Space & Art

Charles Eames said it best, "eventually everything connects." One of the main things I have loved and enjoyed about this course is that every lecture is it's own separate entity but also an addition and connection of the topic both before and after. You can't have one without the other.

Here, we have delved into the deep, dark, endless universes of space - all the while finding that the knowledge and existence of nanotechnology has been around in nature for a lot longer than any generation could have anticipated. Anticipation for an event or a breakthrough or a new invention is what humanity has gotten accustomed to too and what we spend lifetimes trying to achieve. The Space Race between the United Stated and Soviet Russia is just example of wanting to be the FIRST to discover this, the FIRST to do this. But if there is one thing that we have learned in this course it is that just because someone is believed to have been the first to do something, it doesn't mean that they really were. For example the discovery of ZERO which was really discovered hundreds of years before but no one knew because how would they?

(Edward H. White)

With advancements in how quickly news can travel and the implementation of technology into our lives, the desire for MORE continued to build within humanity and the desire to venture to space was born. Timeline aside, since space exploration has been accomplished, the number of scientists, mathematicians, artists, innovators, and engineers have double if not tripled. Thanks to NASA, these people have been given a home to explore these innovations that have led us to where we are today.

In another class of mine, I recently wrote a paper on the arts and cultural revolution that has occurred in Los Angeles County and how LA is now the largest cultural diverse and successful city in the nation. I interviewed the executive direction of the LA Art's Commission, Laura Zucker, and she emphasized that one of the main goals and investments that the commission is focused on is education. Education of the arts and integrating art programs into schools is what will keep the culture at it's artistic peak of opportunities.

This is the same with science and space. NASA was created in 1958 to bring the Space Race into the American's hands and give them an upper hand in the race. The long term effects of the creation of NASA has changed the education system from what it was into one where mathematicians, engineers, and other subjects in the science field, are given more money and attention. Just like artists, education is where opportunities are born and the imagination can run wild into directions it couldn't before. There are so many non-profit organizations and programs today that do just this. The two that stood out to me where the Artists Space and Space Arts Center - both fostering art education for adults and children.

(Huge Foolish Project - Kinetic Wind Sculpture)

Sources:
"Art in Education." Art in Education. Web. 27 May 2016. <http://artistsspace.org/programs/art-in-education>.

History.com Staff. "The Space Race." History.com. A&E Television Networks, 2010. Web. 27 May 2016. <http://www.history.com/topics/space-race>. 

"LA County Arts Commission - Homepage." LA County Arts Commission - Homepage. Web. 27 May 2016. 

"Nanotechnology in Space." Nanowerk. Web. 27 May 2016. <http://www.nanowerk.com/nanotechnology-in-space.php>. 

NASA. NASA. Web. 27 May 2016.

"SPACE." Education. Web. 27 May 2016. <http://spaceartscenter.com/education/>.