Art at Fiske

View from L2: January - May 2023

Olivia Bode is a visual artist working in Colorado. Her work spans from metal fabrication to digital art, delving into a myriad of topics that range from personal narratives to the vastness of the universe. Having graduated from the University of Colorado Boulder with a BFA in Sculpture, Olivia now hopes to use her talents to share knowledge, spark interest, and create a conversation.

Through this series, Olivia aims to bridge the gap between her love for astronomy, art, and design. She explores the harmonious ways in which humans can interact with science and learn through visual markers. Using posters—one of the earliest and boldest forms of advertising—she draws people into the depths of the universe with color, design, and text. 

KAILA SPENCER: May - December 2022

Kaila Spencer is a visual artist based in Denver, Colorado. Her work explores the inherent connection between life and spirit and plays with the psychedelia of nature. Drawing from her observations of plants and animals around the globe, Kaila’s work seeks to inspire wonder and respect for the natural world and inquires, curiously, into our place within it all. Graduating from the University of Colorado with a degree in Studio Arts, Kaila employs various mediums like painting, illustration, and graphic design to create her images. The vibrant colors and characters convey a celebration of life, and the story of our connection to and interaction with the environment around us is ever-present in her work. Check out her website, Instagram or Facebook pages.

LAURA MCGOWAN: October 2021 - May 2022

Local artist, Laura McGowan is a self-taught artist and live-painter based in Boulder. She is known for her color and unique expression of life through vivid ornament, symbolism, detail and psychedelic imagery. 

She was inspired to paint by a sudden and complete loss of vision in 2013. After spending over three weeks in darkness, her perspective on life, details, colors, and her own personal journey changed. 

ΛAMBDA: January 2020 - May 2022

Taylor Krause is a Colorado based artist exploring various aspects of the universe through symbolic abstraction. His pieces focus on the connection of art to reality and how the stimuli of our environment influence ideas and creativity. This mindset led him to develop his own medium of three dimensional paintings in an attempt to emulate the same dimensional structure of our universe.

This body of work exhibits a range of astrophysical and theoretical phenomena from planets and stars to black holes, supernovae, and wormholes. His pieces emphasize the complexity evoked by looking at the universe on different scales and how these observations sculpt our perceptions of existence.

See taylorkrauseart.com for more information.

Elemental Structures: Permanent Installation completed June 2021

Each of these seven, 7 foot tall, pillars depict an element's emission spectrum. Each element has its own emission spectrum "fingerprint," giving astronomers the ability to know exactly what elements makeup far away stars and gas clouds. Elements included are Iron, Hydrogen, Helium, Carbon, Neon, Nitrogen, and Oxygen. Can you tell which pillar matches each element? Be sure to check out the Fingerprints of Light Activity while you're at Fiske to give it a try!

Sophie Adams (she/her) is a physical artist who works at the intersection of art, technology, and science, particularly astronomy. Her pieces reflect her own curiosity, to spark questions in the viewer about the science behind the world we live in. Adams has worked at Fiske for the past 3 and a half years as a presenter, production artist, graphic designer, and animator. She graduated in Spring 2021 with a BS in Technology, Arts, and Media from CU's Engineering School. Sophie is now the Building Manager for Artisan's Asylum in Boston, MA, runs an embroidery shop on Etsy, runs her own photography business, and works remotely with Fiske.

EXOPLANETS A TO Z: August - December 2019

Mary Recchia is a Colorado based artist and illustrator with a degree in Painting & Drawing from CU Boulder. She has been exhibiting in galleries for the past several years with work that evokes a sense of wonder and centers around connecting human experience to the natural world.

This body of work features illustrations from the book Exoplanets A to Z, written by Dr. Gabriel Recchia. The series depicts an imaginative rendition of twenty-five exoplanets (and one giant disc of cosmic debris!) based on our current knowledge of these amazing worlds beyond our solar system.

You can learn more about the planets featured in the book  and see more of the artist's work.

SKY PANORAMIX: January 2019 - Ongoing

Sky Panoramix is a collection of night sky and daytime landscape images taken by Chris Scherpenseel. These images represent some of the very best locations for seeing starry skies and awe inspiring landscapes.

Chris was born and raised in Colorado and at the age of fourteen he traveled to New Zealand to live with is father. Seeing the natural beauty of antoher country sparked his interest in travel and photography.

Chris is an alumni of CU and is a CPA (financial consultant) by day and an astrophotograher by night. He uses digital photography to tell stories and share sights that many people may never experience other than through his images.

See SkyPanoramix for more information.

ANT SPACE: January - June 2018

The Ant Space is a habitat which hangs on the wall like a painting. The seeds and ants add life inside and create art. Lights within the frame illuminate the background and shine through the ant tunnels. The backdrop of each Ant Space is a unique selection from the Hubble Space Telescope.

Jacob Lemanski graduated from West Virginia University with degrees in aerospace and mechanical engineering before moving to Boulder, Colorado to start his career.

He spent six years working in various industries as a design engineer but, feeling the need for more in his life, he quit his job to pursue a grand adventure. Over the next 999 days he rode his bicycle 38,000 miles, crossing six continents and circling the earth twice you can read more about his journey on Hammockeering.com.

Upon returning to Boulder, inspired by his journey, he set his intentions on creating something for himself, something beautiful. The result is the Ant Space, a living art piece.

DIORAMA OF THE COSMOS: September - December 2017

The diorama of the planets is mainstay of science education. Part craft project and part teaching tool, the handmade model of the solar system fashioned out of cardboard, string, and Styrofoam has become an iconic children’s activity.

In an installation created expressly for the Fiske Planetarium, Katy Zimmerman and Genevieve Waller, pay homage to this kid tradition with a speculative representation of the solar system. Assembling together fictional suns, moons, planets, and stars into imaginary patterns and orbits, Waller and Zimmerman present a departure from the faithful diagram.

They posit that the place where science and fantasy meet is rich with possibilities and will enable us to envision new worlds, rules, and dimensions of thought. To learn more about the artists check out Genevieve's website.

SKY DIAMONDS: April - September 2017

Painter, Photographer, Color, Pattern, and Found Material-Enthusiast, Thomas Scharfenberg is an Elyria resident and Colorado native. He received a BFA from Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design in 2007, was a Wazee Union creative resident from 2010 - 2015, held Rhinoceropolis winter wall painting-residencies 2013-2016 and has been an active member of Birdseed Collective since 2015. Scharfenberg was also a docent at Kirkland Museum from 2006 - 2010. He considers frequent bike rides to a day job at Tagawa wholesale greenhouses in Golden (2010 to present) a significant inspiration.

Scharfenberg’s work is currently on view and available in Denver you can find out more on thomasscharfenberg.blogspot.com. 

ANDROID JONES: October 2016 - March 2017

Lyons, Colorado born independent artist Android Jones began studying art at age 8. He attended the Ringling School of Art and Design in Sarasota, Florida, where he trained in traditional academic drawing/painting and animation. Jones interned at George Lucas’ Industrial Light and Magic and worked as a concept artist at Nintendo. He later founded Massive Black, and art development company based in LA and in 2005 began his career as an independent artist. Jones now lives in his home town of Lyons, maintaining a large art studio in a repurposed barn.

Best described as a “digital painter,” Jones has created an immense body of work. He has come to the forefront of the visionary art movement, becoming well known for his many layered, psychedelic works and live performances using a custom-built digital setup. He participated in the Grateful Dead Fare Thee Well tour and his work has been projected on the Sydney Opera House and the Empire State Building. A long time member of the Burning Man community, Android has traveled the world exhibiting his work and has contributed to events on six continents.

At the center of Jones’ work is spirituality and altered states of consciousness. Describing his work as ElectroMineralism, Jones attributes his ability to create to the wonders of technology, crediting the planet’s resources for advancements in art production. Manipulating light and energy, Android Jones captures complex concepts while utilizing his formal background in the arts. Described as a digital alchemist, he is determined to alter the viewer’s perception, pushing the boundaries of the imagination through the use of innovative media forms.