V Site exhibit opens Thursday at Bradbury Science Museum

Contact: Jim Danneskiold, jdanneskiold@lanl.gov, (505) 667-1640 (02-100)

Recent News Los Alamos scientist named Asian American Engineer of the Year Los Alamos scientist featured in NASA science update Los Alamos muon detector could thwart nuclear smugglers Wojciech H. Zurek named Phi Beta Kappa visiting scholar Four Los Alamos physicists honored by American Physical Society Los Alamos National Laboratory organizations earn seven out of 13 NNSA Pollution Prevention awards Carter Hydrick returns to the Bradbury Science Museum Feb. 15 Laboratory supports summer science program New NASA IBEX mission to carry Los Alamos instrument Beason takes top threat reduction post at Los Alamos

LOS ALAMOS, N.M., Sept. 3, 2002 -- "A Handful of Soldiers," an exhibit of art and photography commemorating the role played by the Department of Energy's Los Alamos National Laboratory's historic V Site in the Manhattan Project, will open with a reception beginning at 4:30 p.m. Thursday at the Bradbury Science Museum.

The exhibition, produced by the Office of Cultural Affairs of the State Historic Preservation Division, features acrylic paintings on canvas and paper by painter John Hull, who is the chair of Visual Arts at the University of Colorado, Denver. He is the son of McAllister Hull, who worked in the Army's Special Engineering Detachment at Los Alamos during the Manhattan Project.

Hull's artwork, painted in 1992, show workers casting powder for the explosives used in the first atomic bombs. He said of the paintings, "I have eschewed big events for the understated intervals that led up to those climaxes."

Also featured in the exhibit are photographs of V Site by some of the nation's best-known photographers, who were taken to the site in June 2000, after four of the six buildings at V Site were destroyed in the Cerro Grande Fire. They include Nathaniel Freeman, David Scheinbaum, Janet Russek, Joan Meyers and Meridel Rubenstein.

Instrumental in planning and preparing the exhibit were Ellen Bradbury of Recursos de Santa Fe; Elmo Baca, formerly with the State Historic Preservation Office; McAllister Hull, formerly with the Laboratory; John Isaacson, the Laboratory's Cultural Resources Management team leader in the Ecology Group; Richard Moe, National Trust for Historic Preservation; Cindy Kelly of Save America's Treasures; and Estelle Zannes, video production. Omar Juveland of the museum was instrumental in acquiring the exhibit to the museum.

The exhibit previously hung in the Governor's Gallery at the State Capitol Building in Santa Fe, from Dec. 21, 2000, to Jan. 18, 2002, and most recently at the New Mexico Museum of Space History in Alamogordo.

The Bradbury Science Museum is part of Los Alamos' Community Relations Office and is located at 15th Street and Central Avenue downtown.

For more information, contact Pat Berger of the museum at 665-0896.

Los Alamos National Laboratory is operated by the University of California for the National Nuclear Security Administration of the U.S. Department of Energy and works in partnership with NNSA's Sandia and Lawrence Livermore national laboratories to support NNSA in its mission.

Los Alamos enhances global security by ensuring the safety and reliability of the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile, developing technical solutions to reduce the threat of weapons of mass destruction and solving problems related to energy, environment, infrastructure, health and national security concerns.

Additional news releases from the Communications and External Relations Division(CER)