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NSS Roadmap to Space Settlement Student Art Contest

Thursday, May 2nd, 2013

NASA Moon Base Art
NASA Moon Base Credit: NASA

I enjoy judging art contests. I particularly enjoy judging space art contests. I concluded my most recent space art judging experience Monday evening. In this case it was judging the student art that had been submitted to the National Space Society’s Roadmap to Space Settlement Student Art Contest.

The goal of the contest was to get students to create art that could be used to illustrate the NSS Milestones to Space Settlement: An NSS Roadmap – a document that was created for the purpose of laying out for the public the major milestones that will likely have to be passed and the major barriers that will have to be overcome in order for humanity to achieve the NSS vision of "People living and working in thriving communities beyond the Earth and the use of the vast resources of space for the dramatic betterment of humanity." The contest was organized and managed by Lynne Zielinski, the NSS Vice President of Public Affairs (and a member of the Chicago Society for Space Studies).

Unfortunately the contest was run on a very tight time line. The contest was announced on March 25 and the submissions deadline was April 22. Typically art contests provide much more time – both to provide time to promote the contest and to allow artists time to create their submission. However NSS wanted the contest completed in advance of their annual International Space Development Conference (May 23-27).

In spite of the limited time frame the contest received over 300 submissions. Unfortunately the overwhelming majority of these submissions were rejected since they did not meet the contest’s guidelines. Eliminating these non-qualifying submissions left the judges with 14 artworks to evaluate. This was reduced to 13 when it was discovered that one of the submissions was a fraud. The artist claimed to have created his submission using Photoshop and GIMP but the artwork was actually a NASA produced image of a lunar base! I have used that NASA image to illustrate this article. You may have previously seen this image on the NASA or Space.com web sites.

Judging art can be quite challenging at times. However, a well designed set of judging criteria that includes specific elements on which to judge the art helps. For this particular art contest, judges were expected to evaluate the art based on the following elements:

the art features one of the milestones listed in the Roadmap to Space Settlement
the milestone depicted contains sufficient evidence of accuracy
the art is a realistic depiction
the art represents more factually based science than fictional science
the art uses accurate perspectives
the art provides an uplifting, positive message of our future in space
the art contains a high level of detail.
the art appears to be created in a manner that is consistent with the method described by the artist.
all elements of the art appear to be created by the artist

Each judge independently graded each image after which we met to confirm the grand prize winner and to ascertain how many First Prize and Honorable Mention awards would be given out. In the end it was decided to give one First Prize and one Honorable Mention award. The Grand Prize Winner was the entry Asteroid Mining Module and the First Prize Winner was INSPIRE Life – both of which topped my list point wise. An Honorable Mention was awarded to Jupiter Orbital Space Settlement.

It is likely that this contest will be held again next year and, hopefully, I will once again be asked to participate as a judge.

Reference Links

Tags: contest, National Space Society, NSS, roadmap, Space Art
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Judging Art for the Humans in Space Youth Art Competition

Tuesday, December 11th, 2012

Humans in Space Youth Art Competition

Last evening I finished judging 97 works of space art that has been submitted to the second international Humans in Space Youth Art Competition. It was my good fortune to have served as a judge in the first contest as well. I can’t tell you how happy I am to not only see the contest back for a second year but to also see an explosion in the number of entries submitted.

Contest partners include NASA, DLR German Aerospace Center, USRA (Universities Space Research Association), Lunar and Planetary Institute, Mission X, and the International Academy of Astronautics. The theme the artwork was expected to address is How will humans use science and technology to explore space, and what mysteries will we uncover? With respect to the contest’s goals:

The international Humans in Space Youth Art Competition encourages youth to “Be Inspired, Creative and Heard.” We ask them to think about the future of human space flight and to creatively communicate their ideas, and we promise to make these ideas viewable worldwide. By including the next generation in the planning of the future, the competition aims to enhance their awareness, interest in and support for human space flight, and to allow their ideas to begin shaping the future now.

The contest accepted submissions from March 9, 2012 thru November 18, 2012 from young people of 10 to 18 years of age, split into two groups: 10–13 years and 14–18 years. Submissions were accepted in the categories of visual, literary, musical and video artwork. Along with the artwork, each artist was expected to include an Artist’s Statement of Originality. The purpose of this statement was to provide information that would help judges to understand, appreciate, and evaluate the art. The winning artwork will be woven into displays and performances designed to relay the artists messages to a world wide audience. Most exciting for contest winners is the opportunity that their winning artwork might be displayed in orbit aboard the International Space Station!

Judging the Art

The 97 Youth Space Art Contest Entries Judged

I had elected to be a judge in the Visual Art: 2D Visual Art category for the 14-18 year old age group. A special web site had been created for judges to view and rate the art submissions. Each judge is assigned a subset of the submitted art due to the large number of submissions received. When I log in to the system I see the art that has been assigned to me to judge. The only downside to this system is that I am limited to viewing only one work of art at a time (unless I open multiple browser windows).

Visual art judges were directed to judge the art based on the following criteria:

Aesthetics (Shapes, colors, textures, flow, proportions, composition, etc.)
Skill (Are knowledge of the media or principles of art demonstrated?)
Inherent meaning (What is the story or statement?)
Creativity (Is the artwork creative and original?)
Fulfilled intent (Does it meet the objective to express something about How will humans use science and technology to explore space, and what mysteries will we uncover?)

Additionally judges were asked to consider the scientific accuracy of the art. For example, if your character is walking around on the Moon then they had better be wearing a space suit.

In assigning ratings, judges were expected to assign equal numbers of 4, 3, 2, and 1 star ratings. To better judge the artwork, I downloaded the hi-res version of all the art to my computer. I then used Adobe CS4 Bridge in order to both view the art side by side, rank the art, and sort the art by rank. My methodology was to start from the ends and work inward. By ends I refer to first identifying the strongest and weakest artworks. Identifying 1-star and 4-star submissions was fairly easy. Much more difficult was distinguishing between the 2 and 3 star submissions. Upon completing my initial judging I found that I had the following distribution of rankings:

-Stars-	-Allowed-	-Given-
4	25	10
3	24	35
2	24	38
1	24	14

My distribution made it clear that my principal course of action was to promote art from the 3 star category to the 4 star category and demote art from the 2 star category to the 1 star category. Promoting and demoting was, predictably, the most difficult part of the judging process. In the end I did achieve the distribution of stars that judges were expected to award – though it was not easy.

The second round of judging will begin later this month with the entire process scheduled for completion in January 2013 and the winners to be announced shortly thereafter.

Links

In my own view, the important achievement of Apollo was a demonstration that humanity is not forever chained to this planet, and our visions go rather further than that, and our opportunities are unlimited.
Neil Armstrong – Apollo 11 astronaut and first person to set foot on the Moon

Tags: humans in space, judging art, Space Art
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From Capricon to Floral Photography

Tuesday, February 14th, 2012

The Flyers of Fomalhaut b Digital Painting

Part 1: The Capricon Science Fiction Convention

This year Capricon was a short affair for me. While the con ran Thursday thru Sunday, I only attended Friday and Saturday and then only until 6:30pm as I had made plans to attend the opening of a photo exhibition at the Prairie Arts Center in Schaumburg. And because I was not returning on Sunday I did not participate in the art show. On Saturday I did make sure to go through the art show and was happy to see work exhibited by a couple of my friends. What I found disturbing though was the fairly large number of empty display bays in the show. In my experience the Capricon Art Show generally has little, if any, unused space. Unfortunately I had to leave before the start of the art auction so have no idea how well that went.

With respect to programming, my only job Friday was as a panelist on Pluto Is Still a Planet in Illinois with Bill Higgins (Fermilab physicist) moderating and copanelists Brother Guy Consolmagno (Vatican Observatory) and Steven Silver (Capricon Fan Guest of Honor). This was a really good panel given that Brother Guy was a part of the IAU meeting at which the Pluto vote was made and Steven was a friend of Clyde Tombaugh, the man who discovered Pluto. If you were at Capricon and missed this panel – it was definitely your loss.

I arrived back at the con Saturday morning shortly before I was scheduled to give my presentation The Art of the Exploration of Space. I especially liked that I had 75 minutes to speak as this allowed me to go at a leisurely pace and engage in conversation with the audience as I went along. This was immediately followed by my moderating a panel at the opposite end of the convention on Goodbye, Space Shuttle. My copanelists were Henry Spencer, Chris Gerrib, and Kent Nebergall. Kent had the misfortune of being in the audience of my space art presentation whereupon I drafted him for the Space Shuttle panel as I knew that he would have valuable insights to contribute.

I next attended The Coming War on General Purpose Computation presentation by Cory Doctorow, the author guest of honor. It was a fascinating presentation. While I agreed with Doctorow on SOPA and other aspects of attempts to stamp out the theft of intellectual property, I came away dissatisfied that he offered no remedy for the authors, artists, and musicians who are having their work stolen. I was also somewhat surprised by his stance towards Facebook in that he seemed to believe that people should not be given the choice of sharing their information on social networks. I viewed this as being inconsistent with what I would characterize as a free and open internet perspective.

The last panel I attended was the most boring panel I have ever attended at any science fiction convention. Now with a title like Civil Disobedience: Occupy Wall Street and the Tea Party Movement you would expect there to be an invigorating debate between the panelists and between the panelists and the audience. However, this panel was run by the brown shirts. No audience participation was allowed. There was a short period at the end where 5 people were identified and allowed to ask one question each with no follow up or commentary by the questioners permitted. In short, this panel was a total waste of time for the audience.

In summary, I’d say that the best things about Capricon were:

The accidental meetings
The conversations in the halls
The food in the green room
Prowling the Dealers Room
Checking out the art show
How well my The Art of the Exploration of Space presentation went and the ensuing conversations
Being on the Pluto panel with Brother Guy Consolmagno, Bill, and Steven
Friday lunch in the Green Room with Brother Guy, Bill Higgins, and Henry Spencer
Drafting Kent Nebergall to serve on the Space Shuttle panel.

Only one more year until Capricon 33!

Part 2: The Photography Exhibition at the Prairie Art Center, Schaumburg IL

Departing Capricon, I swung by home to grab a bite to eat and then headed over to the Prairie Art Center to take in a photography exhibition that was opening that night in the Herb Aigner Gallery. Titled Flowers in Our Soul, the show is devoted to artistic photographs of flowers and consists of 27 separate works. The photographers that I identified as having work on display in the show are Maria Aiello, Mary Angelini, Debbie Beller, Cindy Brumm, Susan Couch, Randee Lawrence, and Karie Strangeway. I had the opportunity to speak with several of them about their work. I was also curious to learn whether they printed their own work or used an outside service. If you would like to see the show, it runs through the end of February. See Prairie Center for the Arts, Schaumburg IL.

The Illustration

To illustrate this post I decided to use a piece of science fiction art that I just added to my web site. Titled The Flyers of Fomalhaut b, it is an imagining of what the life of exoplanet Fomalhaut b is like (note: not only is there no evidence of life on this planet, there is some question as to whether or not the planet even exists). Fomalhaut b appears to be a Jupiter-like planet that is about three times more massive than Jupiter and which orbits the star Fomalhaut once every 872 years. By comparison Pluto takes 248 years to complete an orbit of the Sun.

For more about this digital painting, see The Flyers of Fomalhaut b.

Until next time, Ad Astra, Jim

Tags: Capricon, Digital Art, Fomalhaut, photography, pluto, Space Art, space shuttle
Posted in Art Shows, Digital Art, Digital Photography, Presentations, SF Cons, Space Art | Comments Off

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Art Exhibit and Web Site Updates

Monday, April 4th, 2011

Fremont Public Library in Mundelein IL

I must say that 2011 has not been a good year for posting to my blog. Looking back, I can see that my pace has slackened significantly from what it was in the past. If you visit my Facebook page – Artsnova Art of Jim Plaxco you’ll see that my postings there have been equally erratic. There are so many things going on and just not enough time for all of them.

However, I have been continuing to make additions to the Artsnova web site. Specifically, this year I’ve added:

a Digital Self Portrait to the Portrait Art Gallery,
a portrait of Elizabeth Taylor to the Portrait Art Gallery,
a Free IPAD Algorithmic Art Wallpaper Gallery,
Night Life – an abstract digital photo art to the Abstract Art Gallery,
a digital painting Sea Life Fantasy to the Nature Art Gallery,
A Gallery of Live Art Created at the Capricon Science Fiction Convention,
a new presentation Live Art to the Art Lectures Index,
an article Painting with Sound and Glitch Art.

With respect to my art, I spent part of today setting up an art exhibit at the Fremont Public Library in Mundelein, IL. I was only able to exhibit 11 framed works of art as each of my pieces was of a decent size and I quickly filled the space available. My art will be on display in the library until July 11, 2011.

Fremont Public Library Mundelein Art Display 1st Floor

The art on the first floor is in an excellent location from a visibility perspective. Upon entering the library, the art is easily visible. Note that additional wall space is reserved for another artist who is also a member of the Northwest Cultural Council Corporate Art Gallery Program. Fortunately the display space I received is slightly larger and better positioned than the alternate space.

Fremont Public Library Mundelein Art Display 2nd Floor

The art space on the second floor is much smaller and not so well positioned. However, as it turns out my art is located right next to the tax forms so for the next week or so it should be seen by lots of folks who, like myself, have waited to the last minute to do their taxes.

In other news, I’ll be speaking at the DucKon Science Fiction Convention in June and will also be in their art show. Because of that, I decided to not display any of my astronomical art or space art at the library.

I still don’t know if I’ll be able to attend the 2011 International Space Development Conference. While I did do a presentation about space art at last year’s conference, I did not submit any proposals this year due to not being certain of being able to attend. Missing the ISDC would be quite unfortunate as I am on the Board of Directors for the National Space Society and it is at the ISDC that one of the two annual board meetings is held.

To close, I leave you with a quote from scientist and science fiction author Arthur C. Clarke: "The astronomical artist will always be far ahead of the explorer. They can depict scenes that no human eye will ever see, because of their danger, or their remoteness in time and space."

Tags: art exhibit, fremont public library, Space Art
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Capricon Science Fiction Convention 2011 Debriefing

Wednesday, February 16th, 2011

Capricon Live Art Sound Art Landscape
Capricon Live Art Program – Sound Art Landscape

The Capricon Science Fiction Convention was held at the Wheeling Westin Feb. 10 thru Feb 13. I arrived Thursday evening for my first panel – Requiem for the Space Shuttle. Along with fellow panelists Bill Higgins, Tracy Lunquist, and Henry Spencer, we discussed the history of the space shuttle program and its impact on space exploration. We also spent some time talking about the future of human access to space and the commercial revolution that will make it possible for private citizens to buy tickets for trips to space, i.e. space tourism. Our discussion lasted for over 90 minutes with lots of input from an enthusiastic audience.

Live Art

For me, the highlight of my participation in Capricon was my Friday morning Live Art presentation. My presentation opened with a demonstration of one of my programs for taking sound input from a microphone and processing that sound in order to create visual imagery. This was followed by my presentation which explored the subjects of algorithmic art, conceptual art, the question of is computer art art, and an explanation of my methodologies and the programming tools that I used to create the various programs. In fact a reasonable part of my presentation could be considered as a sales pitch for the field of computer art. My presentation was followed by the "show" – which involved running a number of different programs I had written to convert sound into art and letting the audience have their way with the microphone. Several of the artworks we created can be seen at A Gallery of Live Art Created at the Capricon Science Fiction Convention. The point that I sought to drive home was that while the sounds being generated by the audience were largely the same, the way in which they were interpreted visually varied tremendously based on the algorithm being used to translate the sound waves into visual imagery. For information about Live Art and my other presentations, see my Art Lectures page.

The Art of Space Exploration

Saturday morning I gave my The Art of Space Exploration presentation which provides an overview of the history of space art – beginning with early astronomical art and concluding with a discussion of space art from an artist’s business perspective. I included a couple of my own works in the presentation, including Shattered Dreams, a piece that I created as political commentary on the cancellation of NASA’s planned return of humans to the Moon and which was the cover art for the 2010 International Space Development Conference Program Book.

Capricon Odds and Ends

The rest of the weekend was spent either in conversation in the halls or over food, or attending panels on a variety of subjects. Unfortunately for me, the three programs I most wanted to see at the convention were scheduled in the same time slots as when I was speaking. My surprise meet-up of the convention was with fellow space artist John Kaufmann. This was the first time I had met John face to face – our previous meetings were of the virtual variety. John had some great astronomical art in the convention’s art show. We had a wonderful time talking shop and otherwise. Dinner Saturday consisted of an outing to a local mexican restaurant with Tullio Proni, maker of ray guns and other fine energy weapons; Bill Higgins, a beam jockey at Fermi Lab; and Nora. The other convention highlight was attending the Dr. Horrible’s Sing Along Blog which indeed lived up to its name. In short, I had a fine, fun time at the con.

The Illustration

To illustrate this blog post, I combined two of the artworks created during the Live Art program in Photoshop and performed some additional image manipulation on them to create an abstract landscape. I also use this piece to illustrate A Gallery of Live Art Created at the Capricon Science Fiction Convention.

Referenced Links

Tags: Capricon, computer art, live art, science fiction convention, Space Art
Posted in Algorithmic Art, computer art, Digital Art, Presentations, SF Cons, Space Art | Comments Off

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Space Art Contests Galore

Saturday, October 23rd, 2010

VSP Illustration from NASA Space Art Contest

It seems that right now there are a number of art contests going on whose theme is space exploration. So if you are into art and into space – then you may want to enter one or more of these art contests.

NASA Future of Flight Art Contest

First there is the NASA Future of Flight Art Contest which is open to High School and College students around the world. This was formerly the The Moon: Back to the Future art contest in which I participated as one of the judges. The Future of Flight Art Contest includes both prizes and exhibit opportunities. Winners will be announced in June 2011.

Entries are in four categories: two-dimensional, three-dimensional, digital, literature (poetry and short stories) and video. Entries will be evaluated on creativity and artistic qualities. Entries are due no later than April 15, 2011.

Take me to The Future of Flight Art Contest

NASA and Etsy 2010 Space Craft Contest

NASA and Etsy have teamed up for the 2010 Space Craft Contest. Hurry because the deadline to enter is November 2, 2010. The purpose of this art contest is "to celebrate artistic exploration and commemorate the end of the NASA Space Shuttle Program with a creative challenge: Share an original handmade item or work of art inspired by the NASA Space Shuttle Program and space exploration at large." The top prize is a trip to an upcoming Shuttle launch as NASA’s VIP guest. There is mention that your artwork might even be flown to space aboard the Space Shuttle!

Take me to the NASA – Etsy 2010 Space Craft Art Contest

SEDS Video Ad Contest

SEDS – Students for the Exploration and Development of Space – is hosting a video contest. The challenge is to "develop an awesome ad for SEDS-USA that shows the world what our organization is all about!" A panel of judges, including William Pomerantz of The X Prize Foundation, William Watson of the Space Frontier Foundation, and Gary Barnhard of the National Space Society, will vote for the winning entry. All entries will be shared online via Youtube.

Hurry – the deadline for entering the video contest is November 2, 2010.

Take me to the SEDS Video Ad Contest

IAA Humans in Space Symposium International Youth Art Competition

The International Academy of Astronautics is sponsoring a art contest as a part of the International Academy of Astronautics Humans in Space Symposium to be held in Houston Texas in April 2011. The IAA is asking artists to address the question "What is the future of human space exploration and why is it important." Contest entry categories include music, art, video, and literature. The contest deadline is December 3, 2010 and is open to student artists who are 10-17 years old.

Take me to the IAA Humans in Space Symposium International Youth Art Competition

Okay all you artist out there – enter one or more of these art contests for your chance to win! And be sure to let interested students know about these contests as well.

Tags: art, contest, nasa, SEDS, space
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The 2010 NASA Moon Art Contest

Saturday, May 22nd, 2010

NASA Art Contest

Last night I finished casting my votes as a judge in the NASA Life and Work on the Moon Art & Design Contest. The art contest is open to all high school and college students. This is the third year NASA has run this contest and this is my third year as a judge for the contest. The contest has really grown in terms of the number of submissions received. NASA has Elizabeth Ward, the art contest’s coordinator, to thank for that. Judging the first year was pretty easy in that it didn’t take much time. This year was another matter entirely. The number of submissions has grown dramatically.

The judging criteria has changed somewhat from the previous contests. In the contest’s first year, judges were expected to evaluate submissions based on the Artist Statement (worth 20 points), Artistic Elements (worth 30 points), Creativity (30 points), and Validity (20 points). Dropped from the criteria after the first year was the artistic elements component. This year the judging criteria are Artist Statement (20 points), Creativity and Artistic Expression (50 points), and Validity (20 points).

For the Artist Statement, students are to explain what inspired them, what artistic media they chose and why, and anything else they want to say about their artwork. Not surprisingly the quality of the artist statements was as varied as the quality of the submission.

The Creativity and Artistic Expression was more subjective as there are no really definable standards to guide a judge – other than their own experience. For example there was one artwork that was pretty good artistically but the imagination that went into creating the piece led me to give it more points than I would have on purely artistic grounds. Another judge may have responded quite differently.

In many cases, judging Validity was the most difficult. Validity refers to the scientific accuracy and degree of understanding of the space environment. For example in the case of a painting that consists only of a space suited astronaut walking on the surface of the Moon – does the person really understand that environment? Some artists did not reveal a lack of understanding in their art but did so in their artist statement. Others made their degree of understanding, or lack thereof, apparent in their art. For example, people without spacesuits on the Moon is kind of a dead give away.

In spite of the large number of submissions I felt compelled to vote for all submissions in the visual categories. My rationale was that voting for some but not other works would skew the final results in that the way in which I award points is likely to be different than the way in which other judges award points. The visual categories for the contest are 2D art, 3D sculpture/dioramas, Digital art, and Video. The two categories in which I did not vote were Literature and Music.

The Biggest Pleasure
What I found most rewarding about the experience was having the opportunity to review the art, think about its meaning, admire its quality, and read the artist’s words about their intent and inspiration.

The Biggest Disappointment
What I found most disheartening was that overwhelmingly the art depicted NASA facilities on the Moon. I know it is a NASA art contest but if we are going to have a large scale human presence on the Moon, then realistically it is going to take more than a government agency to make a go of it. When I go to the Moon, I want to hit Starbucks for my latte, stay at the Lunar Hilton, and dine at the local Uno’s. So while many of the students participating in the art contest showed a solid grasp of the lunar environment and what we could do on the Moon, I don’t recall any of them really featuring the role of private enterprise.

Conclusion
Given the recent decision of the Obama administration to cancel NASA’s plans for a return to the Moon, I will be most interested to see what happens with respect to the future of this art contest.

Links

To get details on the 2010 contest, visit the NASA Life and Work on the Moon Art & Design Contest site. You may also want to take a look at the Winners of the 2009 art contest

I previously wrote about the NASA art contest in the following blog posts:

Tags: art contest, judging, moon, nasa
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The New NSS Space Art Gallery

Saturday, May 15th, 2010

Shattered Dreams digital painting snippet

On Wednesday, I flipped the switch and the National Space Society’s Space Art Gallery went live. Creating the NSS Space Art Gallery has allowed me to combine two of my loves: art and space exploration. I was actually drawn to art because of space art. As a child I found the paintings of astronauts exploring distant worlds enthralling. Later I became a member of the National Space Institute (now the National Space Society) because of their work on promoting the human exploration and development of space.

Being a director of the NSS, as well as the chair of the NSS Web Oversight Committee, put me in the unique position to address what I saw as a problem. While there are a number of web sites that focus on astronomical art, their really is no central hub for art that focuses on the human exploration of the solar system. There are several NASA sites that feature space art but they are limited to art created in the past to document previous space missions and what little future looking art there is is tied to specific NASA programs.

My first undertaking to address this issue was in response to a request to chair a NSS committee whose job it would be to create a space calendar. Rather than relying on stock NASA space art, I turned the task of illustrating the calendar into a space art contest. Thus was born the NSS’ first Space Settlement Art Contest.

Subsequent to that experience I proposed that the NSS create an open space art gallery to which artists could apply for exhibition. I saw this as being a win-win situation for all concerned. The NSS would benefit by having a new source of content for the web site and by showing our support for space art and artists by providing this free service. The artists would benefit from the exposure they receive since the NSS web site has a very high page rank and traffic rank. And of course lovers of space art will benefit by having a central source of space art that they can visit.

To get the space art gallery up and running, I contacted a few of my space artist friends and asked if they would like to participate. Much to my delight they all agreed. The founding artists of the NSS Space Art Gallery are Frank Hettick, Walter Myers, David Robinson, and myself. In fact, David Robinson allowed NSS to use one of his works as the background image for the 2010 International Space Development Conference. for which I am the web master. In fact being the web master for the 2010 ISDC is one reason why I have not been more active of late in posting new material to my own web site and blog.

So please check out the new National Space Society Space Art Gallery. While the gallery currently has just 20 works of space art, I am hoping that as more artist’s join, this gallery will grow to become the web’s most significant collection of space art.

The Illustration Shattered Dreams

Just what is that a picture of? Well, it is a very small fragment of a digital painting titled Shattered Dreams. I created this work of digital art to serve as the cover art for the 2010 International Space Development Conference Program Book. I was inspired to create this art as a consequence of a debate I was having with another National Space Society director over the new Obama space policy. Yes, it is true that you never know where inspiration will come from. I am also donating one of the ten limited edition prints to the NSS space memorabilia auction that will be held at the ISDC. I will not reveal the full painting until the start of the ISDC so you’ll just have to check back here in a couple weeks to find out what it looks like – that or attend the ISDC.

Ad Astra, Jim

Tags: gallery, ISDC, NSS, Space Art
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Art Show and Showing Art

Wednesday, May 5th, 2010

Lift-Off digital painting

Over the weekend I visited the Block Museum of Art to take in The Brilliant Line and Engraving the Ephemeral exhibitions of engravings. A great show and one I recommend folks visit before it closes on June 20. For my review of the exhibition and details, check out The Art of Engraving at the Block Art Museum.

On Monday I visited the Arlington Green Executive Center to install some of my art. As the bulk of my abstract art is currently on display at the Rolling Meadows Public Library (which I haven’t even listed yet on my web site) and since I previously displayed only abstract art at Arlington Green Executive Center, this time I decided to go with some of my space art. I was only provided with space to hang three pieces. The works I choose to exhibit are:

Astronaut Glory II created in 2009
Lift Off created in 2009 and shown above
Glacial Mars – a piece I created in 2008 but have not yet added to my web site

My art will remain on display there until August 2, 2010.

Tags: art, block museum, engraving
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Quotes, Quotes, and more Quotes

Wednesday, March 10th, 2010

Beach Sky Study digital painting
Beach Sky Study digital painting

I just added two new collections of quotes to the web site. The first is Computer Art and Artist Quotes which is a small collection of quotes about computer art. The second is Space Art and Astronomical Art Quotes and covers the fields of space art and astronomical art. Unfortunately this collection is a little on the skimpy side. Lastly I added a number of new quotes to the A Small Collection of Art Quotes page.

Hope you enjoy these resources.

The Illustration

To illustrate this post I used my digital painting Beach Sky Study.

Tags: quotations, quotes
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Digital Art and Space Blog
Reflections on Art, Computer Graphics, Photography, Space and Astronomy

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NSS Roadmap to Space Settlement Student Art Contest

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