Chalk It Up
Nidhi Shah
November 8th, 2024
Major: Mechanical Engineering
Genre/Medium: Pen, Marker, Colored Pencil
About the work:
“Chalk It Up” represents the humble beginnings of the incredible Psyche mission. This artwork captures the remarkable engineering feats and collaborative efforts that transformed what seemed impossible a decade ago into a reality. Much of this progress can be traced back to a single idea on a chalkboard (or, more commonly now, a whiteboard). The foundational math and science concepts depicted on the boards—like F=ma—continue to be essential to the success of such missions.
At the center of the piece is Psyche, the goddess of the soul, depicted with her hair symbolizing the 16 Psyche asteroid. Her wings are illustrated more mechanically, representing Psyche’s solar panels, to show the connection between the goddess behind the name and the spacecraft. This piece was created using markers and pens, with colored pencils employed to create a chalkboard texture, while white pen mimics chalk on the blackboards. The way in which the chalkboards seem to continue off the page depicts the vast amounts of understanding, hard work, and disciplines involved in the success of the mission. Read more…
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