NASA Art Program
Published on Sep 20, 2006 at 6:48 pm.
2 Comments.
Filed under NASA.
Did you know that NASA has an art program? Well, it does! Over the years, I’ve seen books that had space art. Sometimes this is the only way to visualize something. After all, no one has ever seen Pluto up close, or planets around other stars, or black holes, or a host of other things that we know are out there. So, the artist comes to our aide by drawing what such things might look like. But, there’s another side of space art — the artist’s views of things that we have photos of. The artist often sees things differently, and can put emphasis on certain things in his art.
Very early in NASA’s history, the NASA administrators realized that through space exploration mankind was embarking on a major journey.  This was important to all mankind. So, they decided to record every step of the journey. There are untold numbers of photographs of the space program. In fact, NASA has taken so many photos that some have become lost in the mountain of images. But, NASA went one step beyond just recording photographs. Artists were commissioned to record their impressions of what they were seeing, recording all aspects of the journey into space. James Webb, in particular, was instrumental in establishing the NASA Art Program. I’ve seen paintings and drawings of astronauts training, rocket launches, launch pad construction, space shuttle preparations, NASA buildings, spacewalks, and all sorts of other things. Go to any NASA visitor’s center, and you’ll see some of this art. The Smithsonian has some. And, some NASA art travels around the country as temporary exhibits at art museums. And this isn’t just art from unknown artists. Some rather well known artists have been involved in producing space art. I’ve seen works by Andy Warhol and Norman Rockwell. Even as clueless as I am about art, I’ve heard of them!
The NASA Art Program is also significant because it was a major government agency establishing an art program for the express purpose of recording events of significance for the sake of generations to come. This was the first time a civilian agency of the US government had established such an art program, and it may well be the most comprehensive art program ever established by any government agency. All told, there are nearly 3000 pieces of Space Art that have come from this program. NASA has a little under 1000 of them, and the National Air and Space Museum has about 2000 works. Some of these works travel the country.
But, you don’t have to go to a NASA center to sample the art, nor wait for some of the NASA art to travel to a museum near you. Some small portion of the NASA Art Program is available online.Â
The Johnson Space Center has placed some work on a art web page. But an even larger collection is available in a work of art of its own. Digital artist Martin Wattenberg has created the Copernica Art Database. Copernica is really cool. You launch it, and it creates what appears to be several “galaxies”. You click on a star in one of the galaxies, and you see a piece of NASA art.
So, try it out, and enjoy the space art!
-Astroprof
Â
Murphy Elliott on January 29, 2007 at 1:44 pm: 1
I am an artist currently living in Florida. I have over two hundred oil paintings in my collection I have been working on for the last ten years. All concerned with Space. I would love to share it with everyone.
My work is displayed at myspace.com/murphyelliott. I love to show my work.
Murphy Elliott on March 5, 2007 at 10:12 am: 2
How do I get my Art involved?