Destined to be a highlight of 2012 is the TROVE Art Exhibit, which celebrates the transit of Venus experience, past and future.  Artists working in any two-dimensional media are invited to create works that have relevance to the transit of Venus, a celestial phenomenon both with a rich history in the quest to understand our place in the solar system and with a modern role in the hunt for new worlds around distant stars. The 2012 alignment of earth, Venus, and the sun on June 5 is the last transit of Venus in our lifetimes, not occurring again until December 2117.  

TROVE (for TRansit Of VEnus) is a collection of regional attractions that complement this historic astronomical event. The venue for the TROVE Art Exhibit is the mezzanine gallery at The Livery, a microbrewery in the Arts District of Benton Harbor, Michigan.  Enjoy this unique art space while quaffing a hand-crafted Venusian ale.  The exhibit will be open seven days a week from May 6 until June 30, with a special party after sunset on June 5, 2012.  Please join the multiple TROVE celebrations, whether by sharing your vision through the creation of art, or by embracing science and math in action as a supporter of the arts.

Call for Art

Artists are invited to create works related to Venus, the sun, astronomy, exoplanets, transit math, historical expeditions, gods and goddesses, the black drop effect, and other notions with a connection to the solar spectacle.  Please state your intent to participate by April 15, and deliver your artwork to the site on May 5.  Art must be ready to hang and may be sold with no commission. Insurance is the artist's responsibility.  There is a $5.00 entry fee.  Please fill out one entry form for each submission (limit two):

2012T0V-Call-for-Artists.pdf (PDF)
2012T0V-Call-for-Artists.docx  (MS Word)

Dayle Brown, author and illustrator of Skylore from Planet Earth: stories from around the world...VENUS, has generously stepped up to coordinate the TROVE Art Exhibit.  You can contact Dayle Brown at 574-217-8557, or by email at dayledavid @ comcast .net (with no spaces).

Coming Soon: Beer Art

The history, mystique, and promise of the transit of Venus has a parallel storyline with beer.  The brewmaster at The Livery is crafting a special golden ale to commemorate the 2012 transit of Venus. 

Read more: Transit of Venus (TROVE) Art Exhibit

Throughout the centuries, transits of Venus have inspired music, literature, and fine arts.   For example, in the 19th century, John Philip Sousa composed Transit of Venus March (1883); Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., wrote The Flaneur: Boston Common, During the Transit of Venus (1882); and Eyre Crowe painted The Founder of English Astronomy (1891). 

Some of the works invoke artistic license, such as a stained glass window on St. Michael's Church in Hoole, England, which shows Jeremiah Horrocks wearing clothes not of his era and looking at a large projection of the projected sun.  In fact, Horrocks writes that he projected the image of the sun onto a 6-inch piece of paper.  Another mis-depiction is the famous drawing of William Crabtree observing the 1639 transit of Venus, which Allan Chapman critically analyzes (see http://analyzer.depaul.edu/paperplate/Transit%20of%20Venus/Internet%20caveat.htm).

Other artworks are exquisite expressions of science depicted with passion.  Johann Doppelmayer has a stunning illustration of personified Venus and earth in their respective chariots encircling a central sun character, thus showing the relationship of the celestial bodies. 

The Arts section is a collection of music, art, literature, and more--from stained glass windows to glam rock--all inspired by a celestial dance of the planets.

http://soho.nascom.nasa.gov/hotshots/2002_08_29/
The Sun as Art exhibit toured during the 2004 transit of Venus.

http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/sunearthday/2004/vt_edu2004_venus_back_mus.htm
Music and literature, with emphasis on John Philip Sousa.  From GSFC Sun-Earth Connection.

http://lcweb2.loc.gov/diglib/ihas/html/venus/venus-home.html
John Philip Sousa's Transit of Venus March; includes score, audio, and sheet music.  From US Library of Congress.

http://www.archive.org/stream/transitvenus00sousgoog/transitvenus00sousgoog_djvu.txt
Complete text of John Philip Sousa's 1920 novel, The Transit of Venus.  From Internet Archive.

education/the-arts/147-moved-by-a-rapid-transit
"Moved by a Rapid Transit" by Chuck Bueter; a paper from the Inspiration of Astronomical Phenomena V (INSAP V) conference, summarizes the many facets of art inspired by the transit of Venus; Chicago, IL; June 28, 2005.

http://christiesinternational.com/LotFinder/lot_details.aspx?intObjectID=5379488
John George Brown's 1883 painting The Transit of Venus sold at Christie's for $122,500.00 in December 2010.  The oil on canvas appeared in black and white on the cover of Harper's magazine, depicting children looking at the transit of Venus through a broken piece of glass that had been smoked.

Read more: Links: The Arts

Abstract: Enticing by virtue of its predictability, historical utility, and spectacle, the transit of Venus is a niche event among astronomical phenomena. Though the value of a transit for scientific purposes is now diminished, the brief appearance of Venus silhouetted against the background of the Sun in 2004 moved the artistic community to celebrate the rare alignment. Artists of all ages combined old traditions with fresh technology to create a 21st century tapestry of music, sculpture, paintings, glasswork, quilts, sky shows, and digital imagery. A full catalog of transit-related art generated over the centuries would feature the sampling of entries presented here.

Read more: Moved by a Rapid Transit

To commemorate the June 8, 2004, transit of Venus, Glance Eyewear Gallery hosted the Transit of Venus Art Exhibit at its then-South Bend, IN, location.  Two dozen artists crafted personal interpretations of the alignment of earth, Venus, and the sun.

Read more: Glance at Past Prepares for Future

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., writes about an amateur astronomer on the mall who charges a dime for people to look at the Venus transit through his telescope. 

Excerpt:
The sun and I are face to face;
He glares at me, I stare at him;
And lo! my straining eye has found
A little spot that, black and round,
Lies near the crimsoned fire-orb’s rim.
O blessed, beauteous evening star,
Well named for her whom earth adores,—

Read more: Poem: The Flâneur