NASA Art And Design Contestants Create Multi-Media Visions Of Lunar Life

WASHINGTON -- NASA has selected the winners in the 2010 Life and Work on the Moon Art and Design Contest from more than 200 international student entries.

Participants envisioned an imaginative lunar lifestyle through various
artistic media. Entries were accepted in many categories, including
music, video, two-dimensional, three-dimensional and digital art. For
the first time, poetry and short stories were accepted in a
literature category.

"Offering students the opportunity to express themselves through art
allows us to reach out to people who otherwise might not be able to
participate in our program of exploration," said Jerry Hartman,
education lead for the Exploration Systems Mission Directorate at
NASA Headquarters in Washington. "Plus, the young people come up with
a lot of cool stuff."

Dalton Mills, a student at Central High School in La Crosse, Wis., was
the overall winner for his video and animation entry, "Moonshot." He
was inspired by NASA documentaries, other artists, science and
physics classes.

"Three-D art is a hobby of mine," Mills said. "In the future, I would
like to pursue engineering and physics and freelance my artwork."

A panel of scientists, professional artists and educators from the
U.S. and other nations judged student submissions. The judges based
their reviews on three elements: the artist's statement -- which
described the student's inspiration; the artistic media they chose
and why -- showing creativity and artistic expression; and the
validity of the created situation based on the moon's harsh
conditions.

Jim Plaxco has judged the contest for three years and runs his own
digital art gallery website called Artsnova. "What I found most
rewarding about the experience was having the opportunity to review
the art, think about its meaning, admire its quality and read the
artist's words about their intent and inspiration," he said.

Mitchell Peterson of Sheridan College in Sheridan, Wyo., won the
college division. He created a graphite and color pencil drawing
accompanied by original music called "Beyond the Atmosphere." He also
included a variety of voice and other sound bites in his music,
including clips from the Apollo lunar missions and from the movie,
"It's a Wonderful Life."

Brennan Barrington, a student at Licking Heights High School in
Pataskala, Texas, won the high school division. Barrington wrote a
short story called "Helium 3" that was inspired by Jack London's
story, "To Build a Fire." "It was tricky to get all the details of
gravity, how the dust moves, and things that like, but I got it
done," Barrington said.

The contest is sponsored by NASA's Exploration Systems Mission
Directorate and is managed by Christopher Newport University, Newport
News, Va. More than 40 entries came from non-U.S. locations including
Bermuda, China, Columbia, Czech Republic, Georgia, India, Italy,
Pakistan, Poland, Slovakia, Thailand, United Kingdom and Venezuela.

The top cash award was $1,000 with smaller prizes for the top finisher
in each category. Top non-U.S. students received an engraved plaque
to acknowledge their achievement. The winning entries will be
displayed digitally in NASA and museum locations across the country.
Details about a new contest will be announced in September.

For gallery viewing of winning entries, visit:

http://artcontest.cet.edu

For information about NASA research and exploration programs, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov

Source: NASA