Category Archives: Space Arts

Contests and Games, Space Arts

Youth Art Contest sponsored by Astronauts for Hire

Here’s an announcement from Astronauts4Hire:

Astronauts for Hire Announces Youth Art Contest as part of World Space Week 2013

Tampa, Florida – To help inspire the next generation of space explorers, Astronauts for Hire (A4H) is proud to host an art contest in association with World Space Week 2013. The future of space exploration and human spaceflight will be determined by the children of today, and it is never too early to spark their imaginations through creative self-expression. A4H welcome art submissions from youth age 17 and under that answer any of the following questions:

“Where in space would you like to go?”
“What will you do in space?”
“How would you live on Mars?”
Entries can be submitted at http:/forms.astronauts4hire.org/ArtContest from September 20, 2013 through October 20, 2013. Artwork can be any medium (pencil, crayon, marker, paint, sculpture, photo, video, etc.) but must be captured in a digital format that can be put online. All entries will be reviewed by A4H prior to display on the A4H Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/Astronauts4Hire. Winning entries and awards will be announced on the A4H website the week after the contest concludes.

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About Astronauts for Hire:
Astronauts for Hire, Inc. (A4H) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation whose objectives are to provide opportunities for students and professionals to develop and refine the skills necessary to become commercial astronauts and to assist these qualified candidates with networking opportunities in the space research community. A4H’s commercial astronaut candidates are accomplished scientists and engineers who can support a wide variety of payloads. They are available today for contract and consulting work with researchers to design and conduct experiments on microgravity, suborbital, and orbital missions. For more information, please visit www.Astronauts4Hire.org or contact Public Relations Officer Ben Corbin at media[at]astronauts4hire.org or at (850) 685-2218.

About World Space Week:
World Space Week is an international celebration of science and technology, and their contribution to the betterment of the human condition. The United Nations General Assembly declared in 1999 that World Space Week will be held each year from October 4-10. ‘Exploring Mars, Discovering Earth’ is the theme of the 2013 campaign, which incorporates science, engineering, and education activities related to living and working on Mars. Learn more at http://www.worldspaceweek.org.

Space Arts, Space participation

The Dream Rocket Project – Wrapping a Saturn V with artwork

This article gives an update on the The Dream Rocket Project and their plan to wrap the Saturn V rocket at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama with artwork panels created by people (mostly children) from around the world for an exhibition in 2015: Washburn professor dreams big with hopes to wrap a rocket in artwork – CJOnline.com.

They are raising money for the project in a Kickstarter campaign. Currently they have $3,829 pledged towards a $12,100 goal with 17 days left.

Astronomy, History, Space Arts

Earth from space, pre-space travel

Space Arts, Space Models

Knitting spacecraft models

I’ve written here about modeling rockets and spacecraft from kits, in paper, and in LEGO. Another medium for space models turns out to be fabric.  Emily Lakdawalla, a senior editor and blogger at The Planetary Society, has posted recently about using plastic canvas to model scientific space probes:

SpaceCraft
“Ebb, Flow, New Horizons, MESSENGER, and Dawn, all to
the same scale (about 1:50).” – Emily Lakdawalla, Planetary Society

She also wrote about using the Japanese Amigurumi knitting technique:

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NASA and the on-line crafts site Etsy had a space-crafts competition in 2011 and a number of weaved space items were submitted.  Unfortunately, Etsy took down most of the web pages displaying the entries and winners a few months after the end of the contest. I managed to find images of some of the items:

 

Space Arts

The space art of Jack Coggins

Here’s an interesting profile article of  the late artist Jack Coggins who illustrated a number of classic space introductory books of the 1950s: The Artist Who Made Spaceflight Seem Real – io9

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