“Mars Colonization,”a talk by MTSU Department of Physics and Astronomy professor Chuck Higgins, will be the subject of a special Star Party collaboration with the MTSU Department of Art and Design and guest Susan Sharpe, a nationally known quilt artist.

In conjunction with Higgins’ talk, Sharpe will host a lecture on the art of storytelling. She also will conduct a Saturday (Sept. 28) workshop to produce a mixed media mural in Todd Hall Room 236. To register for the Saturday workshop, visit https://tinyurl.com/y3cgf6yg.

MTSU Department of Physics and Astronomy professor Chuck Higgins will help lead the special collaboration with the Department of Art and Design at 5:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 27, in the Todd Hall Art Gallery (Room 224A). Nationally known quilt artist Susan Sharpe will host a Friday lecture on the art of storytelling and a Saturday workshop (Todd Hall, Room 236) to produce a mixed media mural. (File photo by John Goodwin)

The event will begin at 5:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 27, in the Todd Building Art Gallery (Room 234), then move to Wiser-Patten Science Hall Room 102 for Higgins’ Star Party session at 6:30.

The Friday events are free and open to the public. To find free parking and the Todd Building and Wiser-Patten Science Hall, visit https://www.mtsu.edu/parking/2019ParkingMap.pdfonline. Handicap parking requires a state permit.

Nationally known quilter Susan Sharpe will headline a storytelling session Friday, Sept. 27, as part of a special collaboration between the Departments of Art and Design and Physics and astronomy. (Photo from susansharpeart.com)

“Susan will guide her participants through their own artistic interpretation of what human engagement with Mars may look like,” said Higgins, whose own Friday lecture will “foster the discussion and aide in the imagination,” he added.

Sharpe’s lecture is expected to focus on her different experiences and materials to how her work has evolved into a narrative style that exploits a wide range of fiber and fabric processes. The lecture aims to engage participants specifically in developing narrative content for their own visual and verbal works.

A Hubble Space Telescope photograph of Mars on July 18, 2018. Polar ice caps and atmospheric dust storms are evident in this image. The two Martian moons, Phobos (right) and Diemos (left) are seen in the lower half of the image. (NASA photo)

Higgins willdiscuss the exploration of Mars and the challenges of traveling to the planet.

“Recently there have been calls to establish an outpost on Mars, with the plan to colonize Mars in the distant future” he said.

Higgins will overview some of the plans and discuss the prosand cons of establishing a colony on Mars.

Higgins’ talk will be followed by telescope viewing outdoors, weather permitting, starting at 7:30 p.m.

The events are cosponsored by the MTSU Departments of English and Physics and Astronomy, the Distinguished Lecture Committeeand MT Engage. Other funding is by the Tennessee Arts Commission.

MTSU has more than 300 combined undergraduate and graduate programs.

— Randy Weiler (Randy.Weiler@mtsu.edu)