The Kemp Center for the Arts hosted its final lecture Saturday for the ArtZeum exhibit, Outer Space!
Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center engineer Calvin Seaman of Houston volunteered his time to speak with kids and adults alike about missions to Mars, spacewalks and the repairs and upgrades being made to the Hubble Telescope.
"I love hearing from the kids. I really enjoy answering questions," Seaman said.
Seaman said that it's amazing the questions that come out of their minds, how smart the children are and the things they want to know about.
Watching the Apollo moon landings as a child inspired Seaman to study math and science with the goal of one day becoming an astronaut. Every year growing up, his costume for Halloween was as an astronaut.
"I'd beg my mom for stamps so I could write letters to NASA and ask for information. They would send me fact sheets and brochures about exploration of the different planets and what the Apollo astronauts were doing," he said.
Today anyone interested in the space program at NASA has that same information and much more on their phones and computers.
When Seaman was old enough, he applied again and again to try to become an astronaut, but he wasn't selected.
"That's OK. I had the next best job because I was working with the astronauts training them how to do things and designing and building tools for use in space," he said. "It was a great opportunity for me. I've been with NASA for 32 years, and I've really enjoyed every minute of it."
It's a big part of NASA's goal to reach out to the public, especially to young people, to encourage them to study science, technology, engineering and math – and the arts, as well, Seaman said.
"It's just something I enjoy doing. A friend of a friend introduced me to the people at the museum, and they asked me if I would help. And I said I would love to help," he said.
Chondra Paul brought her two sons Bryce and Trynt to the lecture and ArtZeum exhibit after seeing the event on Facebook.
"I thought it was really interesting that someone from NASA was going to be in our town, so we just took the opportunity to come out and learn a little bit more about space," Paul said.
Bryce thought the ArtZeum exhibit was pretty cool and liked that he could interact with the different space displays and see the constellations you would see if there wasn't any light pollution.
"It's a lot of interacting that you don't usually get to do whenever you're somewhere else," Bryce said. "I think it's pretty interesting because we don't know much about (space), and there's always more things you can learn."
Christine Heidebrecht, Arts Council education coordinator, said that many people seem to think that art and science have nothing to do with each other.
"Much of what we do at NASA is art and science. It takes a lot of very imaginative thinking," Seaman said.
Artists use scientific experimentation when they're working with colors and with different materials, Heidebrecht said.
"When you're talking to a scientist, it takes a lot of creative problem solving, particularly in space, to be able to take what you know and to apply it to different scenarios and think through all the different problems that might occur," she said.
During his lecture on Mars, Seaman said the engineers had to be creative to figure out how to land the exploration rovers on Mars inexpensively. They decided to use airbags to cushion the rovers, and the money that was saved allowed NASA to send two rovers rather than just one.
"That was a very innovative way of landing that we'd never done before. To me that's a more art than science solution to a very complicated problem," Seaman said.
"So scientists and artists know that the two go hand in hand. And we just want to help the public realize that," Heidebrecht said.
She said it has been exciting this summer to have so many people interested in space.
"You would be led to believe that America had forgotten about the space program," she said. "To see that so many people have such curiosity still, and quite honestly things like the Hubble telescope are what has helped us reinvest in our imaginations to see some of the beauty that is happening in deep space."
The ArtZeum: Outer Space! summer exhibit ends July 29, and the final summer camp is Aug. 4. Then the Kemp Center for the Arts will go back to their regular art galleries.
They've already decided their subject for the third year of ArtZeum is going to focus on insects.
"Next summer, we're going to be looking at nature on our own planet and talking about insects and bugs and looking at them up close," Heidebrecht said.
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