Last year, in partnership with craft site Etsy, NASA asked creatively-minded space fans to produce original items inspired by its programs. The prize? A trip aboard one of the last shuttle flights - for the winning creations, that is. Only the winning entries will fly, but the grand prize-winning creator gets to watch the launch as part of a NASA VIP trip.
Late last week a team of judges headed by NASA astronaut Steve Robinson cast their votes. From a pool of more than 600 entrants, first whittled down to 120 finalists, they ultimately selected four pieces, the best from three categories - two-dimensional original art, reproductions and three-dimensional art - and an overall grand prize winner.
The overall prize went to creative pair Colleen and Eric Whiteley, who say they were inspired by a relative who worked for aircraft engineering firm Grumman during the Apollo Lunar Module days. Their inventive, if somewhat unimaginatively titled, Northstar Table has a pattern of brass "stars" inset into its veneer. Though at first glance the table seems ordinary enough, the dots across its surface actually represent the star alignment visible on the evening of the first moon landing. What's more, locating and pressing the North Star reveals a secret compartment in the table.
Rachel Barry Hobson stitched her way to a prize-winning place in the two-dimensional original art category with her piece, High Texture Hand Embroidery of the Moon, made using soft cotton, rayon and silk. Barry says that, in spite of the allure of other celestial features such as Jupiter's moons and Saturn's rings, "I always come back to the moon as my all-time favourite object in the sky."
Topping the two-dimensional reproduction category, Nikkita Karsan Bhakta's triptych of photographs, Universal Thoughts, takes an abstract journey into space. The images were created through experimentation - mixing soap bubbles, hand sanitiser and olive oil, adding drops of food colouring and even incorporating flame. And similarly to NASA's space expeditions, Bhakta says creating the work was an act of exploration. "The more I played, the more I kept seeing the universe," she says.
With my photography to be launched into space, a part of me will be there! That just may be the most 'out of this world' opportunity as an artist yet!
Continuing the celestial body theme, US jewellery maker Patrick Burt won the three-dimensional original art category with Brother Sun, Sister Moon, a diamond-embedded silver and gold ring. The beautifully handcrafted ring uses different metals to represents differing bodies, including silver for stars, yellow diamond as the sun, and white diamond for the moon. With additional features in pink gold, titanium and yellow gold, the ring is certainly one of a kind, (if a bit flashy for some).
Each winner was awarded a gift package supplied by NASA and Etsy, as well as a $500 (for the overall winner) or $250 shopping spree on the craft site.
NASA has always managed to inspire with its space launches, manned missions and exploration of the furthest reaches of the universe. And for these talented fans who channelled that inspiration - putting the craft in spacecraft, so to speak - a fascination with space has brought their work to new heights.
Yet, though the winners' recognition is well deserved, we wonder if, with so many entrants, perhaps the judges' focus was too narrow - missing out on some of the fun in other NASA-inspired creations. To make up for that, New Scientist takes a look at some of the more "out there" entries.
Late last week a team of judges headed by NASA astronaut Steve Robinson cast their votes. From a pool of more than 600 entrants, first whittled down to 120 finalists, they ultimately selected four pieces, the best from three categories - two-dimensional original art, reproductions and three-dimensional art - and an overall grand prize winner.
Rachel Barry Hobson stitched her way to a prize-winning place in the two-dimensional original art category with her piece, High Texture Hand Embroidery of the Moon, made using soft cotton, rayon and silk. Barry says that, in spite of the allure of other celestial features such as Jupiter's moons and Saturn's rings, "I always come back to the moon as my all-time favourite object in the sky."
With my photography to be launched into space, a part of me will be there! That just may be the most 'out of this world' opportunity as an artist yet!
Continuing the celestial body theme, US jewellery maker Patrick Burt won the three-dimensional original art category with Brother Sun, Sister Moon, a diamond-embedded silver and gold ring. The beautifully handcrafted ring uses different metals to represents differing bodies, including silver for stars, yellow diamond as the sun, and white diamond for the moon. With additional features in pink gold, titanium and yellow gold, the ring is certainly one of a kind, (if a bit flashy for some).
Each winner was awarded a gift package supplied by NASA and Etsy, as well as a $500 (for the overall winner) or $250 shopping spree on the craft site.
NASA has always managed to inspire with its space launches, manned missions and exploration of the furthest reaches of the universe. And for these talented fans who channelled that inspiration - putting the craft in spacecraft, so to speak - a fascination with space has brought their work to new heights.
Yet, though the winners' recognition is well deserved, we wonder if, with so many entrants, perhaps the judges' focus was too narrow - missing out on some of the fun in other NASA-inspired creations. To make up for that, New Scientist takes a look at some of the more "out there" entries.
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