AstroArts Project Team

Daniela de Paulis (Italy/Netherlands):

Daniela de Paulis is a visual artist and lecturer living and working between Italy and The Netherlands. She works with video, installation, performance and has been an active practitioner since 2001, often collaborating with other artists, scientists and radio amateurs. She holds a BA from the Accademia di Belle Arti in Rome, Italy, and a Master Degree in Fine Arts from Plymouth University, UK.

Since October 2009 she has been the first artist in residence at Dwingeloo radio telescope (NL) where she developed, together with the CAMRAS and ASTRON team, a technology called Visual Moonbounce, which allows sending images to the Moon and back as radio signals. She is currently a PhD student at Leiden University, developing her research on Visual Moonbounce and its links to Visionary Architecture and Space Research. Since 2010 she has been collaborating with the international collective Astronomers Without Borders (AWB), as the Project Chair for the AstroArt programme. More information on her work can be found on www.opticks.info and www.danieladepaulis.com

Richard Clar (France/USA):

Richard Clar is a Los Angeles new media interdisciplinary artist who now resides in Paris. Clar, who studied at the Chouinard Art Institute (now Cal-Arts), is an early pioneer of art-in-space and began work in this field in 1982 with a NASA approved concept for an art-payload for the U.S. Space Shuttle. Philosophical in nature, themes for Richard Clar's art-in-space projects include: space environment issues, such as orbital debris; war and peace; the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI), and water management on Earth. The work of Richard Clar has been exhibited in museums, galleries, and universities in the United States and Europe and may be found in corporate collections such as JBL Sound and the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas.

In 2001, and again in 2002, Clar coordinated the Leonardo/OLATS/IAA Space Art Workshops in Paris. Richard Clar is the Director of Art Technologies, Paris; a Member of the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA); a Member of the IAA SETI Permanent Committee, and a member of the Leonardo Space Art Working Group. Clar was the Secretary of the former Art and Literature Subcommittee of the International Academy of Astronautics, and a past Member of the Executive Board, Graphic Arts Council, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

Jon Ramer (USA):

A career military officer and avid world traveler, Jon draws on his international experiences in his art.  While living in Australia, he was exposed to the aboriginal “dot art” technique and was intrigued by its complex patterns and simple beauty.  After studying the method, he began combining it with his interests of astronomy and sea diving.  Jon’s experience as a landscape photographer, both aerial and underwater, also provides him with his ideas for subject matter and perspective.  Jon works in both acrylics and oils and, as a lifetime artist member and President of The International Association of Astronomical Artists (IAAA), his works have been seen in several astronomical and scientific art shows.  Jon has also published several educational articles for children and edited the quarterly magazine for the IAAA for over five years.

- Editor and co-writer of internationally acclaimed art book, “The Beauty of Space” ISBN 978-1-4507-9635-4 and 978-1-4507-9636-1, published 2010
- International Space Development Conference May 9-14, 2006, Los Angeles, CA
- The Artist’s Universe, IAAA traveling show, participant since 2003
- SpaceWorld 2000 tour, Feb 2000 – Jun 2001, Liege, Belgium, Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, England
- Pioneers of the Imagination: A Symposium Celebrating the Role of Artists in the  Exploration of the Space Frontier, University of Delaware, 30 Sep - 1 Nov 1999
- 8th Annual Space Frontier Conference, September 23-26, 1999, Los Angeles, CA

Matthew Withehouse (USA):

Matthew Whitehouse is an organist, composer, and educator fascinated in combining music and astronomy.  His organ piece Nebulae, a musical journey through the process of star formation, has been performed throughout the United States, and at Notre Dame Cathedral and St. Sulpice Church in Paris.  His latest work, Pleiades Visions, is based on traditional music and lore associated with the Pleiades from Australian Aboriginal, Native American, and Native Hawaiian cultures.  Matthew holds the Doctor of Musical Arts degree from The University of Arizona, and is involved in several astronomy outreach programs in the Tucson area.  His Astronomers Without Borders survey project on traditional music associated with the night sky and celestial objects is in final preparations for launch.

One of Matthew's passions is incorporating music in astronomy education.  He has developed music/astronomy activities for children, and his article "Creative Teaching with Astronomically Inspired Music" appeared in the Spring 2012 issue of Mercury, the journal of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific.  Other interests include interactive music/astronomy performances and connections between indigenous astronomy and traditional music.  More information on Matthew can be found at his website, http://www.matthewwhitehouse.com

Kathleen Horner (USA):

Kathleen Horner is a professional artist and photographer having been involved in free lance work for over 29 years. She is owner of Flower Sculptures and sells her custom designed artwork to the museum industry nationally.  She is also an avid amateur astronomer and highly active in her local astronomy club which feeds her inspiration and passion to create artistically rendered earth and night sky digital photography artwork . Over the years she has developed a multi-faceted photography style ranging from simple natural light photography work to artistically mastered digital art covering a wide variety of subject matter in traditional, interpreted abstract and fantasy photography styles.

She and her husband, Davis, have published a new eBook, “The Tales of Astro Cat, a Feline Family Chronicle of the Great Astronomers”. The inspiration behind the story is due to their beloved Point Lynx Siamese cat, Marble, who has established fame in his own right with the international community online.  Writing the book gave her the opportunity to spread her wings as a digital artist in creating the stunning and realistically rendered illustrations found in each chapter.  Utilizing her talents as a photographer and her observations of the night sky, each art piece was created from her vast collection of original photographs and compiled digitally in photoshop. She continues to work on an ever expanding collection of “Cats and the Constellation” composed of cats in awe and wonder upon the night sky along with future plans for other exciting astro artwork and eBooks. More information on Kathleen can be found at her website, http://www.kathleen-horner.artistwebsites.com

Bob Eklund (USA):

Bob Eklund has loved the sky and the stars all his life.  At age five, he went to live with his grandfather, who worked at Yerkes Observatory in Wisconsin.  After his grandfather showed him Saturn through one of Yerkes’ great telescopes, he wanted to be an astronomer—but he had such a hard time with math that he instead became a writer, editor, teacher, and astropoet.

For many years Bob has helped the Mount Wilson Observatory with its public outreach programs.  He is the author of a book of poetry about astronomy, called First Star I See Tonight: an Exploration of Wonder.  His column, “Looking Up,” appears weekly in several Southern California newspapers.  Since 2010 he has edited the AWB website and its Astropoetry Blog.  Bob and his wife, Laura, first got together at the total solar eclipse of 1979.  After 34 years, they continue looking up at stars, satellites, and airplanes from their home in Westchester, California, only a few blocks from the Los Angeles International Airport.

Thilina Heenatigala (Sri Lanka):

Thilina Heenatigala is an Astronomy Educator / Communicator with a Project Management background and use Social Media and Networking to reach out, specially into developing countries. He coordinated Global Astronomy Month from 2010 to 2012 and currently works as the Communications Director at Astronomers Without Borders.

More on his project involvement can be found at his LinkedIn profile. Follow him on Twitter @ThilinaH or Facebook or his blog Universe Café to keep updated on his latest astronomy adventures. Apart from astronomy, he enjoys fashion, traveling and photography.