Join a conversation at the intersection of art, science, and imagination, featuring astronaut Nicole Stott in dialogue with artists Sarah and Joseph Belknap. Centered around the paintings of Alma Thomas and the culture of the first missions to outer space, this program explores how images shape both collective imagination and personal perception. Together, the speakers will reflect on awe and wonder as catalysts for discovery, and on how encounters with beauty, whether in a painting or from orbit, can transform how we see our world and our place within it.

Free; RSVP is encouraged. Register here.

Nicole Stott is an astronaut, aquanaut, engineer, artist, author of Back to Earth: What Life In Space Taught Me About Our Home Planet – And Our Mission To Protect It; and most importantly a mom. She creatively combines the awe and wonder of her spaceflight experience with her artwork to inspire everyone’s appreciation of our role as crewmates here on Spaceship Earth. 

Nicole is a veteran NASA Astronaut with two spaceflights and 104 days in space as a crewmember on both the International Space Station and the Space Shuttle. Personal highlights of her time in space include being the 10th woman to perform a spacewalk, first person to operate the ISS robotic arm to capture a free-flying cargo vehicle, first to paint a watercolor in space, working with her international crew for the benefit of all life on Earth, and of course the life-changing view of our planetary home.  

Nicole is also a NASA Aquanaut. In preparation for spaceflight, she was a crewmember on the 18-day NEEMO9 saturation dive mission at the Aquarius undersea laboratory. 

On her post-NASA mission, she is a technical and creative consultant, motivational speaker, and advocate for all we do in space that is ultimately for the benefit of all life on Earth. Nicole is extremely proud of her role as a founding director of the Space for Art Foundation — uniting a planetary community of children through the awe and wonder of space exploration and the healing power of art; as a partner in purpose with SPACE for a Better World; and as an enthusiastic ambassador for our planet with organizations like Ocean Culture Life, Platform Earth, Sheba Hope Grows, Astra Carta, Plant A Million Corals, the Everglades Foundation, and 11th Hour Racing. 

Sarah and Joseph Belknap are partners, interdisciplinary artists and educators. Stretching and playing with pareidolia and mythology, their work draws on the cosmos, deep time, science, and speculative fiction. 

They work across space and materials - combining photography, sculpture, film, drawing, and anything else that they want to play with because they are always learning.  Aside from their studio practice, they run a free garden each spring and take as many trips to the woods as they can. 

 Their art has been exhibited in Chicago, San Franscisco, LA, Brooklyn, Detroit, Columbus, Minneapolis, Kansas City, St. Louis, and Oleśnica, Poland. In addition, they have presented performances, public programs and workshops at institutions throughout Chicago, including the Chicago Cultural Center, Hyde Park Art Center, Links Hall, and the MCA. Their work has been shown in many group exhibitions and solo shows including: SFAI Galleries,the Columbus Museum of Art , The Arts Club of Chicago, the Chicago Artists’ Coalition, Western Exhibitions, Comfort Station, and Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago. Their work has been published in journals including ‘After Image’ and the Chicago Tribune and books; most recently, ‘Weather as Medium’ by Janine Randerson, in the Leonardo Series through MIT Press. 

IMAGE

Speaker-provided headshots of Nicole Stott and Sarah & Joseph Belknap