Art and aerospace will meet again at the upcoming Spark STEM Fest at the Orlando Science Center. Covering both areas is former astronaut and space watercolorist Nicole Stott.
“You think you’re an astronaut, you think you’re an engineer, you think you’re a scientist,” Stott says. “Yet, most of the people I’ve met in my life are actually doing something artistic or creative, and we want to share that.”
Spark STEM Fest celebrates technology and innovation through hands-on experiences, live science shows, and interactions with engineers, researchers, and other experts. This event will be held at the Science Center on Saturday, Sunday and Monday.
Stott’s astronaut career included 104 days in space as a member of the International Space Station and Space Shuttle Discovery crews. She also had an artistic anti-gravity experience using watercolors on board the ship in 2009.
“It was strange to see this floating ball of water drawn to the brush, which then pulled the colored water off the palette,” she said. “I had to figure out how far I had to pull the brush away from the paper to create a picture by dragging a floating ball of colored water along the paper.”
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She had requested that she bring a paint kit, but she said she never planned or videotaped the painting session.
“It could have been a really beautiful way to explain why everything is a little bit different when you’re floating. … It’s the result of doing the science of washing your hair, and whatever it is, just going from one place to another is completely different,” Stott said.
“Actually, it’s not that difficult. It’s just different,” she said.
Stott grew up in Clearwater and currently lives in St. Petersburg. She earned degrees from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and the University of Central Florida. She joined NASA at Kennedy Space Center in 1988 as an engineer.
Stott’s post-NASA efforts include writing a book titled Back to Earth: What Extraterrestrial Life Teach Us About Our Home Planet – and the Mission to Protect It, and serving as founding director of the Space for Art Foundation, which combines exploration with artistic endeavors.
One of the foundation’s projects includes artwork by children, typically in hospitals, refugee centres, orphanages and schools, that is incorporated into spacesuits made by aerospace manufacturing company ILC Dover. Examples of patchwork style suits can be seen during the Spark STEM festival.
“I honestly thought, ‘Oh, this is a one-time project. Let’s do some art with the kids in the hospital. I hope they get inspired,'” Stott said. “I went into it with such a temporary idea, and it turned into something much bigger. I mean, about 30 minutes into the session with these kids, I was like, ‘Oh my God. I feel like I’ve discovered my next mission in life.'”
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At Spark STEM Fest, Stott will appear in an open spacesuit make-up with “Astronaut Wrangler” Christina Cope on Saturday afternoon, and at a meet-and-greet at the Space for Art exhibit on Sunday. On Saturday night, Stott and Cope will have a fireside chat as part of the adults-only, extra-ticket Science Night Live event (hosted by Brendan Byrne of Central Florida Public Media and the podcast “Are We There Yet?”).
Other activities within Spark include:
• Magician Jason Latimer (Science Channel’s “SciJinks”) returns to Spark and Science Night Live. He plans to repeat crowd-favorite illusions, as well as new feats such as moving through solid objects. There is an additional $5 fee to see the Latimer show.
• Exhibitors include AdventHealth for Children, Lockheed Martin, the U.S. Navy, Brevard Zoo, Shark Science Minority and Disney-designed escape room adventures.
• Multiple-appearance programs include an egg drop challenge, bubble explosion demonstration, explosive Diet Coke and Mentos demonstration, and humanoid and robot dog demonstrations.
• The Science Night Live lineup will also feature demonstrations that answer the scientific question “Can it shatter?”
• Daily science center exhibits such as “Mission: Astronaut” and the Fusion STEAM Gallery.
Science center exhibit explaining astronaut essentials
The Spark STEM Festival is included in regular science center admission, except for the Latimer show. Science Night Live takes place on Saturdays from 8pm to 11:30pm. Tickets are $25. Participants must be 18 years or older.
For tickets and more information, visit OSC.org.
dbevil@orlandosentinel.com
