For two days, eleven esteemed international jurors whittled over 1,600-plus poster entries down to just 100 for the Chicago International Poster Biennial (CIPB). As a board member for the STA (Society of Typographic Arts), an official sponsor of the CIPB, I had the opportunity to work the jurors opening night celebration. While the judges were winding down the last of the Biennial finalists at the UIC Innovation Center this past Saturday morning, the rest of the madness was at Crown Hall at the IIT Campus setting up for the opening reception.

The day started with an unnecessarily big U-Haul delivering to us over 50 beautifully framed juror posters. I can safely say that there’s a certain sensation that you get when you’re handling an original piece of work that you simply just can’t get when you view the piece on screen, or even in a book. Lifting and hanging posters three times our size was literally a labor of love.

While founding CIPB president Lance Rutter was running all around, we spent over five hours deciding on which juror poster to hang where, unwrapping the frames and finally mounting them — all while folding paper cranes out of the CIPB posters. It was down to the wire, but I’d say that the opening reception ended up going off without a hitch.

The soiree was a casual night of mixing and mingling with poster fans, Chicago aficionados, designers, and jurors alike. Lance opened the night up with a brief introduction explaining the drive behind the CIPB. Everyone was then let loose to enjoy over 50 of the jurors’ works, with an open bar and live music to boot.

All of the attendees were also treated to a rather engaging designer fashion show. Roaming the floor, several lovely ladies displayed one-of-a-kind hand made dresses by Miki Shim-Rutter. Each dress embodied a select poster from each juror to be silent auctioned later within the evening.

At the end of the night, donors and supporters did not walk away empty handed. The tasty CIPB poster was given away, as well as the “Top Dogs” collectible book, which features the works of the 11 jurors. The poster and book were also available for purchase.

If you weren’t able to make it out to Chicago for the night, fear not. The jurors poster exhibition is scheduled to be on display in Chicago’s always amazing Millennium Park. After that, Lance had mentioned opportunities for the poster exhibition to be a traveling road show of sorts.

So now the real question is, “Did my poster(s) get into the biennial?!” Well, if you happened to have been at the opening reception, you might have been able to spot your work on the on-going winner’s slideshow. For everyone else, you’ll just have to wait until September.

Until then, it’s highly recommended that you witness Shigeo Fukada getting his groove on (embedded above) as well as other tear-jerking video moments. For enough photos to make you feel like you were there, check the Flickr.

Mig Reyes is a young designer roaming the city of Chicago, heavily active within the AIGA and STA communities. When he’s not designing or animating, he spends his spare time in search of the perfect chocolate chip cookie.