CAROL STAR SAFER was one of the first artists—and possibly the first abstract expressionist—to capture the wonder of Man's first glimpses of the Moon, Planets, Nebulae, and the Earth as seen from Space. Star's career was launched with the Lunik and Sputnik rockets in 1959, when she donated a painting to the Russian Premier Nikita Khrushchev in the name of world peace in Space.

In 1962, Col. John Glenn's orbit of the Earth was concurrent with Star's solo "outer space" art show in Westport, Connecticut, which was extended for a month "because of the timely nature of the subject matter", according to one newspaper.

Star worked from photographs of the Earth taken from Space, moon maps, photographs of the Moon's surface taken from the giant telescopes at Mt. Wilson and Mt. Palomar, and color slides of the Nebulae.

In June, 1969, Star exhibited five of her paintings at the First National Space Art Show at the Brown Palace Hotel in Denver.

The following month, at NASA's invitation, Star attended the launch of Apollo 11. The historic landing of man on the Moon inspired her creation of "Man on the Moon", and numerous other works to celebrate the dawning of Man's new perspective of the vastness of the universe.

Captivated by photos of Jupiter taken by Voyager I, in 1979 Star began an extensive series of paintings conveying the exquisitely colored convolutions, seen for the first time, on the surface of Jupiter.

To communicate the feeling and texture of the heavenly bodies, she developed the unique media of clear casting resins and pigments, often built up as layers to convey depth. She incorporated brass filings, foam rubber, sculpsand, and other materials to achieve the appropriate texture. Fluorescent paintings "jump out" under a blacklight. Her work ranges in size from 18" x 24", to 4' x 8'.

Star was born in New York City in 1925, received her BA from Cornell University, and studied painting with Fernand Leger and sculpture with Ossip Zadkine in Paris, France. While there, she became acquainted with Matisse who had a profound influence on the artist. Star's art is in permanent collections at the National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.; Cosmonaut Museum, Moscow; Nehudi Planetarium, Oaxaca,Mexico; Herbert F.Johnson Museum, Cornell University, Ithaca,New York; and Downey Museum of Art, Downey, California. Major works from her extensive collection can be viewed at: www.starsafer.com