வியாழன், ஆகஸ்ட் 05, 2010
Maine artist auctions NASA print to aid gulf cleanup
To support the National Audubon Society’s gulf oil spill response efforts, Barbara Ernst Prey is auctioning off her limited-edition print “Columbia Tribute” during her exhibit, “Soliloquy: Meditation on the Environment” at Blue Water Fine Arts, Main Street, Port Clyde.
The print auction runs through Aug. 10, and the exhibit runs through Aug. 15.
“Columbia Tribute” is one of four Prey paintings commissioned by NASA in 2003. The 28-by-39-inch watercolor, on exhibit at the Kennedy Space Center, commemorates the anniversary of the Columbia tragedy of 2003.
Columbia was the first space shuttle to travel to Earth orbit. In 2003, during its 28th mission, the shuttle was re-entering the Earth’s atmosphere when it disintegrated over Texas due to a damaged thermal protection system. Seven astronauts died.
Prey said Wednesday in a phone interview that she sees the “Columbia Tribute” painting as “a wonderful juxtaposition of wildlife and technology — the importance of keeping them balanced.”
The painting was unveiled at the National Air and Space Museum Anniversary Tribute Dinner in Washington, D.C. The astronauts’ families received prints of the painting, on which former President George W. Bush wrote: “This cause of exploration and discovery is not an option we choose, it is a desire written in the human heart.”
Prey says the auction and exhibit work together for the environment. She describes the “Soliloquy” exhibit as a mixture of moods, messages and subject matter, from mystical island scenes to a bustling waterfront.
“[The exhibit] is a closer examination of the thin margin of life for those whose livelihood depends on the sea,” Prey said. “How [the gulf oil spill] affects the fishing industry. How it affects them environmentally.
“My exhibit ties in so well with the gulf oil spill and the importance of really preserving and being aware of the environment,” said Prey.
All but one of the exhibit paintings are Maine scenes.
“For the exhibit, I went a different direction,” said Prey. “I don’t usually do portraits ... Last summer, I came upon some amazing picture images of some fishermen mending their nets. It just came by chance. That’s a lot of time how things happen.”
Prey has a history of supporting organizations with her art. Her care for the environment led her to be interested in the Audubon’s cause to protect and aid wildlife affected by the oil spill.
Her mother is a bird-watcher, and she remembers watching the migratory shorebirds when she was a child.
“So I’ve always had a respect, a love for birds,” said Prey, “And it really makes me very sad to see the images of the birds covered with oil.
“It isn’t an idea [to support Audubon]. It’s just natural.”
Prey has studios in New York and Maine.
She divides her time between the two states, with a home in midcoast Maine. She has been coming to Maine, especially during the summer, for about 30 years.
The state is an inspiration for Prey, and her Maine art has traveled far. A painting of Swans Island has been exhibited in the entryway of the U.S. Embassy in Paris, and a painting of another Maine scene has been on exhibit at the White House for eight years.
President Barack Obama appointed her to the National Council on the Arts, the advisory board to the National Endowment for the Arts.
Her paintings are included in collections throughout the world, including the Brooklyn Museum, Smithsonian Museum of Art and the Farnsworth Art Museum in Rockland.
Bidding on the limited-edition print started at $2,500. Only 40 prints are in existence.
For information, call 372-8087, visit www.bluewaterfinearts.com or e-mailinquiries@bluewaterfinearts.com.
Enthiran xcluziv
Enthiran is a upcoming Tamil science fiction film directed by S. Shankar. The film features Rajinikanth and Aishwarya Rai in the lead roles with A. R. Rahman working on background score and soundtrack. Produced by Kalanidhi Maran, the film is expected to be a multiple-record breaker: it is currently being made on the highest ever film budget in Indian cinema and is also to see the largest worldwide release for an Indian film. It is expected to be released worldwide on 3 September 2010.
Mother & Child.
A mother is a person who seeing there are only four pieces of pie for five people, promptly announces she never did care for pie. ~Tenneva Jordan
Hundreds of dewdrops to greet the dawn,
Hundreds of bees in the purple clover,
Hundreds of butterflies on the lawn,
But only one mother the wide world over.
~George CooperIf you have a mom, there is nowhere you are likely to go where a prayer has not already been. ~Robert Brault
Mothers hold their children's hands for a short while, but their hearts forever.
Hundreds of dewdrops to greet the dawn,
Hundreds of bees in the purple clover,
Hundreds of butterflies on the lawn,
But only one mother the wide world over.
~George CooperIf you have a mom, there is nowhere you are likely to go where a prayer has not already been. ~Robert Brault
Mothers hold their children's hands for a short while, but their hearts forever.
Amazing Water Fountain.
This is the largest and most expensive water fountain in the world. It is built and set in Burj Dubai Lake. It is over 900 feet long and can spray jets up to 500 feet high. The fountain can spray as much as 22,000 gallons of water in the air. Over 6,000 super lights and 25 color projectors help to create amazing dancing water sculptures. Watch the video to see the real beauty of this water fountain.
Neil Armstrong, first man on the moon, turns 80
WASHINGTON — Neil Armstrong, who turns 80 on Thursday, became the first human to set foot on the moon on July 20, 1969, before the eyes of hundreds of millions of television viewers worldwide, who gazed in awe.
With one small step off a ladder, Armstrong placed mankind's first footprint on an extraterrestrial world and gained instant hero status.
His first words upon stepping on the lunar surface have since been etched in history: "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."
An estimated 500 million people watched the grainy black and white broadcast that showed Armstrong, clad in a white space suit, climb down the lunar lander's ladder onto the moon's desolate surface.
As commander of the Apollo 11 mission, it was also Armstrong who had notified mission control that the module had made a successful arrival. "Houston, Tranquility base here. The Eagle has landed."
Joined by fellow astronaut Buzz Aldrin, Armstrong spent about two and a half hours exploring the landscape around the landing site.
He described the surface as being like powdered charcoal. "I can pick it up loosely with my toe," he said.
Armstrong and Aldrin gracefully bounced in slow-motion despite their clumsy space suits, getting a first feel for the moon's gravity, which is one sixth that of Earth.
The two moonwalkers took photographs, collected rock and soil samples and deployed scientific instruments.
They also planted a US flag and placed a plaque stating: "Here men from the planet Earth first set foot upon the moon. We came in peace for all mankind."
The astronauts returned to Earth on July 24, ending the celebrated Apollo 11 mission, Armstrong's second and last venture into space.
In September 1966, Armstrong had flown with David Scott on the Gemini 8 mission that linked up with the unmanned Agena Target Vehicle in the first ever docking of two spacecraft.
Born in Wapakoneta, Ohio on August 5, 1930, Armstrong had an early fascination with aircraft and worked at a nearby airport as a teenager.
He took flying lessons at the age of 15 and received his pilot's license on his 16th birthday.
A US Navy aviator, he flew 78 missions in the Korean War.
He studied aeronautical engineering at Purdue University in Indiana, and later earned a Master of Science degree in aerospace engineering at the University of Southern California.
In 1955, he became a test pilot at the High-Speed Flight Station at Edwards Air Force Base in California, where he flew about 50 different types of aircraft.
Seven years later, Armstrong was selected by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to train as an astronaut in Houston, Texas.
He has lived more than half his life in the aftermath of those golden moments walking on the moon.
After retiring from NASA in 1971, Armstrong taught aerospace engineering at the University of Cincinnati for nearly a decade and served on the boards of several companies, including Lear Jet, United Airlines and Marathon Oil.
Despite his worldwide fame, the lunar pioneer shunned the limelight.
In a rare interview in 2005, Armstrong told the CBS network that he didn't deserve the attention he received for being the first man on the moon. "I wasn't chosen to be first. I was just chosen to command that flight. Circumstance put me in that particular role."
Armstrong has faced his share of controversy. For decades he was thought to have flubbed his first words spoken on the moon, by dropping the "a" in speaking of a small step "for man."
It was 37 years later that an Australian expert said high-tech analysis of the static-ridden transmission found the missing adjective, and that history should remember Armstrong saying what he had intended: "That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind."
This year he publicly lashed out at President Barack Obama's decision to axe NASA plans to return to the moon, describing the move as "devastating" to the US space program.
Budget plans unveiled early this year proposed scrapping the Constellation program, which was developing a new rocket to take Americans back to the moon, and giving private industry the role of building the space vehicles to take humans to the International Space Station.
The iconic explorer also denied claims by conspiracy theorists that the lunar landing was a giant hoax or that he became a Muslim after hearing the Islamic call to prayer on the moon
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