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New NASA James Webb Space Telescope Art Exhibit Opens to Public

NASA announced the opening of a free new art exhibit inspired by the James Webb Space Telescope at the Visitor Center at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. The public opening begins March 3 and runs for six weeks. Members of the Media are invited to a preview at 1 p.m. EST on March 2.

panorama of room full of artists
The artists assembled in front of the actual James Webb Space Telescope at NASA Goddard, November 2016, to learn about the telescope, and begin their work. Credits: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center

In November 2016, artists from around the country applied to visit NASA Goddard to see the telescope, with its 6.5-meter-high, gold-coated mirror. Twenty five were selected to bring art supplies with them and be inspired to create in front of Webb, housed inside its massive cleanroom behind a viewing window. The artists represented a broad range of artistic media and styles, including watercolor, 3D printed sculpture, silk screening, acrylics, sumi-e (East Asian brush technique), comics, letterpress, woodwork, metalwork, jewelry making, fiber art, ink, mural painting, kite-making, tattooing, scientific illustration, poetry, songwriting and video.

Visitors can view an exhibit of the resulting artwork at the Goddard Visitor Center from March 3 to April 16, 2017. There is no entry fee for the Visitor’s Center, which is open to the general public.

9-part panel of James-Webb inspired art
A selection of final artwork and progress photos of James Webb Space Telescope-inspired art that will be in the exhibit at the NASA Goddard Visitor Center. Credits: TOP: Joan Lok/Sumi-e; Veronica Guzzardi/Digital Poster; Brandi Smart/Tattoo MIDDLE: Joanna Barnum/Watercolor, Jessica Lee/Mixed Media; Susan Lin/Watercolor BOTTOM: Sue Reno/Fiber Art; Ashley Zelinskie/3D print sculpture; Laddie Scott Odom/Kozo paper kite

The Webb telescope, a joint mission between NASA, the European Space Agency and Canadian Space Agency, will study every phase in the history of our Universe, ranging from the first luminous glows after the Big Bang, to the formation of planetary systems capable of supporting life on planets like Earth, to the evolution of our own Solar System and beyond.

View a gallery of the art: https://jwst.nasa.gov/jwstArt/

For more information about NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, visit: www.nasa.gov/webb or jwst.nasa.gov

For directions to the NASA Goddard visitor’s center: https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/visitor/directions/index.html

Laura Betz / Rob Gutro
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
301-286-9030 / 4044
Robert.j.gutro@nasa.gov  / Laura.e.betz@nasa.gov