NASA's 50th Anniversary Inspires Smithsonian Traveling Art Exhibit

WASHINGTON, May 20 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A traveling art exhibition
featuring 73 works by some of America's leading artists has been organized by
the Smithsonian Institution to honor NASA's 50th birthday.

"NASA | ART 50 Years of Exploration" contains almost a half-century of artwork
from such luminaries as Annie Leibovitz, Norman Rockwell, Andy Warhol, Doug
and Mike Starn, Nam June Paik and William Wegman. Drawn from the collections
of NASA and the National Air and Space Museum, the exhibit includes drawings,
photographs, sculpture and other media. These works, both illustrative and
abstract, depict private and personal moments, triumphs and tragedies from
NASA's first five decades.

"Through the NASA Art Program, artists have been given an inside glimpse into
the missions and programs which make up the space agency," said Bert Ulrich,
the program's curator at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "Through their
imaginations, artists have shared an entirely new interpretation of the NASA
story with the public.

"NASA | ART" will open Oct. 25 at the Art League of Bonita Springs in Bonita
Springs, Fla. The exhibition will remain there until Jan. 19, 2009, then
travel to 10 other museums through 2011. The show was put together by NASA and
the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service, in cooperation with
the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum.

The works featured in the exhibit date from the start of the NASA Art Program
in 1962, when Administrator James E. Webb asked painters, musicians and
conceptual artists to illustrate and interpret the space agency's missions. A
companion book to the exhibit, "NASA | ART 50 Years of Exploration," will be
published in fall 2008 by Harry N. Abrams.

The National Air and Space Museum, composed of the flagship building on the
National Mall in Washington and the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly,
Va., is home to the world's finest collection of artifacts of flight. The
Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service has been sharing the
wealth of Smithsonian collections and research programs with millions of
people outside Washington for more than 50 years through a wide range of
exhibitions about art, science and history.

Exhibition descriptions and tour schedules are available at:

www.sites.si.edu

A gallery highlighting NASA art at the Smithsonian can be found at:

http://www.nasa.gov/externalflash/NASAart_gallery

For more information about NASA's 50th Anniversary, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/50th

SOURCE NASA

Bert Ulrich of NASA Headquarters, Washington, +1-202-358-1713,
bert.ulrich@nasa.gov; or Jennifer Schommer of Smithsonian Institution,
Washington, +1-202-633-3121, schommerj@si.edu