Psyche Inspired: Rachel McNeil

This is a portrait of Psyche Inspired member Rachel McNeil.

Rachel McNeil

Institution: Emory University

Major: Environmental Sustainability Management

Psyche Inspired Class: 2018-2019

This image shows a multi-sided garden pot painted with images of Psyche and other natural elements. Instructions for adding a note to the pot are written alongside.

Plant Your Seed

Rachel McNeil

March 28, 2019

Major: environmental sustainability management

Genre/Medium: acrylic paint on pre-made pottery

About the work: This piece is interactive and meant to engage with audiences in a way that prompts them to consider the infinite possibilities space exploration holds and how they can participate. This piece combines science, art, nature, and artificiality in a way that pushes the viewer to reconsider the definition of science and the role art plays in discovery. For the interactive component of the piece, I ask viewers to write an idea or hope they have for future space exploration on tiny cards shaped like seeds. Viewers are encouraged to not only write but also read the ideas of others in hopes of spurring inspiration and allowing viewers to interact with each other indirectly. This project not only functions as a piece of art but also a real-time artifact that holds the thoughts of many people with differing backgrounds, levels of education, and perspectives on space.

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The Scientist’s (art) work

Rachel McNeil

April 16, 2019

Major: environmental sustainability management

Genre/Medium: mixed media

About the work: This piece aims to redefine what we traditionally think of as “science” by showcasing the very creative and inspirational process scientist go through when carrying forth research. This work serves as an example of how STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics) is interconnected and can be utilized to convey scientific data in a more engaging and accessible way.

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The background of the painting is black with various sized small whites dots to emulate stars. In the center of the painting is a light blue woman with course curly dark blue that flows to her waist. The woman wears a black and purple crown with a white asteroid in the middle and the words Psykhe written across in black lettering identifying her as the goddess. She wears a green flowing dress with purple off-the shoulder sleeves and a purple waist cinch. Her dress is ancient Grecian styled and she wears a big gold necklace paired with green and blue earrings with curved black designs and lines. A small bracelet adorns her hand with a "c" attached to it hinting the goddess myth in which she was Cupid's lover. She has black and gold wings jutting out of her back with black designs in the gold parts of the wing. On the left wing the word soul is spelled as Psykhe is goddess of the soul and "Ni" is seen as the asteroid contains nickel components. On the right wing a small sketch of the psyche spacecraft can be seen as well as roman numerals that equate to 16 as the psyche asteroid is the 16th asteroid to be discovered.

Psykhe: The Goddess and Asteroid

Rachel McNeil

January 29, 2019

Major: environmental sustainability management

Genre/Medium: painting/acrylic and marker

About the work: This painting depicts the goddess, Psykhe, for whom the asteroid was named. In this piece, there are hidden images and text that relate to the discovery story of the asteroid. If you look closely at tendrils of hair, accessories, and wings, you’ll find clues that relate to numerous aspects of the Psyche asteroid, such as the scientist who discovered it, what it is believed to be made out of, etc.

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This image shows two large swirling circular shapes beginning to merge together. The shape on the left is blue and green with textured cracks and swirls representing the earth and the shape on the right is mostly orange,with accents of red, yellow and black, that is also textured with cracks and bumps and merging to the earth.The shape on the right represents psyche. These two images are painted on a backdrop of space which is black with extremely tiny, fine white dots representing stars. All through out the space there are white infographics of data gathered so far about psyche like the astronomical units of it, its orbit time, the elements it is made out of etc.

Transfer

Rachel McNeil

November 11, 2018

Major: environmental sustainability management

Genre/Medium: acrylic paint

About the work: This piece explores the transfer of information between the asteroid Psyche and the Earth. The mission to Psyche the asteroid could provide us with more information about Earth’s core. Thus, this piece depicts what information scientists have discovered so far about Psyche through the white infographics and pieces of data. The Earth is green and blue and appears to be merging with a ball of orange, red, and black, which represents the information about Earth’s core Psyche could provide. Instead of depicting what Psyche, a metallic asteroid, could possibly look like, I decided to focus on the data transfer about cores by portraying an image of what someone would usually think of when talking about the Earth’s core.

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