Psyche Inspired: Finn Witt

Institution: Lawrence University

Major: Biochemistry, Mechanical Engineering

Psyche Inspired Class: 2019-2020

REFLECTIONS FROM Finn

Falling

"Falling" is composed of pastel on a black sheet of wood. It is 6ft tall and 2ft wide. Most of the painting is black with a few scattered stars. Immense planets are found at the ends of the scene. A small purple and gold craft falls away from Earth at the top of the painting and down toward an equally miniscule target: 16-Psyche. This asteroid sits at the center of the painting, floating between Jupiter and Mars.

Falling

finn witt

November 8, 2019

Major: Biochemistry, Mechanical Engineering

Genre/Medium: chalk pastel on wood

About the work: “Falling” is composed of soft pastel on a black sheet of wood. It is 6ft tall and 2ft wide. Most of the painting remains black with immense planets found in the far ends. Through the immense black, a small spacecraft falls away from Earth and down toward an equally minuscule target: 16-Psyche. The asteroid floats above and between Jupiter and Mars, indicating its actual position. It is incredible that we can send something so small into the vast universe and hope to hit anything at all. The massive scale of the painting glimpses the great feat of trying to pilot such a small spacecraft through the solar system.

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Metal Clouds

16-Psyche looms large in the drawing, a silvery-blue mass with gritty swirls of dark blue and purple running across its surface. Two large craters align on its equator and a massive golden crack creeps around the north pole. The asteroid sinks into white-capped bright red clouds while wisps of greens and blues appear from behind and below the asteroid and clouds. Surrounding them all is a golden disk pulled into orbit around the mass. The background is dark with a thin splatter of stars.

Metal Clouds

finn witt

December 10, 2019

Major: Biochemistry, Mechanical Engineering

Genre/Medium: chalk pastel on wood

About the work: It’s thought that 16-Psyche is the exposed core of a protoplanet whose mantle was ripped away by repeated collisions. This would have resulted in clouds of metal and rock surrounding the asteroid. However, this is only one hypothesis describing its formation, and any debris has long since cleared from the asteroid’s path. I attempted an Impressionist style in this work with a liberal use of bright saturated colors and punctuated strokes. This took just over an hour to complete. It depicts a common interpretation of 16-Psyche surrounded by its ejected mantle. The asteroid sinks into clouds of dust while a disk of debris is pulled into orbit, much like a protoplanetary disk.

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Collision

Collision

finn witt

March 13, 2020

Major: Biochemistry, Mechanical Engineering

Genre/Medium: string quartet

About the work: This piece for string quartet and glockenspiel tells the story of ancient (16) Psyche’s last moments before a hypothesized collision, which tore away its rocky outer layers and revealed the metallic core within. It is composed for string quartet-2 violins, viola, and cello-with an accompanying glockenspiel. The recording is built from synthesized instruments, which unfortunately do not fully express the instruments they represent. This is especially apparent in the second half of the recording with the choppy strings bouncing back and forth rather than flowing. It would sound much nicer with a recording of actual instruments, but finding a string quartet to perform your piece is more than difficult.

The work opens with a long, low cello note, representing the darkness of space. Quick notes from the glockenspiel ring out above, not unlike the twinkling of stars. After a brief pause follows a melancholy soundscape and low melody as a theme for our asteroid 16-Psyche. Following this is a rising movement, building stress as it gets louder and faster. This represents the approach of another astronomical body hypothesized to have collided with an ancient (16) Psyche, leaving behind the metallic core we hope to study.

Pillars

Pillars

finn witt

May 25, 2020

Major: Biochemistry, Mechanical Engineering

Genre/Medium: digital painting

About the work: (16) Psyche orbits around the Sun in the asteroid belt and, over its many billion years, has likely been hit by many smaller objects. With its potentially high metal content, the surface may be littered with craters, which may be rimmed by massive sheets and pillars of metal. I attempted an artistic interpretation of the surface, drawing some inspiration from the landscapes of southern Utah and Arizona.

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