“GEMINI RE-ENTRY CONTROL --- Artist’s drawing shows position and firing direction or re-entry control system (RCS) for Gemini spacecraft. RCS has two independent, identical sets of eight engines each. One set is back up. Each engine develops about 25 pounds of thrust. RCS is produced by Small Engine division of Rocketdyne, a division of North American Aviation, Inc., under subcontract to McDonnell Aircraft Corporation. McDonnell is developing Gemini under the technical direction of NASA’s Manned Spacecraft Center, Houston, Texas. The engines are used to position spacecraft for retrograde rocket firing and to control roll, pitch and yaw of the spacecraft as it re-enters earth’s atmosphere. The RCS is located in re-entry equipment section just forward of the pressurized cabin.”
Although the accompanying data sheet is from 1966, the original artwork, and I'm assuming original publication of this image, is from 1963.
An absolutely gorgeous work by Sol Dember, who egregiously/sadly & disappointingly, was far too under/unappreciated.
Thanks to journalist/reporter(?) Andrew Porter, in conjunction with Mike Glyer, at:
file770.com/sol-dember-death-learned/
Credit: File 770/'Mike Glyer's news of science fiction fandom' website
Subsequently, thanks also to Kathy Pinna/Ancient Faces website, at:
www.ancientfaces.com/person/sol-dember-birth-1922-death-2...
And finally, a wonderful & gratifying find & read at:
www.simivalleyacorn.com/articles/simi-illustrators-work-i...
Credit: Michael Picarella/’Simi Valley Acorn’ website
Since too many online sources have evaporated WRT the legacies of other artists, the content of the above follows:
“Simi Valley resident and illustrator Sol Dember, 82, has his art hanging in the Pentagon in Washington D.C., the American Embassy in London, and the Air Force Academy in Colorado, as well as offices, homes, and galleries.
His work appears in encyclopedias, dictionaries, books, magazines and even greeting cards and record jackets.
Dember attributes his interest in art to his late uncle, who taught him the principles of design and a love for art in 1940 when Dember was in high school.
“After school, I would go to (my uncle’s) house and learn a lot from him about art technique,” Dember said. “I really liked to draw and paint. But my family was always artistic.”
At a young age, Dember made holiday silkscreen posters that he sold to local grocery markets and other stores to earn money at Christmas.
Dember graduated from the New York School of Industrial Art and studied at the Beaux Art Institute in Paris, France. Since then, he’s worked in the commercial art field.
Dember paints landscapes and seascapes, scientific and technical designs, and conceptual drawings. His work has received more than 50 ribbons and awards in national exhibits.
“I feel the accomplishment in doing things,” Dember said, proudly displaying his awards on a wall in his home.
Dember also teaches a three-semester course in airbrush techniques and related commercial art techniques. He taught at Pierce College for 22 years, Moorpark College for 18 years, and instructed art classes on 46 cruise ships.
Dember co-authored four books about art technique, including “Complete Airbrush Techniques,” “Complete Art Techniques and Treatments,” and two volumes of “Drawing and Painting the World of Animals.”
When Dember was an art director and in-house technical illustrator at Rockwell Scientific, he drew over 500 illustrations of space vehicles, machinery and surfaces of imaginary planets. He wants to lend many of those drawings to a Thousand Oaks hands-on science center that’s yet to be built.
“I offered my paintings to the vice president of this operation, and he said, ‘When we get started on it, we’ll be glad to accept it,’” Dember said.
Dember also hopes that his King Tutankhamun and Nefertiti paintings, which traveled the country with the 1978 King Tut exhibit, will be accepted into the current show.
“I just don’t know who to contact,” Dember said. Another King Tut exhibit is now at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
Dember is on two art advisory committees at Los Angeles Tech College. He’s listed in the California State Library in the Who’s Who of California History of Art, the Who’s Who in the West, the International Who’s Who of Contemporary Achievement and the International Gold Award Book.”
I invite you to click on the "Sol Dember" tag to hopefully gain some appreciation of the man's work/legacy.
Finally, along with information pertaining to the mural featured at the following linked site:
"DESCRIPTION
On the fourth floor of Bob Hope Patriotic Hall is Solomon Dember’s mural representing the history of the United States Navy and the Marine Corps. The artwork was created using a fresco technique on the room’s stucco wall. The mural was part of the renovation done for the Navy/Marine Corps meeting rooms and was dedicated by Ronald Reagan in 1982. To depict naval history, Dember chose to show famous American ships and sea battles. The history begins on the left with the Revolutionary Warship Bonhomme Richard engaged in the Battle of Flamborough Head, and continues with ships and battles of the Civil War, WWI, WWII, the Korean War, and finally Vietnam. The mural was commissioned by the Los Angeles County Naval Foundation.
About the Artist
Sol Dember was born in 1923 and grew up in Brooklyn, New York. He attended the New York School of Industrial Art and, after serving in the Army during WWII, also studied at France’s School of Fine Arts (L‘Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts). In the 1950s and 60s he created many depictions of potential space vehicle designs for NASA. In the 1960s he also created the design for a White House Christmas card and Lyndon Johnson bought the original painting on which the card was based. He has lived in Southern California since 1946 and has taught art at Pierce College for 25 years and at Moorpark College for 22 years."
www.lacountyarts.org/civicart/objects-1/info?query=Portfo...
Credit: Los Angeles County Arts & Culture website
