Spacesuit Art Project
Our Space for Art story began with the awesomeness of the Spacesuit Art Project. One of our founding directors, Ian Cion, initiated this project with the idea for spacesuit art as part of his work with the Arts in Medicine Program he started and ran at the UT MD Anderson Cancer Center Children's Cancer Hospital in Houston, TX. What began with one artist, with children undergoing pediatric cancer treatment in one hospital, in one country, & with one art spacesuit, has blossomed into a planetary Space for Art community. Many artists, astronauts & cosmonauts, space professionals like ILC Dover, health experts, & most importantly our Artonauts ~ children in hospitals, refugee centers, orphanages, & schools from around the world ~ have brought to life seven art spacesuits. (Four that have traveled to & from the International Space Station (ISS))
Hope & Ian
Our Art Spacesuits ~ Hope, Courage, Unity, Victory, Dreamer, Exploration & Beyond ~ are all named to capture the strength & vision of the children from around the planet who helped create them.
We are fortunate to have the continued partnership with spacesuit company ILC Dover Astrospace and Foundation UNITY
Our latest spacesuit art creations are Dreamer & Beyond.
Dreamer was created to take the dreams of the children on a journey to outer space. Dreamer traveled to the International Space Station (ISS) on a Soyuz spacecraft in 2021 & is currently part of the ISS crew. The UNITY team in Russia & spacesuit company Zvezda built Dreamer from the artwork of children in hospitals in 20 cities & 10 countries (Russia, USA, Switzerland, the UK, Germany, France, Belgium, Armenia, Serbia, & Zambia). We look forward to welcoming Dreamer back to Earth!
Dreamer onboard the ISS with members of the Expedition 65 crew ~ Mark Vande Hei (NASA), Pyotr Dubrov (RSA), Megan McArthur (NASA), Oleg Novitsky (RSA) & Thomas Pesquet (ESA).
Beyond is the ambassador for Spaceship Earth - sharing a message of the connection between personal & planetary health, and as a beautiful reminder that we live on a planet (on our own spaceship), & that we are all Earthlings.
All of the artwork for Beyond was collected during the 2 years of COVID pandemic ~ a time when every child on Earth was dealing with a stressful time of isolation and concern for their health and well-being. We are thankful to our network of Earthlings who helped us reach out around the world to engage with so many incredible Artonauts. ILC Dover (THE spacesuit company) quilted together over 800 pieces of artwork from children in hospitals, refugee centers, orphanages, & schools in all 192 countries on the planet.
#planet #earthlings #thinblueline #crewnotpassengers
Beyond made its debut at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow, Scotland (Nov 2021).
(In partnership with ActionAid International & UNICEF)
While we can never promise a trip to space, we are of course hopeful that someday we will see Beyond in space too!
Art Spacesuits Unity and Hope and young artist strolling on "Mars"
Reid & Nicole meeting with a young artist at the University of TX MD Anderson Pediatric Cancer Center in Houston
Hamoud reunited with his painting & meets Exploration in Paris!
Art Spacesuits Unity and Hope and young artist strolling on "Mars"