Current Student Collaborations Participants
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Psyche Inspired
Sending Letters Home
JESSICA HALL
March 24th, 2025
Major: New Media Design
Genre/Medium: Collage/Acrylic painting on canvas; magazines, thrifted childrens’ books, science books, book board, tinfoil, aluminum wire, copper wire, popsicle sticks, acrylic paint
About the work:
“Sending Letters Home” is a collage that represents the carefully structured, collaborative effort of the Psyche mission, as well as the emotional experience of launching this spacecraft to an unfamiliar place and awaiting its feedback. The piece evokes feelings of nostalgia, inspiration, and hope for what’s yet to come from the Psyche mission.
There are a lot of intentional details, many of them very obscured by the painting’s multitude of layers, that are built into this collage. The base of the painting was made from pages of old science books and texts about space travel, the solar system, the Earth, and other similar scientific topics. Additional texts and images of the stars were all taken from childrens’ books about space, reflecting the childlike wonder and curiosity that inspires humanity to study space. Finally, the 3-dimensional aspect of this project represents the depth and layers behind the science and exploration of space. The concept of collage itself represents the idea that space exploration isn’t just an answer to a question, but rather a resource to supplement us with the data and ideas to further a picture that we are only beginning to understand.
Psyche Inspired Overview
Psyche Inspired is a program that brings undergraduate students from any discipline or major together to share the excitement, innovation, and scientific and engineering content of NASA’s Psyche mission with the public in new ways through artistic and creative works. These works are posted in the gallery above and highlighted on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. View the full resolution images in the image gallery. This year’s Psyche Inspired cohort is known as the Iridium Class.
Psyche Inspired was piloted at ASU during the 2017-2018 academic year. The following academic year, Psyche Inspired expanded nationally! The works from each Psyche Inspired cohort are collected in individual downloadable books that tell the story of Psyche through musical scores, sculptures, painting, 3-D models, photography, acrylic art, needlepoint, stop-motion films, mixed media, and more.
Click here to view all the Psyche Inspired books
Take a look at our comprehensive map that shows how the Psyche Inspired program has grown over the years!
