To kick off this semester’s #NAUArtistOfTheWeek series, we are happy to feature artist and Navy veteran Anthony Kiefer.
Anthony graduated high school in 2005 from Northland Preparatory Academy and then pursued engineering at the University of Arizona before joining the United States Navy. The artist recollects, “After four years in the Navy Nuclear Program, with over a quarter of that time on a submarine, I spent the next eight years getting to know myself.” Inspired by this, Anthony Kiefer is now a double major in Environmental Sciences and Studio Art with an Astronomy Minor here at Northern Arizona University, expected to graduate with the Class of 2023.
The first photo Anthony shares with us was created for an assignment for “Three Dimensional Design Fundamentals,” taught by NAU School of Art Professor Jaewook Lee. “I lost count of how many pine needles there are, but dividing [the surface area of the ball on which I glued the pine needles] by [the surface area of the head of one pine needle] shows a count of around two thousand.” Anthony explains.
“This piece is dedicated to all those who have lost a loved one during the pandemic.” -Anthony Kiefer
The second image depicts a portion of a project artist Anthony Kiefer says he has been working on for almost two years, entitled Pale Blue Box.
“It is based around the idea that a person is changed when they see the Earth from space.” – Anthony Kiefer
Anthony tells us that astronauts call this the “Overview Effect” and that fewer than 600 people have experienced this. The goal of Pale Blue Box is to “provide at least a taste of the Overview Effect to everyone who will never escape the Earth’s gravity,” in Anthony’s own words.
Anthony Kiefer’s artistic process includes using photographs of the Earth taken from spacecraft and photos of the night sky taken by the artist himself, then laser cutting small holes into a black piece of paper, completed by backlighting the piece.
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