More Spaces
Sunday, July 23, 2006; Page M04
Science and art merge at other spots tucked around the area. Here are three art-sci places to check out -- plus a Web site where you can download free nanoscale art.
THE ATHENAEUM GALLERY
  This can be your screen saver -- courtesy of the National Science Foundation. (By Eric J. Heller -- Harvard University) Hey, Nice Robe! (And Other Messages for the Queen) |
"Art and Illustration Inspired by the Plant" features a garden of scientific botanical drawings in pen, ink and watercolor by members of the Botanical Art Society of the National Capital Region. Artists include Alice Tangerini, an illustrator at the National Museum of Natural History; Margaret Saul, who teaches botanical art for Brookside Gardens; and full-time D.C. artist Jan Denton, whose lovingly detailed watercolors appeal to our inner gardener.
Through July 30. 201 Prince St., Alexandria. Free. 703-548-0035. http:/
RACHEL B. COLLINS'S STUDIO
Most days at Alexandria's Torpedo Factory, Collins can be found rendering shells, moths, butterflies, flowers -- even bone -- in luminous watercolors. After stints as a librarian, archivist and curator at the Baha'i World Centre in Israel, Collins was bit by the scientific illustration bug and interned at the National Museum of Natural History's entomology department.
Collins is infatuated with the sculptural form of vertebra, though "my supply of models is definitely limited!" she says. "Vertebra I" captures the sculptural form of a cow's bone. "Conch Shards Blooming" (pictured on cover) numbers among a series of broken-shell paintings that coax viewers to discover the beauty of fragments cast aside in the search for the perfect shell.
Torpedo Factory Art Center, Studio 342, 105 N. Union St., Alexandria. Free. 703-838-9695. http:/
NATIONAL AIR AND SPACE MUSEUM
Need an escape while doing the tourist circuit? Duck into Gallery 211 on the second floor of this Mall favorite. Currently "Generous Friends: Building an Art Collection for the National Air and Space Museum" includes six dozen artworks from one of the world's greatest collections of flight-inspired paintings, prints, sculptures and textiles. Check out the 1860 Kunisada wood-block print of a passenger balloon and a fantastic etching that documents the Sept. 19, 1783, flight of a sheep, duck and rooster in Versailles.
Through Oct. 2. Independence Avenue and Fourth Street SW. Free. 202-633-1000. http:/
NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION
Only those on official business can view the science-engineering art exhibits at NSF's Ballston headquarters. Fortunately, you don't need to be a rocket scientist to download the free screen savers of natural nanoscale wonders at http:/
-- Robin Tierney
