Psyche Inspired: Christine Zhou

Institution: Brown University

Major: Mechanical Engineering and Visual Art

Psyche Inspired Class: 2019-2020

Reflections from Christine

 What Could Have Been

This piece is composed of a swirling blue, purple, yellow, and white background with sweeping wide brushstrokes. Interspersed throughout the artwork are cutouts of magazine pages showcasing happiness on people’s and animals’ faces as well as snippets of cities and machines -- human creations. The entire work mimics the surface of the Psyche asteroid, with its crevices and its streaks of gold running along the top. The collage elements are cut in wave shapes to blend in with the direction of the brushstrokes.

What Could Have Been

Christine Zhou

October 30, 2019

Major: Mechanical Engineering and Visual Art

Genre/Medium: acrylic and collage on paper

About the work: Psyche, possibly the exposed metal core of an early planet, is the manifestation of what could have been. Perhaps what is now an asteroid could have developed into an Earth-like body. Instead it is devoid of life. My piece represents what Psyche could have been — a habitat housing billions of organisms and their joys, celebrations, sorrows: the collection of their emotions. This piece incorporates collage elements: cut-outs from a variety of magazines that capture human lives. The flowing acrylic brush strokes represent the dynamism of our constantly moving and growing lives.

View the full image

Fragmentation

This piece utilizes four shades of a color from the original brown masonite. Psyche is depicted in the lightest shade of brown, and the background (outer space) is the darkest shade of brown. These dark brown areas of the engraved piece are cut a layer deeper into the masonite compared to the other lighter shades of brown. Psyche is seen exploding in the lower right-hand corner, fragmenting into chunks and shards.

Fragmentation

Christine Zhou

December 10, 2019

Major: Mechanical Engineering and Visual Art

Genre/Medium: laser cut masonite

About the work: Psyche is an asteroid thought to be the remnants of a planetary metal core subjected to extremely strong collisions. In this piece, Psyche is depicted in the throes of its impact, fragmenting throughout space. The background, showing space between Mars and Jupiter, is mostly dark, but Psyche is illuminated. The obscured sphere in the lower middle area of this piece is the colliding object. I created the outline and design for my piece on Adobe Illustrator and then laser cut the image onto masonite.

View the full image

World of Metal

My poster is composed of yellows, oranges, pinks, and purples, which are the colors on the Psyche logo. It features an asteroid zooming towards the reader, leaving a bright yellow trail behind it. The background is composed of pink and orange stripes to create a graphic effect. Purple dust clouds border the bottom of the poster.

World of Metal

Christine Zhou

March 6, 2020

Major: Mechanical Engineering and Visual Art

Genre/Medium: digital, Adobe Photoshop

About the work: (16) Psyche is a unique asteroid that is mostly metal, opening up many possibilities as to what it may be. My graphic poster presents Psyche as a phenomenon–something to be marveled. My poster attempts to grab the viewer’s eye with one simple message: Psyche, World of Metal. I used Adobe Photoshop to create the poster, incorporating the oranges, pinks, and purples from the Psyche Mission logo.

View the full image

Empathy

In this piece, Psyche the goddess is caressing the asteroid 16-Psyche. The entire piece is digitally created, but it has a grainy finish, reminiscent of pencil markings. The color scheme is centered around pinks and purples.The goddess wears a light pink dress and has curly brown hair, whereas the asteroid is deep purple with blue and orange highlights. The background is composed of tiny stars and bulbous blue clouds.

Empathy

Christine Zhou

April 7, 2020

Major: Mechanical Engineering and Visual Art

Genre/Medium: digital, Adobe Photoshop

About the work: In the legends, the goddess Psyche was cursed by Aphrodite, who said Psyche would now fall in love with the most unworthy and disgusting mortal men. Meanwhile, 16-Psyche is thought to have undergone an extremely large collision that stripped it of many of its surface layers. Due to the tragedies the Psyches have experienced, I chose to depict Psyche the goddess caressing the asteroid, comforting it with her empathy.

View the full image