** Julia Westlin and David MeShow do a nice acapella cover of TALK’s Run Away To Mars (Listen to the TALK version in the previous Space Music posting):
New technology enables new art forms and artists Kit Galloway and Sherrie Rabinowitz (K&S) began working with geostationary satellite links in 1977. Their first work was an experiment in remote dance and music. Video of dancers at The Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland and an educational television center in California was transmitted to a central control studio where a composite was formed and sent back to monitors the dancers could see.
Join SETI Institute’s Artist-in-Residence, Felipe Pérez Santiago, as he discusses the ambitious Earthling Project. Launched in 2020, the project collects songs from people around the world to create musical compositions representing humanity. These compositions will be sent into space with the help of the Arch Mission Foundation, a nonprofit preserving human knowledge for future generations. Tune in to hear from Santiago and SETI AIR Director Bettina Forget, and listen to the world sing in harmony on the Earthling Project – Songs for Outer Space.
It’s time to make history! One voice that will unite all cultures: Earthling Project.. This historic legacy awaits, let’s be the musical representation of humanity at this point in history.
Also known as Tangerine Dream – Laserium North American Tour March 29th – April 1977 / Montreal – Place Des Arts – 09/04/1977 Original Canadian CHOM-FM Recording. Unofficial Release
** Interstellar (Royal Albert Hall Organ) – Hans Zimmer – Ashton Gleckman
Composed by Hans Zimmer MIDI Programmed and Arranged by Ashton Gleckman
All organ sounds from the new Royal Albert Hall Organ library, recorded at the historic hall in London by James Everingham. Available now: https://www.royalalberthallorgan.com/
Here is a collection of news, announcements, videos, and other resources that touch on the mingling of art and space:
=== Art in space
Sacha Jafri artwork,”We Rise Together – with the Light of the Moon“. To withstand the temperature extremes on the lunar surface, the design was etched onto a gold sheet mounted on an aluminum plate. Credits: Selenian
The artwork will be placed on the surface of the moon later this year by Spacebit, a company developing technology for space exploration, and Astrobotic Technology Inc., a company providing end-to-end delivery services for payloads to the moon. The humanitarian aspect of the mission has been put together by Selenian, a pioneering UAE company that specializes in the curation of art in space. This mission is also the first-ever commercial lunar mission under the NASA CLPS, and the landing site of Jafri’s artwork will be marked as a world heritage landmark.
The Astrobotic mission will launch on ULA’s first Vulcan rocket, which should lift off by the end of 2022 or the first quarter of 2023. The Peregrine Lander will carry a couple of dozen scientific and commercial payloads to the Lacus Mortis crater on northeast area of near side of the Moon.
The first official Artwork entitled ‘We Rise Together – with the Light of the Moon’, created by contemporary British Artist Sacha Jafri, will be placed on the Moon with the help of Selenian, a pioneering company that specialises in the curation of art in space, and Astrobotic, a commercial space company, in association with NASA under the Commercial Lunar Payload Services initiative known as NASA CLPS. The landing site will then become a world heritage landmark preserved forever.
The Artwork will be revealed to the world in a press conference next week. Jafri has used an aerospace grade aluminium gold plate as his canvas in order for the Artwork to be fully resilient to the lunar conditions and to last eternally on the Moon.
Jafri’s original work will be placed on the surface of the Moon triggering the release of a five-series NFT Charitable Collection. The original work will rest in the solitude of the Moon, emanating energy back to Earth. Five NFTs will launch to commemorate each stage of the mission – from the rocket launch entering the stratosphere, the Earth circumnavigation, the Moon sling-shot, the Moon landing and the legacy of the eternal artwork on the Moon.
In addition, 88 unique Hearts that fly to the Moon as part of the painting, will be released to the world as the Jafri ‘Moonheart NFTs’.
The art work shown above was revealed in February 2022:
Koons is best known for his popular sculptures of balloon animals created out of stainless steel. Now, some of his new sculptures will join the payloads on the outside of Nova-C. Specifically, the Koons sculptures will be encased in a transparent, thermally-coated cube that measures 6 inches on all sides, according to Intuitive Machines. The tiny sculptures will supposedly be the first “authorized” works of art to reach the lunar surface, according to Pace Gallery, which represents Koons — though that title will only work if Intuitive Machines can get to the Moon relatively soon.
Former NASA Astronaut and current Intuitive Machines Vice President, Jack Fischer says, “the Intuitive Machines team is passionate about this historic project. Koons’s sculptures, documented by the NFTs and housed in a transparent, thermally coated, sustainably built enclosed art cube, will be the first authorized artworks to be placed on the surface of the Moon, where they will remain in perpetuity.”
** Astrobotic’s Perigrine lander will also carry thousands of digitized artworks in The Peregrine Collection, a time capsule with contributions from over 1200 artists. The collection is included in the DHL MoonBox, one of a couple of dozen payloads in Astrobotic’s Moon Manifest. DHL is sponsoring the Moonbox to promote the company’s Lunar Logistics services, which assist any organization wanting to send a payload to the Moon.
The Peregrine collection is a part of the Lunar Codex project founded by Samuel Peralta. Two additional collections will travel to the Moon on subsequent missions as well. In total, over 20,000 artworks will be included on the three lunar missions.
Intuitive Machines will take the Nova Collection on the company’s IM-1 mission and the Polaris Collection will ride on Astrobotic’s second lunar lander.
** Artist Tristan Eaton in 2020 sent a selection of his work to space aboard the first SpaceX Dragon to carry a crew to the International Space Station.
When SpaceX asked me to create art to join these astronauts in space, I wanted to make something inspirational. Looking down from space to see all of Human Kind together on this tiny planet might remind you how much history and potential we have. Yet we have so much further to go.
With this in mind, I created a series of indestructible, 2 sided paintings made from gold, brass and aluminum to represent the duality of Human Kind, our past and our future.
With kindness, hope and science, Human Kind has changed the world many times over. For a better future, we can do it again.
On July 28, the companies Nanoracks LLC and Artemis Music Entertainment beamed two pieces of art to the International Space Station: a recording of Claude Debussy’s piano classic “Clair de Lune” and “Why Not Me,” a visual work by [Micah] Johnson featuring his character Aku, a Black boy who dreams of becoming an astronaut.
Both digital files circled Earth once, came back down and were minted as non-fungible tokens — the first-ever space-flown music and visual-art NFTs, respectively.
Micah Johnson is a former professional baseball player who has become a well-known figurative artist. Aku has become one of his most famous creations:
Aku is a character created by former MLB player turned artist, Micah Johnson, after hearing a young boy ask, “Can astronauts be black?”
This special rendition of Debussy’s Clair de Lune (‘Moonlight’), commissioned by Artemis Music LLC and performed by internationally renowned pianist Wing-Chong Kam, was beamed into space and orbited the Earth aboard the International Space Station on July 28th, 2021, in commemoration of the timeless beauty of Claude Debussy’s masterpiece and in celebration of the unity of music for all humankind.
The cosmic perspective of space inspires a cognitive shift in humans. Debussy’s Clair de Lune perhaps comes as close as possible to stirring the emotions of awe and wonder experienced by space travelers. The universe is full of music, and we humans are learning how to use music to not only understand the science of the universe, but to grasp our place in it.
“Music is what happens in the space between the notes.” – Claude Debussy
Artemis intends to use NFTs in support of the space arts. They plan to
enable partnerships with artists, producers, creators, and curators to connect musical and artistic works to the inspiration, perspective and opportunity of outer space. Combined with blockchain technology that preserves the uniqueness and provenance of underlying rights and intellectual property, the Artemis Space Network will allow the creation and transmission of space-flown creative works that directly connects creators, fans, and collectors anywhere in the world.
But the marquee payloads actually rode on the exterior of the capsule: In cooperation with Utah-based Uplift Aerospace, Blue Origin flew three portraits that Ghanaian artist Amoako Boafo painted on the capsule’s main chute covers.
“Suborbital Triptych” depicts Boafo’s mother; the mother of fellow artist Otis Kwame Kye Quaicoe, a childhood friend of Boafo’s; and Boafo himself.
Associate Professor of Integrated Media Julia Christensen is currently working with NASA scientists at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California. She is working on a project envisioning artwork where no artwork has gone before: aboard an interstellar space mission en route to Proxima b, an exoplanet outside our Sun’s solar system.
The art that she would send would come from a project titled TREE OF LIFE
The Tree of Life is the primary project of a collaborative effort between Julia Christensen and scientists and engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory to design spacecraft and interplanetary communication technology that can operate for 200 years or more. The project began out of a series of studies Christensen took part in at JPL about a future mission to Proxima B, in which a major conclusion was that we must transcend current frames of obsolescence in order to build a spacecraft that can complete a mission to Proxima B. The CubeSat is to be deployed in low-Earth orbit, and transmits data about its health/operations to a terrestrial tree, which is augmented to act as an Earthly antenna. At the site of the tree, simultaneously, a 200-year dataset is measured to describe the tree’s health and environmental conditions. That data will be translated into audible sonic frequencies that can be transmitted via radio between the tree and CubeSat, so that effectively, the tree and spacecraft can sing together in a 200-year duet.
There are few artists in the aerospace industry whose career was as varied or accomplished as Ted Brown. Ted began as a graphic designer with Douglas in 1962, and over the next four decades carved out an enviable career: he illustrated everything from the Buck Rogers imaginings of Philip Bono, Gemini and Apollo to the Shuttle Program. His art permeates the story of space exploration. It is in industry periodicals, newspapers and books and has been since the early sixties. You know his work. He is as ubiquitous as he is anonymous and that’s something I love about him, because I imagine that is exactly how he wanted it. So, this is the story of Ted Brown.
Ted Brown stands in front of one of his murals at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in 1980. Credits: NASA
Keats embedded into the hillside above Fontecchio a meteorite — an ordinary chondrite, whose parent body hails from the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. The space rock’s alien essence has therefore leached into the village’s groundwater and now courses through its pipes.
Those who drink from the fountain are thus infused with the essence of a space traveling alien rock
** Artist Depiction is a set of documentaries on space artists created by Clindar. The first two series of films profiled six space artists – Don Davis, Charles Lindsay, Rick Guidice, Pamela Lee, William K. Hartmann, and Pat Rawlings, The short films were originally available on Amazon Prime but can now be watched for free via the Clindar Youtube channel. See two of these below. A third series of Artist Depiction will be completed in 2023. (The profile of Steve R. Dodd is now on YouTube.)
** The on MARS project turns collections of images from the Perseverance rover into compelling montages.
This rover is equipped with 17 cameras that it used to film its descent on the red planet as well as its first steps on the Martian soil. Every day, it takes new pictures that are sent to Earth. Whether the photo is “successful” (instrument, rock; landscape) or not (black, gray, yellow or white square), the photos are published in the order in which they are received.
onMARS art prints are the result of the assembly of temporal series of photos taken by the rover, and respect the order in which these photos were captured, sent, received, processed and published here on Earth.
recent and past photos and videos from the world’s space agencies, artwork, diagrams, and amateur-processed space images. Bruce Murray, Planetary Society co-founder and emeritus director of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, insisted that planetary missions take photos for the public as well as for scientists. Bruce literally helped change our view of the solar system.
“This oil painting from Planetary Society member Jackie Kingon is titled ‘Sunshield'”. Credits: The Planetary Society.
“Candice Lee, an 11th-grade student from Granada Hills Charter High School in Los Angeles, California, was named the grand-prize winner of NASA Langley Research Center’s Annual Student Art Contest.” Credits: NASA’s Langley Research Center
“A display featuring the winning submissions from the Commercial Crew Program’s 2022 Children’s International Artwork Contest hangs in the common area of NASA’s Astronaut Crew Quarters at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.” Credits: NASA, Click for larger image.
** The European Space Agency (ESA) frequently sponsors art contests in the Space for Kids program. Check out winning entrants in three recent contests:
NASA and Crayola Education are collaborating to infuse art and creativity with the unique teachings of space. As part of its mission to inspire the world through discovery, the agency is leveraging its compelling science, technology, engineering, and math content with Crayola’s work to bring creativity into classrooms and other learning environments. The two signed a Space Act Agreement April 28 to formalize the relationship.
=== Space Art Advocacy
** Space Renaissance International (SRI) is a “non-profit organization based in Europe, with members and supporters all around the globe“. SRI is
dedicated to getting humanity off-world, not just astronauts engaged in pioneering exploration, but humanity, en masse … because it is a natural progression in our development as a species. Humanity can’t continue to live in an unsustainable manner, within a closed-system. This is what has led to many of our current cultural and socio-economic problems.
The mission of SRI is to facilitate the development of mankind as an interplanetary society, with aspirations to see humanity grow to become an interstellar civilisation.
Here is a recent SRI video about the “important role” that “Art and Illustration play […] in the world of aerospace engineering“. The special guest is Aldo Spadoni, “an aerospace engineer and futurist”, who is
a veteran of numerous advanced development programs for NASA, the United States Air Force and Navy. He is a recipient of NASA’s Turning Goals Into Reality award for Reusable Launch Vehicle Development. Aldo created an award-winning simulation team at Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems. He is President and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the International Association of Astronomical Artists (IAAA). He is an accomplished self-taught artist and concept designer with four US patents to his credit.
Aldo’s consulting company, Aerospace Imagineering, specializes in the conceptual design, visualization and prototyping of advanced technology concepts and products. As a Hollywood technical consultant and concept designer, he supported the production of APOLLO 13, SUPERNOVA, STEALTH, IRON MAN 1 & 2, and other movie projects. He is currently the spacecraft technical advisor on the upcoming interstellar adventure film, PERSEPHONE. Aldo’s personal goals are to promote STEAM education and create compelling positive visions of humanity’s spacefaring future.
Can an artist inspire people to embrace space? This is what illustrator Peter Thorpe has been doing since the mid-1980s. Peter has typically worked as a book cover illustrator, but he has also done logos, magazine covers and posters.
The Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC) has launched the Emirates Space Art Programme (ESAP), which will document, capture, and share the emotions of the UAE’s historical advances into space through the culture and creative industries.
** The Art Imaginarium at the SETI Insitute aims to build a community that welcomes those who want to explore the intersection of art and science.
Science and art are more closely connected than people might expect, with each offering the other new perspectives and insights. We’re building an artistic community where everyone feels safe in expressing themselves and exploring the limits of their imaginations. We hope that this will be a space where people respect both the art and the science.
What is art? We do not want to constrain your creativity. Want to write a song? Draw in pencil? Create digital art? Bake a cake? Use pasta and beans? Go for it.
We invited our Art Imaginarium members to give us their take on the dot in our SETI Institute logo. They gave us versions by the dozens. From radio telescopes (including our own Allen Telescope Array) to aliens, and from geometry to math and physics, the SETI dots explored science and even philosophy.
On May 28, [2020], Frank Drake, celebrated scientist and Emeritus Trustee at the SETI Institute, turned ninety years old. To honor his birthday month, our Art Imaginarium group was challenged with Frank’s most well-known contribution to SETI, the Drake Equation. This equation seeks to put mathematical constraints on the existence of intelligent life in our own galaxy, the Milky Way.
Art Imaginarium Challenge: Johannes Kepler’s ‘Somnium’:
This month, we are asking the members of our Art Imaginarium and any interested artists to create artwork inspired by what many consider the first science fiction story, Johannes Kepler’s ‘Somnium’. The challenge is presented by the Director of our SETI Artist-in-Residence program, Bettina Forget. Kepler wrote the novel in 1608, and his son published it in 1634. The novel started as a way to defend Copernicus’ view of the solar system, with characters on the Moon viewing Earth. Read a translation of the novel, done by the Somnium Project, here: https://somniumproject.wordpress.com/… The Art Imaginarium is a Facebook group dedicated to the space where art meets science. Why art? Science and art are more closely connected than people might expect, with each offering new perspectives and insights. We’re building a global artistic community where everyone feels safe in expressing themselves and exploring the limits of their imaginations. We hope that this will be a space where people respect both the art and the science. What is art? We do not want to constrain creativity. Want to write a song? Draw in pencil? Create digital art? Bake a cake? Use pasta and beans? Go for it. Each month, we provide members with a challenge theme. How they interpret that theme is entirely up to them. Join the challenge here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/TheAr...
Art Imaginarium Challenge: First Contact. Institute co-founder Jill Tarter issued this challenge to Imaginarium members in September 2020:
During this week’s SpaceCafé, SpaceWatch.Global publisher Torsten Kriening spoke with self-confessed “spaceist”, astronautics and space engineering expert from the International Space University, Professor Chris Welch. Now the Head of the Space Payloads Laboratory at the ISU, Professor Welch’s career in space engineering has spanned several decades across multiple universities and institutions. He was previously the Director of Kingston University’s Aerospace Research Centre, and began his academic career at Cranfield University and the University of Kent. He is also President-elected of the British Interplanetary Society and fellow at the Royal Astronomical Society. His research and teaching interests span space propulsion systems, orbit mechanics and space exploration and his contributions to the sector are award-winning. In 2009 he received the Sir Arthur Clarke Award in recognition of his work in space education and outreach.
There’s no doubt that Professor Welch is one of the most decorated space academics alive, but you may be surprised to learn that his interests go well beyond engineering: he is also a self-described ambassador and interlocutor for the arts and space. In this week’s episode, he and Torsten discuss space art’s history, its development and future.
Good news for space education and the promotion of space development and settlement. Nineteen space-related non-profits, including several space activist organizations, will each get $1M from Blue Origin.
Today, Blue Origin’s foundation, Club for the Future, announced 19 non-profit charitable organizations will each be offered a $1 million grant to inspire future generations to pursue careers in STEM and help invent the future of life in space. The funds are made possible by the recent auction for the first paid seat on Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket.
Each of the organizations selected have demonstrated a commitment to promote the future of living and working in space to inspire the next generation to explore space careers. They enhance Club for the Future’s ability to reach students, teachers, and communities, and to engage them in the excitement and adventure of innovation and space exploration.
“Our recent auction for the first seat on New Shepard resulted in a donation of $28 million to our non-profit foundation, Club for the Future,” said Bob Smith, Blue Origin CEO. “This donation is enabling Club for the Future to rapidly expand its reach by partnering with 19 organizations to develop and inspire the next generation of space professionals. Our generation will build the road to space and these efforts will ensure the next generation is ready to go even further.”
The 19 organizations include:
AstraFemina is a collective of prominent leaders, including astronauts, academic professionals, and industry innovators, who have made a significant difference in the world by choosing diverse careers in STEM fields. Its mission is simple but powerful – to serve as role models to reinforce the message to today’s girls and young women that anything is possible and help bridge the gap between believing and achieving.
The AIAA Foundation, which is connected to the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), inspires and supports the next generation of aerospace professionals. From classroom to career, the AIAA Foundation enables innovative K-12 and university programming, including STEM classroom grants, scholarships, conferences, and hands-on competitions.
The Astronaut Scholarship Foundation (ASF) provides merit-based scholarships for college students majoring in STEM programs at more than 44 partner universities. Founded by the Mercury astronauts, ASF selects more than 50 Astronaut Scholars each year. They also provide programs focused on career development skills and virtual family activities to inspire K-12 students to positively change and innovate our future.
The Brooke Owens Fellowship offers paid internships and mentorship for exceptional undergrad women and gender minorities in aerospace. Its spin-off, the Patti Grace Smith Fellowship, provides extraordinary Black students with their first work experience in the aerospace industry, personalized mentorship and a cohort of similarly driven and talented young Black people pursuing aerospace careers.
Challenger Center, created by the families of Space Shuttle Challenger STS-51L crew, serves more than 250,000 K-12 students each year with experiential, hands-on education programs. The 40 Challenger Learning Centers deliver in-classroom and virtual simulation-based programs to bring STEM subjects to life. Students role-play real world STEM careers and cultivate teamwork, problem-solving, and communication skills.
Higher Orbits delivers an experiential learning lab for secondary school students across the United States. It focuses on the multi-faceted worlds of space exploration, research and spaceflight in order to launch the next generation our world desires. The organization facilitates activities from the novice to advanced level, drawing from the Science Futures by Design curriculum at Higher Orbits, to promote STEAM and prepare students for academic and career success.
International Astronautical Federation (IAF) is the leading space advocacy body, including all leading space agencies, numerous companies, research institutions, universities, societies, associations, institutes and museums worldwide. It’s Emerging Space Leaders Grant Program (ESL), enables students and young professionals to participate in the International Astronautical Congress, the United Nations/IAF Workshop and Space Generations Congress.
The National Space Society (NSS) is dedicated to the creation of a spacefaring civilization that provides a citizen’s voice on space exploration, development, and settlement. Its mission is to promote social, economic, technological, and political change in order to expand civilization beyond Earth, to settle space and to use the resulting resources to build a hopeful and prosperous future for humanity.
SciArt Exchange uses a science-integrated-with-art approach to help change the world through science and technology education, collaboration and innovation. It supports, prepares and convenes people of all ages, backgrounds and affiliations to discuss, and potentially solve, space, science, and technology challenges by offering multi-disciplinary art contests, events, training, consulting, and community services.
Space Camp, located at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center, provides a one-of-a-kind experience for campers of all ages from every state and more than 70 countries. Its curriculum teaches STEM principles, emphasizing leadership, teamwork, fun and creativity. Program instruction is aligned to national science and math standards and framed with an immersive experience amidst a backdrop of humankind’s greatest technological achievements in space hardware.
Space Center Houston is dedicated to inspiring all generations through the wonders of space exploration. It is a leading science and space exploration learning center, the Official Visitor Center of NASA Johnson Space Center, a Smithsonian Affiliate and Certified Autism Center. Space Center Houston empowers teachers and students with access to immersive learning experiences where they solve real-world challenges of human space exploration.
The Space For Art Foundation works with children in hospitals and refugee centers around the world on its mission to unite a planetary community of children through the wonder of space exploration and the healing power of art. Through large-scale space-themed art projects, the Foundation aims to highlight the connection between personal and planetary health and raise awareness of our role as crewmates here on Spaceship Earth.
Space For Humanity is building a foundation for an inclusive future in space by organizing the planet’s first Sponsored Citizen Astronaut Program, where leaders from any walk of life can apply for an opportunity to go to space. Through its citizen spaceflight program, leadership training, and collaborative efforts to educate the public, Space for Humanity is setting the stage to create a better world, both here on Earth and throughout the cosmos.
Space Generation Advisory Council (SGAC), in support of the United Nations Program on Space Applications, is a global non-governmental organization and network which aims to focus on pragmatic space policy advice to policy makers based on the interests of students and young professionals interested in space from around the world. The SGAC network of members, volunteers and alumni has 16,000 members from more than 165 countries.
Students for the Exploration and Development of Space (SEDS) is an international student-led organization whose purpose is to promote space exploration and development through educational and engineering projects. SEDS is fostering the development of future leaders and contributors in the expanding space industry through individual chapters, enabling students to be connected and create networks with each other.
Teachers in Space is an organization which stimulates student interest in STEM by providing teachers with extraordinary space science experiences and industry connections. As a facilitator of personal and hands-on professional development workshops for STEM teachers, it sparks a transfer of passion that prepares and encourages students to pursue further education and careers in the emerging space industry.
The Mars Society is an international organization devoted to furthering the exploration and settlement of Mars by both public and private means. Its activities include broad public outreach to spread its vision, STEM programs, student engineering design and Mars rover competitions, conferences, publications, and scientific projects including Mars Analog Research Stations to learn how we might best live, work, and explore on the Red Planet.
The Planetary Society has inspired millions of people to explore other worlds and seek other life. Led by CEO Bill Nye and powered by space enthusiasts around the globe, the Society works to advance space science and exploration through education, innovation, advocacy, and global collaboration. Its mission is to empower the world’s citizens to advance space science and exploration.
The Space Frontier Foundation is an organization comprised of a diverse, multinational array of space activists, scientists, engineers, media, political professionals, entrepreneurs, and passionate citizens focused on unleashing the power of free enterprise and leading a united humanity permanently into the Solar System. Through conferences, speakers, policy papers, awards and prizes, they are actively advancing the cause of “New Space.”
Club for the Future will use the remaining funds from the auction to continue its work on its space-focused curriculum and Postcards to Space program. For more information about Club for the Future, visit ClubforFuture.org.
Blue Origin’s First Human Flight will take place on July 20. For more details about the mission and how to watch the launch live, follow @BlueOrigin on Twitter or sign up for updates at BlueOrigin.com.
What do the Golden Gate Bridge, the Chrysler Building, the film Citizen Kane, and America’s Space Program all have in common? They were touched by the hand of a wry-humored and slightly cantankerous artist named Chesley Bonestell (1888-1986).
His paintings of the Golden Gate Bridge convinced doubting San Franciscans that the bridge could be built. His designs for the Chrysler Building made it an art-deco masterpiece. As a special effects matte painter, he created the legendary Xanadu Castle for Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane.
Even greater was Chesley’s impact through his space art. First published in Life Magazine in 1944, his visions of planets and galaxies, made before the advent of powerful telescopes and satellites, sowed all the seeds necessary for one of the most revolutionary chapters of our country: the United States Space Program. His iconic “Saturn As Seen From Titan” became known as “the painting that launched a thousand careers.” His space art graced the covers of countless science fiction magazines of the 1940’s and 50’s. Teaming up with rocket experts Willy Ley and Wernher von Braun, he co-authored a long series of influential books beginning with the best-seller, The Conquest of Space. His evocative imagery fired the imaginations of a country looking to conquer the next frontier, and so the quest began!
Illustration of a Mars expedition landing site by Chesley Bonestell for Colliers Magazine, April 30, 1954.
Summoned by Hollywood producer George Pal, Chesley lent his talents to classics like Destination Moon and The War Of The Worlds. Television requested Chesley’s help with the series Men Into Space. Even today, you can see his influence on filmmakers like Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey and many others.
Chesley Bonestell: A Brush With The Future compellingly reveals a nearly-forgotten artist whose mysterious, almost magical, ability to envision distant worlds inspired generations to reach for the stars. Often compared to a twentieth-century da Vinci, this first-ever film about Bonestell explores the life and works of an artist whose influence and timeless imagery are regarded by many as unparalleled. This documentary was produced by award-winning filmmaker Douglass M. Stewart, Jr. and Co-Produced by Ron Miller and Melvin Schuetz, authors of the Hugo Award-winning book, The Art of Chesley Bonestell.
See previous HS items about the film here and here.
provides exclusive products forever transformed by their travel beyond our atmosphere in the realm of the stars. Our products symbolize humanity’s boundless capability and commitment to exploration.
One of Uplift’s projects is to use Blue Origin‘s New Shepard vehicles as canvases for original art pieces:
Uplift Aerospace is exploring the limits of evolutionary art by painting commissioned pieces on the exterior of a Blue Origin spacecraft and launching them to space and back on an upcoming New Shepard mission. Internationally renowned artists are collaborating with Uplift Aerospace and the heavens to create this historic artwork.
By painting the vehicle that humanity has used to explore the stars, the artwork will both symbolically and physically represent our search for knowledge and connection. Small details of the painting will transform throughout the journey to and from space as the artwork experiences the phases of a rocket launch from the ground, through the air at Mach speeds, in the vacuum of space, and landing back on Earth. Testing by Uplift Aerospace has ensured that adhesion, integrity, and relative coloration of the paints will endure the rigors of space travel.
“The Mona Lisa would not move today’s viewer quite so poignantly without the telltale signs of its now centuries-old story and its emergence from the brush of a Renaissance master. Journey and story will also leave a unique and indelible mark on Uplift Aerospace’s first artwork to return from space travel,” says Dakota Bradshaw, Museum Professional.
Artists Jeff Hein, recognized as a “living master” by the Art Renewal Center, and Mark R. Pugh, a master of surrealist painting, are working closely with engineers and material experts to ensure the highest retention of their artistic craftsmanship throughout the journey. Both artists have paintings in prestigious private and public galleries around the world and look forward to having their work forever transformed by the journey past Earth’s atmosphere:
“I’ve always felt that creativity is uniquely human. The things we make define us individually and collectively. It is thrilling to have an expression of my humanity propelled into outer space, far from our world, and toward infinite others. After 18 years of painting, I have been fortunate to show my work all over the world, but I’ve never shown in space. It’s truly amazing,” says Hein.
These unique pieces will inspire a new era of artistic collaboration. Not only will outer space wield its brush to put the final touches on the paintings, but the beautiful form of the rocket shows how world-class engineering is an art itself. This partnership represents humanity’s endless capacity for bringing together different frontiers, in this case technology and fine art, in novel and astonishing ways. Mark R. Pugh describes his involvement in this historic collaboration:
“I like to create art as a mix of traditional imagery with modern elements. Painting with a classical approach on the side of a rocket is an exciting way to merge the traditional with the modern. So much creativity goes into engineering these incredible machines, so to be able to have a piece of them displayed as an element in a work of art, particularly one that has spent time directly exposed to elements outside the Earth’s atmosphere, makes this truly a valuable piece of history, and I’m honored to be a part of it.”
After its mission, the artwork will be curated and delivered to its patrons, who will own a piece of art and aerospace history.
“The idea that the artwork will be lit by distant galaxies, with earth as a backdrop, is a beautiful visualization, and I think this characteristic will allow viewers a closer connection with the cosmos and the precious planet we call home,” says Josh Hanes, owner of Uplift Aerospace.
Uplift Aerospace is currently accepting bids for these unique murals. See the links below for media contact and additional information.
