Artist and cartographer Loraine Rutt has been making maps from clay for over 25 years. The inspiration for her ceramic cartography comes from the 18th and 19th Century pocket globes and the extraordinary photograph of the Earth “Blue Marble” taken during the Apollo missions in 1968.
Loraine said she never thought she would meet a man who had been to the moon and was astonished to have the opportunity to meet andcollaborate with Apollo 15 astronaut Al Worden to release a limited edition collection – The Al Worden Collection by The Little Globe Co.
Al Worden embarked on NASAs Apollo 15 mission in 1971 and piloted the Command Module orbiting the moon. He witnessed 75 ‘Earthrises’ while his mission colleagues Dave Scott and Jim Irwin explored the moon’s surface and collected rock samples. During this solitary time, he photographed 25% of the lunar surface with a high resolution camera and laser altimeter, which produced data that enabled cartographers of the United States Geological Survey to produce detailed contour maps of the moon. It is from these maps that these porcelain lunar topographies are made with each numbered edition endorsed with a certificate signed by Colonel Al Worden.
The exquisite, limited edition Apollo Molyneux is a 15cm diameter porcelain relief globe made to scale with six gold lustre dots marking exactly each of the Apollo Landing sites. It is hand painted with ceramic stains and oxides before being fired in excess of 1200 degrees.
We were delighted to be involved in the creation of the acrylic frame that houses the globe. It is inspired by the oldest English globes made by Emery Molyneux in 1592 and helps to tell the extraordinary story of the Apollo missions.
Carefully following Loraine’s design, we laser engraved the frame with the names and mission dates of everyone who has orbited the moon. Each ring is made up of hundreds of dashes, with each dash representing at least 40 people who worked on the Apollo missions, totalling some 400,000 people. The base of the globe is engraved with the celestial Navigation Chart used by Apollo 15.
Following the sad passing of AI Worden in March 2020, Loraine said,
“I am indebted to AI for his kindness, warmth and generous support of my work. I am very deeply honoured that he prized a small collection of my globes, and that his family wish this Al Worden Collection to continue”.
For more info about Loraine Rutt go to:
The globes www.thelittleglobeco.com
Loraine’s artwork portfolio www.lorainerutt.com