Psyche Inspired

Psyche Beaded

DANIELLE GU

March 15th, 2024

Major: Business and Art History

Genre/Medium: Glass beads, copper wire, wood

About the work: My project is a beaded sculpture of the Psyche spacecraft, mounted on top of a hollow wooden block. In creating this project, I wanted to challenge myself to create a sculpture out of a new medium. I have worked with beads in the past, especially in jewelry, but I knew that sculpture and 3D forms would provide a different challenge.

As I began this sculpture, I started with the 3D cube in the center, which contains the thrusters, sun sensor, X-Band High Gain antenna, and more on the real spacecraft. I used a peyote stitch technique and created two halves of the cube that I later stitched together. Then, I created two solar arrays out of chrome and silver bugle beads that I attached through the middle of the cube, creating the spacecraft. Finally, I placed the spacecraft on a wire prong on top of the wooden cube, completing the sculpture! Throughout the process, I also consulted several diagrams of the spacecraft to build accurate proportions into the final product.

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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 Tungsten 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!

 

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Current Student Collaborations Participants

View a list of the students, faculty, staff, and mentors currently involved in Psyche Student Collaborations.

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Student Collaborations Participants