The Wallace Foundation 1-2

Diversity of Thought comprises seven textile panels: six in the elevator lobby, each rendered in colors that evoke a different body in the solar system and one behind the reception desk that represents the sun. The artworks are specially created for The Wallace Foundation and commissioned by Deborah Berke Partners. Inspired by the collaborative history of art and science,  Jongstra’s stippled compositions and embroidered markings recall the astronomical drawings of Galileo. In the early age of the telescope, astronomical observation was still largely inaccessible. Trained as a visual artist, Galileo used the power of the image to communicate his observations of the cosmos to the public. In this way his drawings became ‘satellite’ images for astronomical observation.