Science Artist Jon Lomberg to Discuss Hawaii’s Famous “Galaxy Garden” at UCSD

Jon Lomberg will present a public workshop about the Galaxy Garden, an outdoor garden that is a scale model of the Milky Way Galaxy, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 7 at UC San Diego Price Center East Ballroom. The workshop is free, and open to the public.

The Galaxy Garden, located in Kona Hawaii, maps stellar objects such as stars, nebulae, and globular clusters to scale, using representative plant species. The vastness of our galaxy is hard to envision; a large garden provides a way to literally explore our place in the galaxy. Science artist Jon Lomberg conceived and designed the garden, which is inspired by his famous mural (Portrait of the Milky Way) that was displayed at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air & Space Museum in Washington DC.

This one-day workshop will explain the concept of the garden, outline how it is used to encourage science education, and demonstrate hands-on teaching activities that can be done indoors or outdoors using large-scale, explorable model galaxies. The idea of building such a garden in the San Diego region will be explored. The workshop is open to the public with a voluntary $10 donation suggested. Lunch, afternoon coffee, and snacks will be provided as well as all materials. For more information and to register see the workshop website at imagination.ucsd.edu/galaxygarden.

An additional public talk by Lomberg titled “Becoming Galactic: Citizens of the Galaxy”, will be presented on Tuesday, Dec. 3, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at Atkinson Hall on the campus of UC San Diego. There will be a public reception from 5:30 to 6 pm and the talk will begin at 6 pm. This event is free and open to the public.

Lomberg will also speak at a San Diego Astronomy Association stargazing evening outside the Fleet Science Center in Balboa Park at 8 p.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 4 (weather permitting). If you have any questions regarding any of these events, contact the Clarke Center at info@imagination.ucsd.edu.

Lomberg will be in residence as a Visiting Scholar at the Arthur C. Clarke Center for Human Imagination Dec. 1 - 10. He is one of the foremost artists inspired by astronomy. His 25-year partnership with Carl Sagan produced some of the most important science-inspired art of our time, including his Emmy-Award winning work as Chief Artist for the original TV series “COSMOS.” He was Animation Designer for the memorable opening graphics of the movie “CONTACT” which was selected as one of the 100 Best Movie Openings of All Time.

UC San Diego is home to the Arthur C. Clarke Center for Human Imagination, honoring the vision of “2001: A Space Odyssey” author Arthur C. Clarke. The Clarke Center was established in 2012 in partnership with the Arthur C. Clarke Foundation. The mission of the Clarke Center is to understand, enhance and enact the phenomena of human imagination. More information about the Clarke Center, these and future events, may be found at: imagination.ucsd.edu.