Lunar Art

By Nancy Atkinson - May 30, 2008 at 1:41 PM UTC | Planetary Science
art-trafficjam.jpg

NASA recently invited college and high school students to submit artwork for a contest on the theme "Life and Work on the Moon." NASA encouraged students to form inter-disciplinary teams, so that art and humanities students could collaborate with science and engineering students, "to produce the most well-informed art work possible." NASA just announced the winners of the contest. The first place submission is above, and is called Traffic Jam, by Justin Burns, a sophomore at the University of Memphis.

Why would an institution like NASA sponsor an art contest? "Once humans establish a presence on the Moon, the arts will be a desired facet of life there, as they are here on Earth," says NASA's art contest web page. "It is our intention to provoke non-science and engineering students to think about the science and engineering required to achieve the conditions suitable for humans to live and work on the moon. It is also our intention to help the science and engineering communities appreciate valuable contributions from other communities, particularly the arts."

See more of the winners below:

High School Division: Tie for 1st Place:

"Pole Colony" by Asa Shultz, High School Senior, Home-schooled, Covenant Academy

"To the Moon and Beyond" by William Zhang, High School Sophomore, Skoldberg Art Academy

Source:

NASA Art Contest page

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson is a space journalist and author with a passion for telling the stories of people involved in space exploration and astronomy. She is currently retired from daily writing, but worked at Universe Today for 20 years as a writer and editor. She also contributed articles to The Planetary Society, Ad Astra (National Space Society), New Scientist and many other online outlets.

Her 2019 book, "Eight Years to the Moon: The History of the Apollo Missions,” shares the untold stories of engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make the Apollo program so successful, despite the daunting odds against it. Her first book “Incredible Stories From Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos” (2016) tells the stories of 37 scientists and engineers that work on several current NASA robotic missions to explore the solar system and beyond.

Nancy is also a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador, and through this program, she has the opportunity to share her passion of space and astronomy with children and adults through presentations and programs. Nancy's personal website is nancyatkinson.com