Psyche Inspired: Nikka Bacalzo

This is a portrait of Psyche Inspired member Nikka Bacalzo

Nikka Bacalzo (Photo Credit: Abigail Weibel)

Institution: Arizona State University

Major: Graphic Design

Psyche Inspired Class: 2017-2018

This image shows a table lamp with a custom shade made of grey painted and speckled paper in the shape of the Psyche asteroid.

Psyche Paper Lamp Shade

Nikka Bacalzo

April 17, 2018

Major: graphic design

Genre/Medium: paper and acrylic paint

About the work: This lamp shade was constructed from 11 ‘flower’ templates that I spray painted then textured with black and three different shades of matte silver acrylic paint. I decided to cut each ‘petal’ irregularly to give more texture that Psyche may have. I cut each ‘petal’ halfway through so all of the templates interlaced with each other and there was no glue necessary.

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This image shows the Psyche pop-up book upright, showing all the pages.

Psyche Pop-Up Book

Nikka Bacalzo and Anne Norenberg

March 23, 2018

Major: graphic design (Nikka); digital culture (Anne)

Genre/Medium: paper art and graphics

About the work: This informative book was a collaboration between Nikka Bacalzo and Annie Norenberg. Annie designed the pages of the book and Nikka elevated the pictures with foam core as well as added the pull-tabs and pop-ups with cardstock, cut with an X-Acto. The book outlines a little history of Psyche, its instruments, the launch date and the purpose of the mission. Dimensions are ~8″ x 7″. View all the pages.

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This image shows a frame of the Psyche Stop Motion video. In this frame, the Psyche spacecraft is orbiting the Psyche asteroid and the words Psyche are shown.

Psyche Stop Motion

Nikka Bacalzo

March 16, 2018

Major: graphic design

Genre/Medium: paper art stop motion film

About the work: This stop motion shows Psyche leaving Earth, passing the Moon, Mars, and a few meteoroids on its way to Psyche. All pieces were hand-cut from weighted cardstock. Dimensions of the Psyche spacecraft are 2” x 0.75”. The music is a piece called “Ideas” written by fellow Psyche Inspired intern Isaac Wisdom! Cinematography by Matthew Berger.

Watch the stop motion film

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This image shows the word "Psyche" spelled out by many strips of paper that have been adhered on-edge to a background to create a 3D paper piece.

Psyche Paper Quilling

Nikka Bacalzo

January 31, 2018

Major: graphic design

Genre/Medium: paper quilling

About the work: I outlined the word Psyche with white cardstock and chose colors similar to the Psyche logo to fill in the letters. I chose to run the yellow colors through the middle of each letter, and surround the letters with white wavy pieces to create more movement, since Psyche will be orbiting! I also included Psyche the asteroid in between the “Y” and “C” as a focal point. Dimensions: 17″ x 6″.

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This 3D book is made with 23 separate cut-outs of the Psyche asteroid in a mottled gray, suspended in white frames that have stars, arrows, and the Psyche spacecraft on them. When the spine of the book is inverted, it makes a 3D cylinder.

Psyche 3D Book

Nikka Bacalzo

December 7, 2017

Major: graphic design

Genre/Medium: paper and watercolor

About the work: The Psyche 3D book is intended to inform viewers of one of the mission goals: to explore a world made of metal. I originally saw this idea from artist Yusuke Ono who has done these 3D books for Mt. Fuji and also stories like Little Red Riding Hood and Jack and the Beanstalk. I ended up creating 20 templates of the Psyche shape, used watercolor to show varying textures, folded each template, glued them together, then strung them in order for them to fan out evenly when you open the book.

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There are two white pieces made of layers of paper with different cut-outs, separated and framed by foam core. Each is lit from behind: One represents the asteroid's discovery in 1852 and one represents the mission's arrival at the asteroid in 2026.

Psyche: Then and Now

Nikka Bacalzo

November 14, 2017

Major: graphic design

Genre/Medium: white cardstock paper, foam core

About the work: These two pieces that I cut with an X-Acto blade show the “then” and “now” of Psyche. I layered multiple different cut-outs, separated and framed by foam core, to create the final piece. The Psyche asteroid was named after a Greek goddess, which inspired the idea of hands presenting the asteroid, as well as the wings she had that float behind. Fast forward-ing to 2026, the expected arrival date of the Psyche spacecraft, the second piece includes people looking through a telescope at Psyche, as well as Jupiter and Mars, which are near Psyche. Dimensions: 8.5” x 6”.

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