The group recently saw its first creation designed for space launched into the stratosphere-a sculpture built on Mars (or as close as Earthlings can come),
Beyond Earth
Whether a painting or sculpture is made in orbit or forged on terra firma and launched to the stars, the minds creating the new genre of space-centric art are using this rare creative category to raise funds and awareness for important earthly causes.
With space quickly becoming both a tourism destination and an industrial commerce target, awareness of extraterrestrial art continues to grow among creators, buyers, and curators. Against the starry backdrop, Richelle Gribble co-founded Beyond Earth, an all-female artist collective to advocate for the planet’s biodiversity.
The group recently saw its first creation designed for space launched into the stratosphere—a sculpture built on Mars (or as close as Earthlings can come). Gribble served as an analog astronaut in a recent, all-female Mars mission simulation at HI-SEAS (the Hawaii Space Exploration Analog and Simulation complex). While sealed within the habitat near Mauna Loa, Hawaii, as the mission’s science communicator and podcast host, Gribble tested and prototyped Living Light, a 16-foot sculpture designed by Beyond Earth to become the largest art installation to reach space.
“We teamed up with the spaceflight company Space Perspective to send the artwork up over 100,000 feet above Earth,” Gribble says. “Living Light combines biology, artificial intelligence, and aerospace technology to explore the connections between our planet and the boundlessness of space.”
According to Gribble, the Beyond Earth collective was founded in June 2019 with her partners, Elena Soterakis, director of creative productions, and Yoko Shimizu, director of technology and design.
“When I first met Elena in Brooklyn, she was running science art exhibitions and a biotech incubator,” Gribble explains. “I told her I wanted to train to become an astronaut and go to space so I could make art there. She was excited about that introduction and was inspired by it.”
A few months later, Soterakis contacted Shimizu, an artist and educator also working in New York. The Tokyo-born illustrator was exploring how gravity changes botanical growth.
“Elana realized she knew two artists that were really interested in space,” Gribble adds. “She thought this could make for a special platform to explore, and we decided to do collaborations based on the intersection of art, biology, and space.”
Gribble describes the three women of Beyond Earth coming together because of a need for more projects in space representing a feminine perspective. Their work is aimed at exploring the biodiversity of the planet to aid life on Earth.
After its launch, Living Light spent six hours in flight before descending back to Earth and landing in the ocean for recovery. Gribble’s HI-SEAS testing helped make sure the sculpture was resilient for space flight and tough enough to leave no debris in the environment upon its return.
“We’re now doing repairs on the piece to make sure it’s available for public view,” Gribble says. “We also want to share the story of how the work was created to amplify the biodiversity of aquatic ecosystems. The inner organs of the design represent the summation of more than 1,000 species of ocean life.”
Gribble and her partners hope the Living Light project captivates viewers’ imaginations—inspiring more exploration of both deep space and deep oceans.
“We have some interest from prominent museums to display the sculpture,” Gribble says. “We’re planning the logistics of all that now. We plan to house the space artwork at a museum with other pieces inspired by the project displayed worldwide.”
While the women of Beyond Earth built a sculpture bound for zero gravity, Nicole Stott used a tiny painting kit in 2009 to create The Wave, a compact masterpiece made aboard the International Space Station and delivered to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum as the first watercolor rendered in orbit. Stott, 58, spent more than 103 days high above the Earth during her five missions as a NASA engineer. Her view of Isla Los Roques, Venezuela, from the ISS inspired her historic brushstrokes.
Now a working artist, philanthropist, and public speaker, Stott works to build on her notable space creation to promote such causes as pediatric cancer and art education for children.
“When I was considering retiring from NASA and taking myself out of that line waiting to fly to space again, I wanted to find a way to share the spaceflight experience,” Stott says. “I just kept coming back to that painting. Art seemed like the best way to connect with people who didn’t know much about the space station or how an international community came about to use space exploration to make life better on Earth.”
Stott now uses paintings of what she experienced on her missions to engage communities in the world of space exploration. That endeavor brought her in contact with the Space for Art Foundation and the Spacesuit Art Program. Founded by artist Ian Cion, the latter began with children participating in the Arts in Medicine program at the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Texas and grew internationally through the cooperation of the ILC Dover space-suit company.
According to Stott, the Spacesuit Art Project brings together artists, astronauts, cosmonauts, space exploration professionals, medical staff, and children in hospitals, refugee centers, and schools to paint decorated spacesuits—including four that traveled to and from the ISS.
“The start of my involvement with the Spacesuit Art program became the start of my next mission,” Stott says. “It allows me to combine the space exploration that I love, the art I want to do, and this aspect of healing with the kids.”
The program’s most recent suit, Beyond, includes artwork from at least one child in every country on Earth. Once completed, Beyond will participate in the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Glasgow to represent “our place in the universe and the connection between personal and planetary health.”
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