purpose of ExhibitsUSA is to create access to an array of arts and humanities exhibitions, nurture the development and understanding of diverse art forms and cultures, and encourage the expanding depth and breadth of cultural life in local communities. ExhibitsUSA is a national division of Mid-America Arts Alliance, a private, nonprofit organization founded in 1972.

Tour Schedule:

September 22, 2005–January 19, 2006
Kansas Cosmosphere & Space Center; Hutchinson, Kansas

February 3–April 30, 2006
Old Courthouse Museum; Santa Ana, California

May 15–August 16, 2006
Cradle of Aviation Museum; Garden City, New York

September 1–October 5, 2006
Anderson County Museum; Anderson, South Carolina

October 21–November 30, 2006
Brimstone Museum; Sulphur, Louisiana

September 1–October 5, 2007
John Brown University; Siloam Springs, Arkansas

Available Dates:

December 15, 2006–January 19, 2007; October 21–November 30, 2007

###