Artist Event at James Webb Space Telescope - Part 2

In Part 1, I posted about the experience of attending the James Webb Space Telescope Artist Event and shared my pictures of the event and my tour of the facility. Here I will share how I approached the event artistically and the beginnings of the work I intend to make in response.

The main feature of the telescope I wanted to focus on is the most obvious one, the beautiful gold plated mirrors. The hexagon is a universal shape in nature and in antiquity, with countless examples ranging from the structure of beehives to mosaic tile patterns. It's a structurally strong shape, hence its use in the telescope. Relevant to my vocation as a fiber artist, hexagons are a perennial theme in quilt designs, and are currently very trendy, turning up in everything from traditional Grandmother's Flower Garden quilts to more innovative and cutting edge work.

Working in fiber for a plein air or live paint event is a bit different for a fiber artist than for a painter. My work is time consuming, and partially dependent on the machinery in my studio. So I can't show up for an event with a blank canvas, or blank fabric, and hope to accomplish anything significant in a few hours. I've prepped for plein air events by preparing a foundation for needlefelting with wool roving, and that's worked out well, but it produces softly edged designs. Here I wanted a more hard edged, manufactured look.

I prepped by cutting a bunch of 2 inch hexagons out of pellon, a slightly stiff synthetic non-woven material. I covered them with gold silk and basted it down on the back side. The silk is from Mysore, India, brought back from adventures abroad. In my opinion it is the finest silk in the world, handwoven on human operated looms. The warp is black silk, and the woof is gold threads, producing "shot" silk that shimmers in different ways when viewed from different angles.

I also flirted with the idea of crocheting galaxy forms from cotton and wool threads, and prepped for that as well. I didn't end up using that idea on site, but I may return to it.

At the event, I found myself a spot on the floor next to the viewing window, and looked at the telescope while listening to the speakers explain the mission and technology involved. I began hand stitching the hexagons together to mimic the forms of the mirrors on the telescope.

It was a very chaotic--in the best possible way--scene. Lot of new people, new information, a crowded room, and a stunning and almost visually overwhelming technological marvel to look at in close proximity. I kept myself grounded, literally and figuratively, by doing what I often do, centering in the meditative aspects of doing repetitive work with my hands.

Also currently trending in the fiberart/textile world is the idea of slow stitching. It's akin to the slow food movement; the idea that in a world that requires a quick response time in most of our activities, we benefit from slowing down and focusing on meaningful activity. I've instinctively done this from a very young age, so muscle memory largely controls my movements and my stitching proceeds almost on its own accord.

I got nine hexagons connected before stopping to go on the tour of the facility. It's significant to me that the work was actually begun on site. I am still working through my photos and impressions of the event, and considering how to proceed.

I will document and share the process here and on social media as it unfolds.
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Here's the group of happy artists, at the end of the day, posing for the best ever Jazz Hands picture:

You can follow the group activity  @NASAWebb on Twitter and Instagram, and use the hashtag #JWSTArt to see updates as they happen from the artists.  Follow on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/webbtelescope
 There's an unofficial storify at https://storify.com/JWSTFan/jwst-artist-event

I will leave you for now with this gorgeous fisheye view of the telescope:

Artist Event at James Webb Space Telescope - Part 1

I had the unique experience of being selected, along with a diverse group of 22 other artists from across the US, to attend the James Webb Space Telescope Artist Event at the Goddard Space Center in Greenbelt, MD, on 11/2/2106.  You can read about the call for artists and the event here.

I was a bit early for the meetup, and had time to look around the Visitor Center (above).  Once the group was assembled and cleared security, we were shuttled through the vast Goddard campus to the building complex housing the telescope.

I had of course reviewed a lot of material about the telescope online, but it didn't come close to preparing me for how astonishing it was to see it in on site.

The telescope was built in a large clean room facility.  For most of the process, the literally-gold-plated mirrors were tilted away from the viewing room.  This was a brief opportunity to see it from the ideal vantage point. Obviously, I am thrilled!

The telescope had just passed a critical juncture in production and testing, and the morning had been dedicated to a media event.  At 2:00, the room was transformed into a space for artists to create. The diversity of artists and artistic media represented was unparalleled in my experience. While the artists got busy recording images and impressions, and starting on artwork, we were treated to a variety of knowledgeable speakers who explained the telescope's mission and construction, and took questions.

By an astonishing coincidence, two of the other attendees accepted for the event are friends of mine and also members of the PA Arts Experience.  We had applied independently, and saw notices of our acceptances as we posted them on Facebook. Here's Ophelia Chambliss with her paintings in progress.  Ophelia and I were both plein air artists at the PA Governor's Mansion in September.

Here's Jessica Lee, working on her experimental poured paint canvases:

After the speakers, artists continued working and socializing while small groups were taken out for facility tours. I soaked in as much information as possible and took a lot of pictures. I hope they can give you some sense of the scale and complexity of operations.

Below is the view through a small window of the reverse of the telescope in the clean room:

This is an area for audio testing:

A picture to prove I was there!

A view from a cat walk:

A temporary clean room space:

The thermal vacuum chamber looks like something from every science fiction book I've ever read.  The "muffin top" slides to one side so the chamber can be loaded from the other side.

It was a peak life experience for me, but for these guys it was another Wednesday afternoon in the office. It was inspiring to be around so many smart and talented people.

These next images are from the centrifuge testing room.

Obviously I am not trained to identify and understand everything I was able to view.  But our tour guide made a comment that put it all in perspective for me.  She said that after a particular project or test, the engineers will disassemble the equipment and store the components.  They seldom discard anything, but instead pile it up off to the side for possible reuse.  There are people there who have a mental inventory of these components, so those messy looking stacks are actually a very controlled bit of chaos.  This is exactly analogous to every artist I have ever known and every fine craftsman's workspace.  Once I realized I was touring through a giant workroom of sorts, I felt right at home.

Back at the viewing room, we had time for further work and networking before the event closed at 5:00. Crew began arriving to prepare the the telescope to be rotated.

This brief opportunity to view the telescope in its golden glory also drew a lot of staff to the room.  Someone set up a bright light and a box to stand on that provided just the right angle to take a selfie with your face looming large in the surface of the telescope.  This is hands down the coolest selfie I have ever taken or will take:

I had a lot of information and images to share, so I've broken this experience down into two parts.  Follow through to Part 2 to see how I handled the artist endeavor aspect of my visit.

This experience will stay with me and the other artists for a long time to come, and will affect and drive my artwork in ways I'm just beginning to imagine.  Plans at this point are for an online exhibit of the work we all produce, and hopefully a physical exhibit in the spring as well.  Many, many sincere thanks to Maggie Masetti for conceiving of the event, and to everyone who worked to make it happen on such short notice.

You can follow @NASAWebb on Twitter and Instagram, and use the hashtag #JWSTArt to see updates as they happen from the artists.  Follow on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/webbtelescope
 There's an unofficial storify at https://storify.com/JWSTFan/jwst-artist-event