The mystery of space and the relationship of relentless human exploration was the focus of this work. The moon is one of Earth’s closest neighbors in our planetary system and was the first extraterrestrial mission of mankind. Climate change continues to progress and a planet Earth with a livable environment for humans has a ticking clock. Preparation of the human race to live on another planet has begun and likely history will repeat itself as humans wreak havoc on ecosystems with technology “advancements”. I was inspired by this crisis to highlight a future experience of school on another planet and symbolized a “developed” human race that has adapted to life on the moon with biological changes.

Alexis Rockman and Pqhaüs were my artist inspirations during the creation process and both work with painting constructed reality landscapes. I created a multi-media collage piece using graphite, Nupastels, Alphacolor pastels, pastel pencils, and charcoal. I was inspired by Pqhaüs’s use of expressive figurature and everyday scenery to describe commonalities in life experiences so I based my scene on the moon around a school bus stop and an approaching figure. Alexis Rockman’s work centers around apocalyptic scenes where there are a variety of elements at play in the work to emphasize the chaotic nature of the crisis and I included a tipping over trash can along with electric vehicles on the moon to express the inevitability of the same destruction on earth repeating itself. My work often contains autobiographical elements like the frog-human character in the foreground as an artist in school and is meant to draw a connection between humans and foreign life. 

Nia Blue