2008 Fiesta poster selected

BY ERIC LINDBERG
DAILY SOUND STAFF WRITER

After careful deliberation and consideration, Fiesta 2008 El Presidente Tim Taylor made his pick yesterday for this year’s Fiesta Poster, selecting a photo collage featuring a spinning flamenco dancer.
Yesterday’s art ingathering at the Faulkner Gallery represented the first time the community has been invited to submit their work for a Fiesta poster contest in decades.

Upon being told by Taylor that her design had been selected from a field of 40 entries, Santa Barbara resident Kim Rossi reacted, unsurprisingly enough, with surprise.
“Are you serious?” she exclaimed, covering her face with her hands as her daughter, Claire, gave her an excited hug. “I really can’t believe this.”
Rossi’s work, along with 19 other “juror’s choice” selections, will be shown at a special, invitation-only reception and art show this evening. The top 20 will also be featured at La Primavera on May 30, El Presidente’s Reception on July 24, and alongside the 20 other entries in the Fiesta Summer Art Show at the Nelson Gallery, 330 State St., from July 26 to Aug. 10.
Although a longtime graphic designer, Rossi said she has never entered a contest before. The woman featured in Rossi’s poster, with her red and white dress swirling dynamically, is a friend of her housekeeper's daughter.
After deciding to enter the contest on a whim, she borrowed a ladder from a friend, headed to the Mission, climbed up and clicked away, capturing the dancer’s flowing dress from a downward angle.
Taylor said his decision came down to choosing between Rossi’s poster and several more traditional designs.
“I thought it was something completely different that we hadn’t seen in the past,” he said. “It’s unique to the 21st century with the digital photography.”
Approximately 2,000 posters will be printed for sale during Fiesta and Rossi’s design will be featured in promotions, flyers and other forms as Fiesta 2008 approaches.
All 40 entries will be available for purchase during the Summer Art Show as well, a commission from each sale benefiting Old Spanish Days. Taylor, however, said he has already snapped up Rossi’s poster design for himself.
The sixth-generation Santa Barbaran chose to hold an open poster contest to reflect his theme for this year’s Fiesta, Viva la Communidad.
“What a wonderful way to get the community involved from the beginning and get back to our roots,” he said.
Although a similar contest had been held a few decades ago, most Fiesta presidents either commission a poster or simply choose a piece of artwork to serve as their design.
“For the first year, it was great,” Taylor said. “I’d love to see it continue.”
Ester Serna Bartlett, an Orcutt resident who entered the contest and came away with a juror’s choice award for her design, also hopes to participate next year.
“I want to get into it again,” she said yesterday as she picked up her poster, a playful design featuring children and titled Fiesta Family Affair.
“All the posters, as far back as I can remember, had only adults,” she said, “so I wanted to do something different.”