Erika Blumenfeld

Erika Blumenfeld is an artist, researcher, and writer working to illuminate humanity’s deep connection to the cosmos through both a material and poetic lens. Her transdisciplinary work combines artistic, scientific, and cultural inquiry to make tangible the vast and intimate forces of the universe while fostering wonder and ecological awareness. Through her multifaceted practice, Blumenfeld invites us to embrace the profound truth that we are, in essence, made of stars. A Guggenheim Fellow, Smithsonian Artist Research Fellow, and Emerson Collective Climate Fellow, Blumenfeld’s work has been exhibited nationally and internationally. She’s had studios in laboratories, observatories, and extreme environments, often in collaboration with scientists and research institutions, including NASA, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, McDonald Observatory, and the South African National Antarctic Program. Blumenfeld is the creator & Science-Principal Investigator of the Astromaterials 3D project at NASA Johnson Space Center, where she leads ongoing development of the first virtual library of NASA's astromaterials collections. Blumenfeld and her team were awarded the NASA JSC Director’s Innovation Award (2021) and Exceptional Software Award (2021). She is also Creative Lead of the Advanced Imaging & Visualization of Astromaterials (AIVA) team and recently produced the widely published high-resolution research-grade archival photo-documentation of the OSIRIS-REx sample returned from the asteroid Bennu. Her work has been featured in National Geographic; NASA.gov; Scientific American; ScienceNews; Art in America; Nature; BBC; ARTnews; New Scientist; Popular Mechanics; Arts + Culture Texas, Smithsonian and The New York Times, among many others.

Astromaterials 3D:
https://ares.jsc.nasa.gov/astromaterials3d/

OSIRIS-REx Imagery:
https://images.nasa.gov/details/jsc2024e023024
https://images.nasa.gov/details/jsc2023e058642
https://images.nasa.gov/details/jsc2023e058642