Hot air art: 2024 Balloon Fiesta poster celebrates balloon glow, ABQ sunsets -- and a hidden roadrunner

When artist Jake Gushard explains his thinking behind the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta’s 2024 poster, he speaks in glowing terms.

“I’ve really enjoyed the night glows at the Balloon Fiesta, and there’s not many artworks that actually display what the night glow looks like,” he said in a recorded interview with Balloon Fiesta’s marketing team. “I wanted to create something like that where you could see the balloons in the Albuquerque sunset with a bunch of stars in the background, and they almost look like stars lighting up the night sky itself.

“So I wanted to create something that revolved around that.”

Gushard, an Albuquerque artist, created this year’s commemorative poster for the event, and it was released this week. A committee of judges reviewed 73 entries.

“When you mention Albuquerque to somebody, they may just think mountains, sunset and balloons, so that’s what I wanted to put into this poster,” Gushard said. “So you can see the mountains in the background, a beautiful sunset that goes from a yellowish to a purple into the night sky, which is black, and the balloon is the very centerpiece of this poster. So as soon as you look at it, you’re going to say, ‘Yeah, that’s a Balloon Fiesta poster.”

Gushard’s artistic skills emerged as a boy.

“Just making drawings in class just like everybody else as a kid would normally do, but then once I got into computers, I started creating digital art, and it blew up from there,” he said. “I would just use Photoshop and create logos for myself and T-shirts, all types of designs, and from there it just spiraled into me entering these competitions and just random opportunities around the state, and here we are today.”

Gushard grew up in Albuquerque, went to La Cueva High School and recently graduated from Purdue University with a degree in cybersecurity, which meant keeping the tradition of hiding a roadrunner in the poster was right up his alley.

“I can’t tell you where it is,” he said. “You’ll have to find it. It’s not too hard.”

Finding out he had been selected as this year’s poster artist landed on a special day for Gushard.

“My dad encouraged me to submit some art, and I actually found out that I won the contest on his birthday, so that was great news for him, and it ended up working out perfectly,” he said.

The serigraph print is available in signed and unsigned versions as well as smaller sizes printed on metal and acrylic at balloonfiestastuff.com and Balloon Fiesta’s Gift Shop, 4401 Alameda NE. It also will be available on the field during this year’s event, which runs from Oct. 5-13 this year.

“I just hope that everybody enjoys the poster and gets their hands on it,” Gushard said, “and looks at all the details and tries to find the hidden roadrunner.”