5 minute read
BEYOND THE BRUSHSTROKES
Inside NASA’s Johnson Space Center, among engineers, astronauts and scientists, hangs a stunning 8-by-12-foot mural created by La Marque High School art students. The artwork a cosmic scene featuring life-size astronauts, swirling nebulas and a mirror where viewers can see themselves as space explorers — is now a permanent installation in NASA’s Command Center.
The students behind the project juniors Alex Vargas and Rayne Luna, along with senior Lucas Solis spent weeks bringing the vision to life, collaborating with classmates and students from Blocker and Giles middle schools to build what NASA called a “blown away” result.
“It was mainly just collaborating with each other,” Vargas said. “We did a bunch of rough sketches on just normal paper, we did some planning and we also looked up some color palettes and stuff to help us.”
The concept grew from a phone call art teacher Joan Finn received unexpectedly.
“I was minding my own business and I got a phone call from NASA,” Finn said. “They said they were interested in local high school students doing murals for
“Giles and Blocker did the background for the piece,” Luna explained. “Then we took pieces of paper that they made TCISD art students launch their talent them. I said, ‘Well, that’s fabulous.’ They only asked for one mural. And then we gave them three.”
Finn knew the opportunity was rare. With the Texas Art Education Association (TAEA) conference happening in Galveston around the same time and its theme focused on space she turned the project into a large-scale initiative. NASA displayed the murals at its conference booth before taking them back to Johnson Space Center, where they now hang in a prominent location.
The central mural depicts two astronauts standing on the moon, backdropped by the Milky Way and distant galaxies. A mirror embedded in each astronaut’s helmet invites viewers to “visualize yourself as an astronaut,” Vargas said. “Which I believe if you put in enough work, you could be.”
Luna summed up the theme simply: “Chasing after your dreams.”
The mural also reflects teamwork across campuses. Students at Blocker and Giles painted individual elements like nebulas and the Milky Way.
ON PAGE 4 doing the nebulas and the Milky Way, we put it on the backdrop and then we made it blend in better with our colors to make it seem like one big, giant piece.”
“We made it a bit more cohesive,” Solis added. “We glued them together and reorganized the composition to make it fit better. But everything was used that they made.”
While the middle schoolers focused on space phenomena, the La Marque High School team tackled the moon surface and the astronauts themselves. The scale of the work brought its own challenges.
“We started with tracing and Ms. Finn said that we were taking forever,” Luna said with a laugh.
Finn recalled the logistical hurdles vividly.
“The piece is 8x12 feet. And we were doing three murals at once. We needed space,” she said. “Mr. Nicholson finally let me use an empty room down the hall. We did those murals in two weeks. It was an incredible challenge, but they rose to the challenge.”
The team committed hours beyond the school day and came during the weekends and after school. Luna estimated over 30 hours of her studio time went into the mural. Finn calculated nearly 100 hours total for the team, including evenings and weekends.
“Every day after school, except for one day,” she said. “Two Saturdays, a Sunday. And they worked during the school day too.”
Even after painting, students helped assemble the mural and prepare it for installation. While NASA installed the murals, the students had to finish them.
For the students, the experience left a lasting impact.
“It’s definitely a huge accomplishment,” Vargas said. “Knowing that my art our art is installed in NASA permanently, where everyone can see it for hundreds or maybe millions of years.”
Solis echoed the sentiment.
“It’s really remarkable to see that. It’s gonna keep me going,” he said. “It’s gonna keep me motivated to keep making art for the rest of my life. I will never stop doing it. It’s amazing.”
Luna said it’s something she’ll carry with her, especially in hard times.
“Personally, I think it’s very inspiring. I think if you’re going through a tough time with your art, or with yourself… you can just look back and remember, ‘Hey, I did this thing. My piece is in NASA right now. I can do this. I can work. I can be better,’” she said.
Finn said the mural’s significance goes even deeper it depicts the Gateway Project, NASA’s next phase of space exploration.
“It’s displayed in the Command Center where everything happens,” she said. “Astronauts. Nuclear physicists. Rocket scientists. School children. Everyone sees it.”
She added that NASA was especially thrilled by how many students and schools were involved.
“We ruined it for everybody else,” she joked. “Now they’re gonna expect exactly what they got from us.”
