The textile exhibition Fierce Planets is a collaboration between Studio Art Quilt Associates and the Johns Hopkins WavelengthsTM public research communication and outreach program. The exhibition is composed of 42 works of art which masterfully explore and capture the science, the beauty, and the power of planetary forces and phenomena. To create their works, fiber artists from eleven countries on six continents drew inspiration from Bloomberg Distinguished Professor Dr. Sabine Stanley’s work in planetary science at Johns Hopkins University, the Applied Physics Laboratory (APL), and NASA, as well as her recent book, What’s Hidden Inside Planets?

On the subject of this fascinating union of contemporary art and scientific research, Dr. Stanley said:

“No matter how important our observations and discoveries may turn out to be, they would mean nothing without the ability to express them to the rest of the world. The ability to communicate the beauty and importance of science often depends upon both the determination of scientists to reach out, and the capacity of artists to portray the deeper currents through their own mediums and in their own voices. That’s why I think of these textile art pieces as a wonderful vehicle to communicate my work in science, and inspire people to seek to understand the importance of the processes that happen inside Earth and other planets. For this I am eternally grateful to the artists who created them.”