Shortly before 3 p.m. on June 24, 1947, Boise-area businessman Kenneth Arnold was startled by a bright flash while piloting his small plane between Chehalis and Yakima, Washington.
TracyHe looked north beyond nearby Mt. Rainier and saw nine strange objects racing toward the crest of the Cascade Range.
WilderThey were shaped like giant crescents, measuring up to 100 feet across and only three feet in thickness, and each "flew like a saucer would if you skipped it across the water".
De
VriesArnold landed at Pendleton, Oregon, later in the day and described the incident to skeptical officials and a local reporter. His account ran on the AP wire the next day and was picked up by newspapers around the world.
NoahTwo weeks later, a rancher would report the crash of a UFO on his property outside Roswell, New Mexico ...
Galante
Included in the exhibition are: anthropologically accurate portraits of supposedly alien species; drawings and paintings based on visions of alien abduction, sexual experimentation, and alien contact; post-modern work examining a larger millenarian and societal meaning of the alien icon; hoax photos juxtaposed with "authentic" UFO photos; fictitious archaeological re-creations of alien contact throughout history; artwork celebrating the alien as popular culture icon; artists' work performed while in residency at Roswell Museum and Art Center in New Mexico; and commercial work, i.e. vintage sci-fi movie poster art, pulp paperback cover art, 3-D collectible models, lamps, and space art ephemera. Video and sound are two more components of the show.
In the fifty years since the initial wave of sightings, the flying saucer has become one of the most powerful icons and, arguably, the first mythological archetype of the space age. Three generations of artists have found the flying saucer compelling subject matter, investing the image with a range of meaning that taps into our most profound fears, hopes, and beliefs.
Over the course of this summer CoCA will open up avenues for exploring the enriched territory of space. There will be visual art, outdoor movie screenings, spacey music, vintage movie posters, collectibles, and sci-fi books, performance and discussion - an evening with the experts, A Trip to the Moon, mockumentary, Theremins, throbbing space trance, and fashion as well as choice opportunities to shop for saucer paraphernalia, comix, books, jewelry, T-shirts and limited edition artworks. The exhibition will be exhibited at CoCA through August 15; an expanded show will be seen in the Rainier Room at Bumbershoot Arts Festival from Aug. 26 to Sept. 1.