@spacejammie
Planetary Scientist, Artist, Musician, D&D Nerd, Epic Poet. hEDS, Bi ♿️🏳️🌈 I like rocks, study asteroids, and make art out of spacecraft data. I also play harp, own a carousel, and my dog is really cute. www.jamiemolaro.com
Oh no, I’m so sorry that happened. I’m not running things anymore, but I’m still in touch with the grads involved year-to-year. Let me know if you’d like me to talk with them and/or intervene. They should at least have insurance for works through the university.
Two scenes in elongated semicircular shapes over a dark blue background. The first shows a family of moose or elk, the male holding a yellow disc in his anttlers and the mother and calf overlain by the Big and Little Dipper constellations. The area behind them is filled in by a photograph of reindeer fur, and a blue and white border reminiscent of beadwork surrounds the outside. At the bottom, a large yellow spider silhouette appears to be crawling along the curved line of the ecliptic, with sketched lines showing constellations under and along it. In the background is a Hawaiian block print kapa pattern.
I've been tinkering on draft mockups for the sky story scenes in the scenery panels. The Evenki have two stories of cosmic elk which explain the movement of the stars and/or Sun, and the Hawaiians call the ecliptic Ke Alanui o Ke Ku’uku’u, or “the roadway of the spider.” #SkyhorseCarousel #SciArt
@stellerarts.com speaking of art receptions, I have an invitation for you! Realized I didn’t have your current email so submitted through your webform—didn’t want you to miss it :)
Selfie mostly in the dark in front of the carousel, a happy smile on my face and wind in my hair.
Ahh, how I’ve so missed the late-night, solo carousel work :) Just labeling some components ahead of a big group workday tomorrow, but being out with the machine at this time, music on, beer in hand— hits all my creative buttons and gives me a feeling of freedom that’s hard to describe.
Omg I love hearing that!! 🥹😭💜
I still sometimes run shows at conferences and elsewhere too. I think all combined TAPS has done ~17 shows since the first in 2013, including 12 annuals and 5 side events.
Every year I’m so delighted and proud to see “my” art show has continued to live and grow beyond me :) The grads running it always do an awesome job and it’s become a community staple in Tucson! It runs all weekend, go see some #sciart! 🎨🪐
How was opening night?!
The app Sky Guide is great and easy to use for finding/identifying things.
Oh right, good planet viewing tonight! Looks like six will be out though it’ll be mostly Venus, Jupiter, and Saturn that are very visible. Go out and look west after sunset!
Haha totally. It’s a great place to find fun people doing cool stuff!
The face of a lion statue stripped of paint, showing pink areas where putty has been used to patch small defects.
The lions wings (detached from its body) lying on a table for the same repairs.
Doing some spot repairs on a few cracks in the lion. This weekend he’ll get a strengthening coat of epoxy and then we can prime and paint him! He’s going to be Mesopotamian themed. The goddess Ishtar is associated with the planet Venus and often shown with winged lions.
Primed carousel scenery panel with parts of it painted in different dark blues, and several metallic gold and silver accent patches.
Playing hooky today to test scenery panel colors. #SkyhorseCarousel
Design and colors still in flux but fun to play with :) I haven't decided what to do with the circles on the saddle blanket yet either. maybe I'll turn them into an astrolabe.
Drawing of a coin-operated horse with the parts of its saddle and decor in color. Next to it is a top-down view of the saddle showing a geometric diagram of the angles between the Sun, moon, and Earth during a solar eclipse. The diagram is colored in blocks using mid-century modern hues.
We named the coin operated horse Celeris after Pegasus's foal and the Equuleus constellation, so named by Greek astronomer Hipparchus. So its theme is astronomical math and I just really felt like his diagram for the Sun-Moon distance looks like a mid-century modern window. #SkyhorseCarousel #SciArt
When I told him what I do he said “oh, wow that’s sounds so important” haha.
Young guy (I think just out of HS) working at the dental office was very friendly and while making conversation asked if I “still work”. 😂 My dude, I’m not sensitive about my age but I am a little concerned that you can’t distinguish between someone who is 40 versus 65.
Practiced some needed sleep care this morning 🥱 I love having flexibility at my job to work whatever hours I want.
This horse has a warm chestnut color and a coppery mane and tail. The saddle blanket is a light purple with an elaborate golden border design in an Indian style. The chest straps and bridle are blue with golden Sun symbols. The top of the saddle is split in two halves. The region closest to the horse's head is a blue field with golden paisleys, and from that rainbow stripes branch out towards the back of the horse. A large, 3-dimensional cluster of pink and orange flowers adorn the horse’s neck, and its horseshoes are gold.
Brihati pulls the solar chariot of the Indian god Surya, his saddle instead depicting how light scattering through water droplets creates rainbows. It is said that Surya has seven horses, one for each color of the rainbow, day of the week, and type of Vedic verse (after which they are named).
This horse has a very dramatic coat, beginning in a warm purple color at the hooves and transitioning into oranges and yellows in a gradient as seen in a sunrise or sunset. The top of the saddle features a blue outline of a peanut shape with a blue and yellow starburst inside. Outside the peanut shape on the side of the saddle are several bands in maroon, gold, and blue including solid stripes, a fluted arch pattern, and twisting vines. The saddle border and chest strap are a dark purple brown. It has gold horseshoes and a gold starburst medallion on its chest. The horse has a cropped main in the style of the Trojans.
Closeup view of the saddle better showing the sunburst design on top.
Eous ("He of the Dawn") pulls the solar chariot of the Roman god Sol, painted like a fiery sunrise with a Roman mosaic on his saddle depicting how light scattering through the atmosphere produces those rosy colors.
Close up of a carousel horse's head. The horse is all white, including its mane, tail, and hooves which have very subtle golden hues within them. The bridle and chest strap are red with red tassels and gold beads. The top of the saddle has a brown border and black interior. It features a multi-armed golden spiral coming out from its center whose shape resembles a twirling skirt. On the side of the saddle, a few red cords hang in a clustered loop on a black field. A Golden Sun is seen on the horse's forehead.
Side View. The horse is all white, including its mane, tail, and hooves which have very subtle golden hues within them. The bridle and chest strap are red with red tassels and gold beads. The top of the saddle has a brown border and black interior. It features a multi-armed golden spiral coming out from its center whose shape resembles a twirling skirt. On the side of the saddle, a few red cords hang in a clustered loop on a black field. A Golden Sun is seen on the horse's forehead.
Happy Lunar Year! It's the year of the fire horse so today I'm celebrating our #SkyhorseCarousel steeds who represent that fire of the Sun.
Hikaru (“Radiance”) is painted as a Shinme horse, a mount for the Shinto goddess Amaterasu with a saddle depicting the spiral shape of the Sun’s solar wind.
Very wet today here in LA, supposed to develop into high winds and thunderstorms midday. I can't help that the winds make me anxious now after last Jan, though obviously (thankfully) it's too wet for fire danger.
Grateful I have a job I can work from home in pjs and stay cozy!
Today Fable’s old dog walker who she hasn’t seen since he lost his house in the Eaton Fire a year ago stopped by. She was absolutely beside herself 💜 His family has chosen not to rebuild and has relocated to the east coast, but it was a nice hello-goodbye while he passed through town one last time.
Oh hello, surprise Girl Scout cookie delivery from a neighbor kid, yes thank you!
*stares blankly with mission proposal face* 🫠
It’s nice to get to the point a year post-#EatonFire that we’re seeing the frames of houses starting to go up around town. It feels hopeful.
My physical therapist has stopped working in her office closest to me for at least 6 months, so now I’m seeing my “backup” PT weekly. She’s good but not quite good enough, and also now there’s no backup for the backup when I need 2 appts/week. Looks like I need to start looking for a new office 😞
Just saw the local news that Bill Nye is stepping down as CEO to the @planetarysociety.bsky.social with COO Jennifer Vaugh stepping into the role. I wish her luck, though seems like she’s been helping lead the org for decades so I’m sure she doesn’t need it. www.planetary.org/press-releas...
omg this is great 😂
Bright purple coffee mug with a white, red, and gold skeleton figure in an ancient Mayan art style
Yes, I think the Mayan god of death will make an excellent morning coffee companion, especially for early meetings.
