The Johnson Center for the Arts will host an opening reception for the “Nicola Ginzel: Language, Artifact, Symbol” and “Earth from Space” exhibits from 5 until 7 tonight and the public is invited.

Morgan Drinkard, Center executive director, said both exhibits are outstanding and the arts center is excited to bring the exhibits to Troy.

Nicola Ginzel is a contemporary artist with an esthetic sense that reflects echoes of primitive, medieval and modern art.

“She takes the common items of daily life that we have discarded or disregarded and turns them into talismans of memory, artifacts of culture and remnants of language,” Drinkard said. “These transformations of mundane things remind us to hold each bit of infinity precious.”

Drinkard said a found object made of paper is embroidered by Ginzel in such a way that the identity of the object disappears and becomes something entirely different.

“She creates work that is provocative, puzzling and inspiring,” she said.

“Earth from Space” is a set of 20 posters that feature images and text from the exhibit at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum’s Center for Earth and Planetary Studies. The traveling exhibition won a 2007 U.S. Geological Survey communications award for science content.

The poster exhibit presents large color reproductions of images captured by high-tech satellites constantly circling the globe, recording conditions and events that are nearly impossible to document on the planet’s surface, Drinkard said.

“Rare views of events such as dust storms, forest fires, volcanic eruptions and hurricanes are accompanied by text that explains how satellite imagery is gathered and used to explore Earth,” she said.

The Nicola Ginzel and Earth from Space exhibits will run through July 27.

Johnson Center hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Friday and until 3 p.m. on Saturday. Admission is free.