International Student Art Exhibition Inspires Space Enthusiasts

HOUSTON -- On Oct. 5 twenty young artists gathered at one of the premier space educational centers in the world, Space Center Houston, to present a multimedia look at how the space program has affected them. It gave them the chance to say what goals they think space exploration should have in the future. Since Space Center Houston is near the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas this performance brought together young people from all over the world that have been influenced by space exploration.

The art (paintings, poetry, video, and music) was created for a recent meeting when distinguished managers, scientists, astronauts, and engineers met for 18th International Academy of Astronautics meeting, the Humans in Space Symposium, in Houston, Texas on April 18, 2011. On that day, more than 500 people from around the world gathered in Houston, and a part of the symposium was an art performance designed to allow students from all countries to influence the direction of future space efforts. An art contest was organized to ensure that the voices of tomorrow's leaders would be heard, and the symposium attendees were treated to a demonstration of the results created by the students.

The artists were from many countries and they submitted various media such as paintings, composed music, and poetry. Paintings came from countries such as the Russian Federation, where "Cradle of Cosmos" was created by Anastasia Pronina. Music was composed by students, such as Nina Hopper of Australia, who composed "Mission To The Stars."

For this exhibition, a part of the catalog was featured for a large number of students who were attending an educational day at Space Center Houston. The exhibition featured readings of original poetry, a string quintet playing original and also well known music, a pop band playing original and well known music, video, paintings, and finally an interpretive dance troupe from nearby Clear Lake High School.

One of the highlights of the exhibition was when the string quintet played "The Last Frontier" composed by Harrison Li of the United States. This complemented the videos created by students such as "Space Concepts About Time" created by Sabina Zavoianu, Alexandra-Iancu Caragicu, Alexandra Nae, Ana-Maria Oprea, and Ema Tudose of Romania.

The international response to the original event, and subsequent events like this one, shows the enthusiasm that students all over the world have for space exploration. People are inspired by space exploration and many see it as a way for countries to learn to cooperate, as they pursue a difficult goal.

The entire catalog is available to people for browsing at any time.

The organization that managed the art contest and the series of later exhibitions is led by Jancy McPhee, PhD of the University Space Research Association, who took time out of her work in Life Sciences to give students from around the world the chance to influence the future direction of space exploration. Her team created a unique scoring system, an on-line storage and cataloging system, and supplied all of the support such as publicity, travel arrangements, and related needs.

In the photos, a student from the University of Houston, Marcus Puckett, plays as a part of the pop band "Sci-Tunes" as they present space related music, both well known selections and original compositions.

The second photo is Alex Love, who is reading the original poem "Into The Glorious Future We Go" by Kushal Kadakia of the United States.

Charles Phillips has had a long career in the space field: he has worked in space operations since 1978, as an Air Force officer from 1978 until he retired in 2005 (working in space, communications, and maintenance), or as a NASA contractor, and he has been a writer all of that time. Now he finds the stories that people are interested in but might have been missed by other reporters.