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.