Nicole Stott, SPACE FOR ART FOUNDATION, USA
Astronaut, Aquanaut, Artist, Speaker and Author.
As a NASA Astronaut and Aquanaut, Nicole Stott has explored from the heights of outer space to the depths of our oceans. In awe of what she has experienced from these very special vantage points, she has dedicated her life to sharing the beauty of Earth from space with others.
" The Space for Art Foundation is uniting a planetary community of children through the awe and wonder of space exploration and the healing power of art."
She believes that sharing these orbital and inner space perspectives has the power to increase everyone’s appreciation of, and obligation to care for, our home planet and each other.
As an Artist, and now retired from NASA, Nicole combines her spaceflight experience and artwork to inspire creative thinking about solutions to our planetary challenges, to raise awareness of the surprising interplay between science and art, and to promote the amazing work being done every day in space to improve life right here on Earth.
Nicole was invited to join the Spacesuit Art Project when it first began in 2015 and since then it has been an amazing journey of space, art, and healing. She knows that the time she spent in space has led her to the work she's blessed to do now as a founding director with the Space for Art Foundation.
Watch my interview with this fascinating, fun and compassionate woman.
She shares her experiences from outer space on her two missions ( 104 days in total) to the International Space Ship . She talks about the thrilling experience in taking a Space Walk. (As the 10th women in the world to do so).
She also shares the challenges in painting a watercolor painting in a place without gravity. The first to do so ever.
In 2006, Nicole was a member of the 6-person crew of the NEEMO 9 mission (NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations) where she lived and worked with her crew in saturation for 18 days on the Aquarius undersea research habitat - the longest Aquarius saturation mission to date.
But most of all, she shares emotional stories from her work with the Space For Art Foundation and talks about the children she meet: cancer sick children in hospitals, refugee children and in schools allover the world.
Watch Part 1:
Watch Part 2:
The Space for Art Foundation is on a mission of Space, Art, and Healing:
Creating large-scale space-themed art projects.
Building our crew of ‘Artonauts’- Children creating art together from hospitals, refugee centers, and schools around the world.
Leveraging the collective talents of our team of artists, astronauts, engineers, and health experts from around the world.
Focusing on the awe and wonder of space exploration.
Highlighting the connection between personal and planetary health.
Raising awareness of our role as crewmates here on Spaceship Earth.
The strategy includes –
Facilitating and implementing space-themed art and healing programs.
Awarding scholarships and grants to art students and artists who want to develop their own space-themed art therapy ideas.
Documenting and sharing our work in support of on-going research in the field of art and healing.
The Spacesuit Art Projet:
What started with one artist, with children undergoing pediatric cancer treatment in one hospital, in one country, with one art spacesuit, has blossomed into a global Space for Art community.
Many artists, astronauts and cosmonauts, space professionals, health experts, and most importantly children in hospitals, refugee centers, and schools from around the world, have brought to life five art space suits (3 that have traveled to and from the International Space Station (ISS)).
Our Art Spacesuits ~ Hope, Courage, Unity, Victory, and Exploration ~ are all named to capture the strength and vision of the children who helped create them.
The two newest suits are Dreamer and Exploration. Both are created with the artwork from children around the planet, and through continued partnership with UNITY and spacesuit companies Zvezda and ILC Dover.
Exploration is an ambassador for Spaceship Earth - on a mission to bring us all back to Earth.
A beautiful reminder that we all live on a planet (on our own spaceship), and that we are all Earthlings. ILC Dover quilted together the artwork from children in over 45 countries.
Dreamer is being created with the hope of traveling to the ISS with a very special mission (to be announced) and to take the dreams of the children on a journey to outer space. The UNITY team in Russia and spacesuit company Zvezda are building Dreamer from the artwork of children in the 15 ISS partner countries.
A CHALLENGE TO ALL CHILDREN:
We're inviting children from every country around the world to join us on our mission to create the new art spacesuit " BEYOND "
Paint or draw how you imagine our home planet Earth as part of the Universe. Take a good picture of your artwork and send it to : art@spaceforartfoundation.org
We will combine your artwork with artwork from other children representing all the countries in the world to create the new spacesuit BEYOND.
We are very excited that BEYOND will make its first appearance at the UN CLIMATE CHANGE conference ( COP26) in Glasgow, Scotland in November 2021.
This project is just one of many others, please take a look at the website: www.spaceforartfoundation.org to learn more about other great projects on how to help healing children.
Dear Nicole,
Thank you so much for taking the time to share your incredible experiences with us. It has been so interesting to learn about your space missions and also your amazing work with Space For Art Foundation.
We wish you all the best for future projects and hope that a lot of children will support your Space Suit Challenge.
For more information about Nicole and Space for Art Foundation, please visit the websites:
Just coming back from Space.