Earthrise, Up Close: SVA + NASA Posters Take Flight

As Artemis II prepares to send astronauts around the Moon SVA + NASA: The Artemis II/Earthrise Poster Project brings two dozen posters designed by students from the School of Visual Arts into the school’s gallery to suggest how that journey will shift our view of earth. Each artist responded to NASA’s upcoming Artemis II mission and to the worldview-shifting power of Earthrise, the 1968 photograph by NASA astronaut Bill Anders that made our blue planet feel both fragile and shared. On view September 6 to 20 at SVA Gramercy Gallery (209 23rd Street), with a reception on September 10 at 6pm, the exhibition presents the poster in its classic role, turning big ideas into bold public messages through the lens of space exploration and environmental stewardship.

Why Earthrise Still Matters (on paper)

When Bill Anders captured Earth cresting over the lunar horizon, the image reframed our place in the cosmos. These posters continue this trajectory, translating awe into a call to action: climate urgency, planetary care, and the practical wonder of getting humans safely around the Moon and back again. Expect a spectrum of visual strategies, collage, typography-forward designs, and illustration that vacillates between the poetic and the punchy. Some works speak directly to personal stewardship of the environment, while others capture the thrill and inspiration of venturing further into space than ever before.

“Illustrating posters is great,” says Viktor Koen, Chair, BFA Illustration & BFA Comics at SVA. “But illustrating posters about space missions, cool hardware, and galactic visions is epic.”

From classroom brief to gallery wall

This project wasn’t hypothetical. BFA Illustration and BFA Design students from the School of Visual Arts worked from a real creative brief launched by a talk by a NASA astronaut that set the tone for a semester of research-driven design. Students then developed concepts through faculty critiques, drawing on publicly available NASA materials and mission data The result: 24 final selections (12 per department) that balance strong concepts with legible, gallery-ready execution—proof that the path from sketch to street (or screen) still runs through ruthless editing and a crisp visual hierarchy.

“The NASA project has been an absolute blast—pun intended,” says Gail Anderson, Chair, BFA Advertising and Design departments at SVA. “Our students tackled the challenge with incredible enthusiasm and creative firepower, and the results were varied, thoughtful, and truly spectacular. It’s a real honor for our department and for SVA to collaborate with some of the brightest minds out there—people doing deeply important work that inspires us all.”

Who chose the work?

A jury with feet in both worlds, design and space science, selected the final posters. The panel included Debbie Millman (SVA’s MPS Branding chair), Angelina Lippert (Director of Poster House), Matthew Pearce (Leads the NASA Office of STEM Engagement at the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies), Allegra LeGrande (Climate Scientist at NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies), Megan McArthur (NASA Astronaut), and SVA faculty and staff. That mix matters: you can see it in posters that communicate like a PSA, seduce like a brand campaign, and still do right by the science.

“Evaluating the creative work from this collaboration between NASA and SVA was both a joy and an honor,” Millman says. “These posters exceeded my expectations and I was impressed not only by the creative ingenuity but also by the intellectual rigor the students brought to the challenge.” Millman is no stranger to NASA collaborations herself. In 2021, she was invited to design an engraved metal plate for the exterior of the Europa Clipper, a space probe that NASA launched in October 2024 on a six-year voyage to Europa, one of Jupiter’s moons; scientists believe there is a large ocean beneath its icy surface. Millman called the experience “one of the most thrilling of my life.”

Visit

SVA Gramercy Gallery is the school’s longest-running exhibition space, located on the ground floor at 209 East 23rd Street. Hours: Monday–Saturday, 10am–6pm. The gallery is wheelchair accessible. Exhibition dates: September 6–20, 2025. Reception: Wednesday, September 10, 6pm.

“Creativity is essential to exploration,” says Angie Wojak, SVA’s Executive Director of External Relations. “This collaboration lets students communicate big ideas about Earth, space, and our collective future, and share their vision with the world.”

Whether you come for space, for posters, or for that moment when ink and paper make the universe feel a little smaller, you’ll find it here, Earthrise reimagined for the wall, and for right now.

Top image: Poster by Michael Rizzi, BFA Design