MTC ART GALLERY

The Metropolitan Transportation Commission Community Art Program Presents

COSMOS

Three-Dimensional Paintings by
Judith White Marcellini

LunchStop Cafe and MetroCenter lobby
101 8th St., Oakland, CA

Open 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. weekdays

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Notes on COSMOS:

There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
— Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act 1

What a wonder is the cosmos!
Here are just a few thoughts that inspired some of the pieces I created for this show.

Space is not an empty void, but is an active medium filled with substance and energy, much of which is unknown to us. Only five percent of it, in fact, is matter. The rest is strange dark energy and dark matter. So, stuff made of atoms—stars, planets, rocks, dogs, cats, etc.—is really quite rare.

The Big Bang. Imagine this: the universe begins as a thick, dense bubble. Then zap: a cosmic hiccup and within seconds the universe unfurls ballooning out into a vast size.

Galaxies. In their younger lives, galaxies were smaller, unformed and closer to each other than they are today, so they frequently collided. They crashed, triggering star-forming activity, split or merged. Eventually, they evolved into larger galaxies—the great spirals and ellipses we see today.

Dark Matter. Webs of dark matter weave throughout space and surround galaxies, like halos, making up some 25 percent of the universe. Although unseen, it is a powerful component of galaxies. Scientists have measured dark matter’s existence, but they are not sure what it is. Most think it is some kind of a particle left over from the big bang.

Dark Energy. What is dark energy? No one really knows, but there is evidence that it exists throughout the space of the universe. It is a force that is all around and seems to be involved in accelerating the expansion of the universe.

Star Power. The kinds of atoms that formed you were born inside stars, perhaps, now millions of light years away. Imagine the fantastic voyage across the universe that atoms have taken.
— Judith White Marcellini