The UNM ARTSLab hosts the Lunar Arts Award exhibition celebrating the creative exploration of the moon's influence on human culture and imagination on Friday, Jan. 24 from 4-6 p.m. at the UNM ARTSLab.

Lunar Arts

Sponsored by the Space Sustainability Research Grand Challenge, NASA CASA Moon research program, and ARTSLab, this initiative supports innovative moon-related art projects by University of New Mexico students. From over 50 applications, five outstanding proposals were selected, each receiving a $750 artist stipend and $250 in material support to bring their visions to life. 

Dust to Dust Lila Steffan 
(Custom pigment, Watercolor, Paper)

Dust to Dust is a collaboration between artist Lila Steffan and lunar geomorphologist Quinton Vitelli-Hawkins. During foraging expeditions, Vitelli-Hawkins identified and collected anorthosite and basalt. Both rock types are lunar analogs, minerals found on Earth which closely resemble those found on the moon. Steffan then hand-ground the rocks into watercolors. The final piece was painted by Steffan using anorthosite and basalt pigments on handmade paper. 

Phasing - Elan Retzlaff 
(Textile, Realtime Video Projection)
 

Phasing is an interdisciplinary installation that explores the connection between the moon and queer gender expression in cultural tradition. The live-processing video projection and mixed-media quilt use the moon’s relationship with light as a symbol for the dynamic strength of gender-fluid identities.  

Lunacy Enabled Synodic Realignment (LESR)  - Austin Tecks & Amanda Stormyr 
(Interactive Installation | VR, Projected Metahuman on SCOBY)
 

Lunacy Enabled Synodic Realignment reimagines the ancient belief in a connection between the moon and human emotions, presenting a speculative exploration of therapeutic recalibration through lunar cycles. 

In this work, Canadian-Scandinavian artist duo Austin Tecks and Amanda Stormyr invite participants into a near-ish-future scenario where emotional alignment is achieved through personalized, moon-inspired sessions. 

Sculpture Components: SCOBY Frame (42” x 76”)Perforated metal sheet, SCOBY (sugar, water, green tea, kombucha culture, 1.5 months fermentation), thread, bolts | Hand Sensor (12” x 14”) Perforated metal, acrylic, LEDs, Arduino | Meta-HumanAI Voice-Training Model, MetaHuman UE, Unreal Engine, Live Link Face, Polycam, Blender, Touch Designer | VR Experience:Custom VR environment developed in Unreal Engine 

madre luna Isabella Romero 
(Stop-motion Animation)
 

madre luna is a charcoal stop-motion film that celebrates the existence of nocturnal plant and animal species in New Mexico. The moon serves as a guiding and protective force, illuminating a world where life flourishes. Through ethereal dream-like visuals and an ambient score, the film highlights the unique ecology thriving in rural New Mexico – where indigenous and New Mexican communities have been tending to land for generations. In light of climate change and the continued erasure of indigenous people, this animation hopes to poetically remind viewers that indigenous people protect the majority of the world's biodiversity by existing. The closing scene, featuring the phrase "madre luna, where her light touches, life regains its rhythm" points to the theme of life protected by not just the moon, but by people who provide stewardship for the land.  

Grounding Moonlight Madison Hailey Emond 
(Photographic Installation)
 

Walking on the tidal flats of the Rio Grande River, I see the light of the full moon reflected in the expanse of slick clay and in the flowing water. Moonlight seems to emanate from each ripple in the river’s flow and the clay it shaped at a higher tide. I want to know how the moon looks from the perspective of this land capable of holding so much light. 

I shaped a pinhole camera from wild New Mexican clay and placed it on an island in the center of the Rio Grande’s path. After sunset or in the early hours of the morning, I loaded medium format color film inside the vessel, its aperture facing the wide-open sky above. Over several lunar cycles, I attempted to capture the path of the moon on film over this fixed point. Some exposures succeeded in making contact with the moon’s light and others did not. The work present here is only the beginning of this experiment.  

For more information, visit UNM ARTSLab.