Exploration Mural to be Displayed for the 150th

As part of the Homestead Act 150th Anniversary commemoration, Homestead National Monument of America will display the beautiful full color mural From Longships to Spaceships: A Thousand Years of Exploration at the Education Center beginning on March 22, 2012. This 16 panel mural, commissioned by The Planetary Society, describes a portion of humanities quest over the last one thousand years to know the planet we stand on and the universe that surrounds it. Painted by renowned artist Michael Carroll, the mural is a celebration of humanity’s pioneering spirit a thousand years ago, of this moment in history, and of our future in the cosmos. 

Michael Carroll has been an astronomical, science fiction and paleo artist for nearly three decades. He has done work for NASA and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. His art has appeared in several hundred magazines throughout the world, including TIME and National Geographic. His paintings have aired on NOVA, National Geographic's Explorer and other TV specials, and have covered numerous books, including works by Carl Sagan and Arthur C. Clarke. 

Panel 15 

He has exhibited paintings at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, at Moscow's Institute for Space Research (IKI), the Fleet Science Center, the Wyoming Geologic Museum, and has had traveling exhibits throughout the world.

The mural panels will be on exhibit at the Education Center daily through September 23, 2012. Michael Carroll will be giving a public program in the Education Center on May 6 at 2 p.m. and will be conducting educational programs May 7 – 11.

Artist Biography

 Michael Carroll has been an astronomical, science fiction and paleo artist for nearly three decades. He has done work for NASA and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. His art has appeared in several hundred magazines throughout the world, including TIME, National Geographic, Asimov’s, Smithsonian, Astronomy, Harpers, Sky & Telescope, Ciel et Espace, and Astronomy Now (UK). His paintings have aired on NOVA, National Geographic’s Explorer and other television specials, and have covered numerous books, including works by Carl Sagan and Arthur C. Clarke. He has exhibited paintings at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, at Moscow’s Institute for Space Research (IKI), the Fleet Science Center, the Wyoming Geologic Museum, and has had traveling exhibits throughout the world. Michael Carroll is a Fellow and founding member of the International Association for the Astronomical Arts.  

He was one of 7 North American space artists invited by the Space Research Institute of the former USSR to attend the Space Future Forum in Moscow (l987). While there, he helped to establish the “Dialogues” project, a series of workshops and exhibitions involving Soviet, American and European artists. He is a member of the NASA Arts Program, and documented research during a U.S. Geological Survey expedition to the Bering Glacier in Alaska. One of his original paintings flew aboard MIR, and another is resting at the bottom of the Atlantic aboard Russia’s ill-fated Mars 96 spacecraft. Murals include two 70-foot works for the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, murals in Michigan, California, Nebraska, and for Lockheed/Martin and the Planetary Society. He is also a member of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology and the Guild of Natural Science Illustrators. Michael Carroll has painted in numerous historic fossil quarry sites, and enjoys reconstructing ancient life for museums and publications.

Michael Carroll is also science journalist, writing for such magazines as Astronomy Now (UK), Popular Science, Astronomy, Sky & Telescope, Odyssey, Sea Frontiers, and Artists magazines. He co-authored and illustrated the book Visions of the Revelation (Donning, l991). Michael Carroll and his wife, Caroline, have coauthored nearly twenty children's books. The Exploring God’s World series includes the Gold Medallion finalist Dinosaurs and Exploring Ancient Cities (Cook, 2000 and2001). They also wrote the highly popular science-themed Absolutely Awesome devotionals (Tyndale). A book series themed in parallel with the creation days of Genesis debuted in 2005(Zondervan), and covers topics ranging from space to geology and biology. Michael Carroll organized and coauthored the science fiction anthology Eat My Martian Dust (Dyson, et al., 2005) and Alien Volcanoes (Lopes and Carroll, 2008)) and several other titles for both adults and children.