Art and soccer intersect at CCAI's Goal 2010! exhibit

What do Carson City soccer fans and art fans have in common?

"Goal 2010! The FIFA World Cup Fine Art Poster Portfolio.

A unique collection of 17 posters created by artists from around the world to celebrate the first World Cup in Africa is on display at the CCAI Courthouse Gallery. The works were selected by the FIFA Art Committee from both well known and emerging artists. Six are from Africa, the others from every populated continent. Each poster is produced in a limited edition of 2,010.

Artists include South African William Kentridge, subject of a recent one-person exhibition at New York's Museum of Modern Art and Julie Mehretu, Ethiopian-born artist featured in the prestigious 2004 Whitney Biennial and numerous exhibitions worldwide.

"Outstanding artists are participating in this and we're tickled to bring the art to Carson City," said Sharon Rosse with the Carson City Arts Initiative.

Soccer fans around Carson City are also excited about the exhibit.

"We did a presentation to the Capitol Soccer Club board a couple weeks ago and let them know what we were doing," Rosse said. "They were off and running with it. They were so excited about the intersection between art and soccer."

Peter Shaw with Capitol Soccer put CCAI in touch with Richard Jay, head of Great Basin Youth Soccer League in Reno. Both soccer organizations put information about the exhibit on their websites.

"The response from the soccer community has been tremendous," Rosse said.

"Everyone involved in soccer in Northern Nevada is delighted to collaborate with CCAI to spread the word on this project that honors the World Cup," said Eric Masters, Carson High School soccer coach and assistant director of coaching for the Capital Soccer Club. "It's great to get the arts and soccer communities working together as a team."

Opening of the exhibit on Friday coincides with a regional soccer tournament Saturday and Sunday and the opening day of the World Cup games.

"(Soccer officials) suggested they have the registration at the courthouse so the visiting coaches can go upstairs and see the exhibit," Rosse said. "We checked with the judges and they said OK. They were terrific in saying we could keep the courthouse open longer during the registration."

The tournament registration will take place on the courthouse patio from 5-9 p.m.

The exhibit opening reception is 5-7 p.m. and the exhibit continues through Sept. 10. Both reception and exhibit are free.

The World Cup begins Friday and continues through the championship game July 11, but no games are being played at the exact time as the opening reception.

"If people want to wear their team colors for the opening, that would be great," Rosse said.

During the exhibition, CCAI will feature posts on the World Cup and on South Africa arts and culture on its blog, arts-initiative. blogspot.com.

Getting the exhibit to Carson City took some international contacts.

The CCAI curator, John Arnette was in Johannesburg, South Africa for an art project of his own. He met David Krut who has galleries in Johannesburg and New York and found out about this series of posters.

"New York City, Carson City, there's such an obvious connection," Rosse joked. "So John's connection with Krut Gallery allowed us to purchase a set of the posters."

The CCAI Courthouse Gallery is open Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The gallery is located at 885 East Musser Street in Carson City.

For more information, call 775-267-3295 or visit the CCAI website at

www.arts-initiative.org.