SciArt Spotlight: JoAnna Wendel
If you love science, art, and learning about space—including how NASA keeps tabs on those sneaky near-Earth asteroids—you'll love our SciArt Spotlight interview with JoAnna Wendel. JoAnna is an absolute paradigm of #SciComm. She's a science writer, cartoonist, and NASA's lead communications specialist for the Planetary Sciences Division. Now that is some serious celestial STEAM clout. Not only can JoAnna tell you what's up with the solar system; she can draw about it, too.
We love JoAnna's science comics for their cleverness, creativity, and JoAnna's unique fusion of information and art. Her illustrations will make you smile, and you're guaranteed to learn a thing or two. JoAnna's comics cover a variety of awesome and nerdy topics like cool Earth science facts, adorable animal illustrations, and so much more.
In fact, JoAnna's Scientist Princesses series, wherein Disney princesses brilliantly become earth scientists, has been covered by outlets including Gizmodo, Independent.ie, and GlacierHub. JoAnna's imagination and knowledge clearly know no limits, and we will keep our eyes on her portfolio to find out what science comic she will create next!
We were delighted to have the opportunity to discuss SciArt and SciComm with JoAnna Wendel. Read on to learn about JoAnna's favorite celestial object, her advice to aspiring artists, her thoughts on the #dearMoon initiative, what NASA missions we should keep an eye on, and much, much more!
When did you know you were an artist?
Gosh, I was always an artist even if I didn't identify that way. I was always doodling on everything, always wanting to create things. In elementary school and middle school I was "The kid who could draw," and I'd draw little comics all the time to entertain my brother. It wasn't until I went to an art-focused high school did I start actually identifying as an artist.
Do you remember what your first science comic was?
It was about my friend Kara who studies tiny worms on the ocean floor called polychaete worms: https://medium.com/@JoAnnaScience/kara-s-worms-cb1d9de2e879
When did you fall in love with space—and planets in particular?
My first real science writing job out of college was reporting for Eos, the magazine of the American Geophysical Union. Eos covers all Earth and near-Earth space science, basically everything in our solar system. I covered lots of different topics, from glaciers to earthquakes, to climate change, but I always had the most fun writing about space and planets. Just the thought of oceans under the ice of a tiny moon a billion miles away, or the surface of Mars possibly holding evidence of life beyond Earth, really captured my imagination. It's also a bit of an escape from the "real world," I'd say. When things get scary at home, I can think of the potential amazing discoveries we could make in the future.
What is your favorite planet and why?
Well, I'd say my favorite body in the solar system isn't actually a planet. It's a moon called Titan that orbits Saturn. Titan has a lot of similarities to Earth--it's the only other object in the solar system where it rains! Except on Titan, it rains methane, not water. There are also rivers and lakes of liquid methane. We have no idea what's in those lakes, but hopefully someday we'll send a spacecraft to find out.