Week 9: Space & Art

This week we explored the parameters of space and art. When learning about space this week I discovered through the lectures and readings a lot about the history of space and how art is incorporated into the science of space.

During the space race, the world was fascinated with the idea of space and who could fly into it. The buzz around the world was about Laika the dog and the chimpanzee that attempted to go to space and it was displayed in the papers. From the 50s on the world was fascinated with space exploration and many TV shows displayed the publics fascination. Some shows and movies that have influenced popular culture and thinking about space are Planet Stories, Lost In Space, Star Trek, and even the Flintstones. These shows became popular based on the demand of curiosity people had during this time period.

It was a monumental moment when the first man landed on the moon and the United States was greatly taken by surprise because we thought we were more ahead of Russia in developing space rockets. People fed off the idea of space travel and artists fed off of this idea. One artist in particular was Chelsey Bonestell who received many awards and was nominated into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame and the International Hall of Fame. He helped to popularize the idea of space even stating "In the years to come, it is probably destined to fire many imaginations, and therefore change many lives" (Bonestell). Artists like Chelsey were fascinated in exploring the mysterious concept of space similar to the public. Now we have recorded artwork documenting space exploration and embedded history.

Image of a space nebula

Image of the Rainbow Nebula

Image of the Milky Way Galaxy

Works Cited

“Chelsey Bonestell." Wikipedia. Web. 30 May. 2015. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ChelseyBonestell>.

“Chelsey Bonestell Biography." Nova Space Art. Web. 30 May. 2015 <http://www.novaspaceart.com/Artists/ChesleyBonestell.html>.

“Lost In Space." Wikipedia. Web. 30 May. 2015. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LostInSpace>.

“Planet Stories." Wikipedia. Web. 30 May. 2015. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlanetStories>.

“Star Trek." Wikipedia. Web. 30 May. 2015. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/StarTrek>.