I grew up with an interest in both art and science. By the time I graduated from the Mississippi University for Women with a double major in Drawing & Painting and Biology, I had decided to become a scientific illustrator.
At the California College of Arts and Crafts I received my Master of Fine Arts Degree with a specialization in science illustration. Freelance work at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco, California led to the staff position of Artist/Photographer at the Morrison Planetarium, a position I held for sixteen years.
While much of my early freelance art included botanical and biological subjects, by 1995 I decided to concentrate on astronomical themes. This was the year that the first planet was discovered around a sunlike star, 51 Pegasi, and I wanted to create a painting of what this planet might look like. Soon thereafter the team of Geoff Marcy and Paul Butler announced their first two extrasolar planet discoveries.
I contacted Dr. Marcy to ask if he might be willing to share his scientific findings with me so that I might illustrate his new planets. He agreed enthusiastically, and that launched what has now become my decade-long focus on exoplanets and related topics. The artwork I have created as a result has been published in a variety of ways, including documentaries on BBC Television, CNN, and PBS, and in the publications Astronomy, bild der wissenschaft (Germany), Eos (Belguim), Focus (Italy), Muy Interesante (Spain), Newsweek, Science et Vie (France), and Sky & Telescope.
Most of my work at the rough stage is done on computer, with many of the finished illustrations created with traditional media. Some finals are created all digitally, and some are composites of digital and traditional elements.
Just in time for the tenth anniversary of the first confirmed extrasolar planet orbiting another sun, I have illustrated two books on the topics of planets and life in space. The first is a children’s picture book written by Paul Halpern, Professor of Physics at the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia, and published by Charlesbridge Publishing. It is called “Faraway Worlds: Planets Beyond Our Solar System.”
The second book is for the adult reader and is titled “Infinite Worlds: An Illustrated Voyage to Planets Beyond Our Sun.” My coauthor is Ray Villard, the News Director at the Space Telescope Science Institute. Infinite Worlds includes a foreword by Geoff Marcy and an afterword by Frank Drake, and is published by the University of California Press. This book is an exploration of our cosmos and includes topics like the formation of planets and the possibilities for finding life elsewhere in our universe.
The featured art is copyright of the artist.
This space artist is not available for sale.
Credit:
NASA & ESA
