Richard Pell's new Garfield storefront venue was the hot ticket at the monthly Penn Avenue gallery crawl on Friday night.

Within a half-hour of its opening, there were enough people inside that you couldn't get to any of the phone receivers wired to display cases that Pell has built to inform visitors about genetically engineered plants and animals.

Later on, I was told, you couldn't even squeeze into the small lobby at 4913 Penn, where Pell held court behind a counter with displays about transgenic salmon and bio-engineered peas.

How do you feel about corn that's genetically engineered to resist the pesticides we spray on it? You might want to think about it, because you've probably already eaten some, directly or indirectly.

Pell, a Carnegie Mellon art instructor with an abiding interest in the biological sciences, means to fill the gaps, museum-wise, in our understanding of the increasingly human-impacted natural world and the lab-created beings we're loosing into it.

The CPNH was previously in residence at no less than the Smithsonian Institution.

CP will eventually cover the CPNH at length, but in the meantime, check it out for yourself. Pell says the venue, intended as a permanent attraction, will be open noon-6 p.m. on Sundays and by appointment. You can reach him at [email protected].