NASA Art And Design Contestants Create Multi-Media Visions Of
Lunar Life
NASA has selected the winners in
the 2010 Life and Work on the Moon Art and Design Contest from more
than 200 international student entries.
Participants envisioned an imaginative lunar lifestyle through
various artistic media. Entries were accepted in many categories,
including music, video, two-dimensional, three-dimensional and
digital art. For the first time, poetry and short stories were
accepted in a literature category.
"Offering students the opportunity to express themselves through
art allows us to reach out to people who otherwise might not be
able to participate in our program of exploration," said Jerry
Hartman, education lead for the Exploration Systems Mission
Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "Plus, the young
people come up with a lot of cool stuff."
Dalton Mills, a student at Central High School in La Crosse,
WI., was the overall winner for his video and animation entry,
"Moonshot." He was inspired by NASA documentaries, other artists,
science and physics classes.
"Three-D art is a hobby of mine," Mills said. "In the future, I
would like to pursue engineering and physics and freelance my
artwork."
A panel of scientists, professional artists and educators from
the U.S. and other nations judged student submissions. The judges
based their reviews on three elements: the artist's statement --
which described the student's inspiration; the artistic media they
chose and why -- showing creativity and artistic expression; and
the validity of the created situation based on the moon's harsh
conditions.
Jim Plaxco has judged the contest for three years and runs his
own digital art gallery website called Artsnova. "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," he said.
Mitchell Peterson of Sheridan College in Sheridan, WY, won the
college division. He created a graphite and color pencil drawing
accompanied by original music called "Beyond the Atmosphere." He
also included a variety of voice and other sound bites in his
music, including clips from the Apollo lunar missions and from the
movie, "It's a Wonderful Life."
Brennan Barrington, a student at Licking Heights High School in
Pataskala, Texas, won the high school division. Barrington wrote a
short story called "Helium 3" that was inspired by Jack London's
story, "To Build a Fire." "It was tricky to get all the details of
gravity, how the dust moves, and things that like, but I got it
done," Barrington said.
The contest is sponsored by NASA's Exploration Systems Mission
Directorate and is managed by Christopher Newport University,
Newport News, VA. More than 40 entries came from non-U.S. locations
including Bermuda, China, Columbia, Czech Republic, Georgia, India,
Italy, Pakistan, Poland, Slovakia, Thailand, United Kingdom and
Venezuela.
The top cash award was $1,000 with smaller prizes for the top
finisher in each category. Top non-U.S. students received an
engraved plaque to acknowledge their achievement. The winning
entries will be displayed digitally in NASA and museum locations
across the country. Details about a new contest will be announced
in September.