Conference 7.286::space

465.0. "The NASA Art Program" by MTWAIN::KLAES (No atomic lobsters this week.) Wed Sep 21 1988 17:16

Newsgroups: sci.space.shuttle
Path: decwrl!labrea!agate!pasteur!ames!yee
Subject: Composer/musician to cover Shuttle mission under NASA Art Program 
Posted: 19 Sep 88 18:21:57 GMT
Organization: NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA
 
Mary Sandy
Headquarters, Washington, D.C.                 September 19, l988
  
RELEASE:  88-128
 
    COMPOSER/MUSICIAN TO COVER SHUTTLE MISSION UNDER NASA ART PROGRAM
  
     For more than 25 years, American artists have chronicled the
nation's space and aeronautics programs with works of art under the
NASA Art Program.  The program will be taking on a new dimension when
the Space Shuttle returns to flight.  For the first time, a musician
will be using the musical medium to convey artistic impressions of the
space program. 
 
     Jane Ira Bloom, a soprano saxophonist and a jazz improviser and
composer, will experience the activities involved in the launch and
landing of the 26th Shuttle mission.  Based on her impressions, she
will provide a suite of musical compositions. 
 
     Other artists covering the STS-26 launch are Angela Manno, West
Palm Beach, Fla.; Wendell Minor, New York City; Michael Knigin, Long
Island, N.Y.; Alan Chinchar, Houston, Texas; and John Solie, Santa
Monica, Calif.  In addition, Solie and Dan Namingha of Santa Fe, N.M.,
will cover the landing at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. 
 
     An avid follower of the space program, Bloom wrote to NASA in
1985 suggesting that the agency commission a musical composition as a
part of its fine arts documentary.  She stated that "composers can't
document historical events quite as literally as painters, but we can
capture emotional history in a way that other art forms cannot." 
Robert Schulman, director of the NASA Art Program, found her viewpoint
convincing and her talent worthy. 
 
     Space, in both the physical and astrophysical senses, is not new
as a theme in Bloom's compositions.  Her suite, "Music for Amazing
Space," was inspired by her deep interest in the space program.  The
inspiration for another composition, "Doppler's Revenge," came from
NASA experiments on spatial reorientation in weightlessness -- a
concept that Bloom finds intriguing. 
 
     Bloom is noted for her music's unusual use of movement and
technology.  While playing, she swings her saxophone around in an arc
to get certain doppler-type sounds.  She likes to accentuate how sound
can change with movement.  Bloom has five record albums to her credit,
with a sixth to be released this fall. 
 
     The musician describes herself as being "as passionate in the
detail of my work writing music as technicians and engineers must be
in their work." 
 
     Angela Manno is a multimedia artist whose works reflect a strong
interest in Earth and space.  An environmentalist and naturalist,
Manno has been inspired by photographs of Earth taken from space.  Her
most recent exhibition featured images produced through color
xerography and batik methods. 
 
     A member of the Society of Illustrators, Wendell Minor's works
have appeared in the Society's exhibitions and annual publications. 
Currently a member of the faculty of the School of Visual Arts in New
York, he is the recipient of numerous awards for his art work. 
 
     Michael Knigin is a contemporary artist whose work has been
exhibited at such museums as the Whitney Museum of American Art, the
Smithsonian Institution and The Brooklyn Museum.  A full professor at
the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, N.Y., Knigin is listed in "Who's Who
in American Art." 
 
     Alan Chinchar is a painter and illustrator whose realistic work
has appeared on book covers and in national advertisements and major
publications.  He is a well known figure painter. 
 
     Known for his movie and promotional posters and portraits of
television stars, John Solie's work has been featured on the cover of
TV Guide and the Saturday Evening Post.  He is recognized for his
ability to capture the essence of individual personalities. 
 
     Noted for bold use of color, Dan Namingha is a contemporary
native American painter whose abstract landscapes capture the spirit
of the southwestern United States.  He covered a previous launch for
the program but this will be his first coverage of a landing. 
 
     The artists arrive at Kennedy Space Center three days before
launch and stay until the day after the launch.  Activities include
sketch sessions near the pad and at astronaut suit up, along with
other pre-launch and launch activities. 
 
     Artists invited to participate in the program are paid an
honorarium.  Each is asked to donate at least one piece of art to NASA. 
 
     NASA's art collection currently contains about 900 works with
subjects as diverse as renderings of astronauts and workers going
about their business, the Shuttle in various phases of launch and
flight, and test flights of experimental aircraft and spacecraft. 
Artists participating in the program also have created the first
conceptual works of future aerospace efforts such as the National
Aero-Space Plane and Space Station Freedom.  Schulman has overseen the
development of this aerospace art collection which includes works by
such well known artists as Jamie Wyeth, Norman Rockwell and Robert McCall. 
 
     Works from the collection have appeared in books, magazines,
newspapers, motion pictures and on television and postage stamps. 
Nearly 200 pieces of NASA's art collection are on permanent display at
Kennedy Space Center's Spaceport U.S.A.  The display includes "The
Artist and the Space Shuttle," a 70-piece collection of Shuttle art,
which has been exhibited at many of the world's finer art galleries
and museums. 
 
     "Visions of Flight:  A Retrospective from the NASA Art
Collection" is now making a world tour as a part of the Smithsonian
Institution Traveling Exhibition Service.  The itinerary includes fall
and winter showings at the Mesa Southwest Museum in Mesa, Arizona,
followed by exhibitions at the Huntsville, Alabama Museum of Art, the
Society of Illustrators in New York and bookings in Europe, Canada and
other U.S. cities. 

Debra J. Rahn
Headquarters, Washington, D.C.                     September 23, 1991

RELEASE: 91-152

    The first U.S.-Soviet space art team exchange will be initiated
on Sept. 28, 1991, when the American team arrives in Moscow.  The
U.S. artists' visit is being sponsored by the Soviet Union of
Artists.  Vitaly Myagkov, Deputy Director, Soviet Artists Union,
cosmonaut/artist Alexei Leonov and other notable Soviet artists will
be the official hosts.  As official guests, the U.S. team will visit
various cities including Moscow, Star City and the Baikonur launch
site where they will view the Oct. 2, l99l, Mir space station crew
launch.

    The purpose of the creative exchange is for each nation's artists
to produce paintings representative of the other nation's space
activities.  NASA will host a Soviet art team at the Kennedy Space
Center, Fla., to view a Space Shuttle launch in the near future.  The
Soviet team also will visit the U.S. Space Camp, Huntsville, Ala., to
see how a civilian program is introducing American youngsters to the
idea of space travel and preparing them for the future.

    The U.S. art team is headed by Robert Schulman, Director of the
NASA Art Program.  Team members are:  Alan Chinchar, Houston, Texas;
Pamela Lee, Modesto, Calif.; Andreas Nottebohm, Sonoma, Calif.; and
John Solie, Seal Rock, Ore.  All of the selected U.S. artists are
currently represented in the NASA space art collection.

    The resulting paintings from both the U.S. and Soviet art teams
will be scheduled into a joint U.S./Soviet traveling exhibit.
Afterwards, the Soviet art work will be incorporated into NASA's
space art collection and the U.S. paintings will be given to the
Soviets for their collection.