Pat Musick: Our Fragile Home

Pat Musick: Our Fragile Home was inspired by the words astronauts have used universally upon viewing Earth from space for the first time: Fragile, Protect, Beauty, Steward, Sustain, Harmony, Nurture. In different languages and across many boundaries, their words were all the same. Through paint, sculpture, and mixed media, Pat Musick conveys the fragility of our planet, and its natural and eternal beauty.

Our Fragile Home exhibits Musick’s most astonishing work: the large-scale Ra made from branches of a fallen tree, polished and repurposed; the series The Instant of It All, which portrays trees as a metaphor for the impermanence of life; and Epilogue 6, a feat of engineering in steel and stone that represents renewal and rebirth.

Pat Musick’s work has been exhibited extensively throughout the United States and has over 50 permanent installations in public spaces. Musick was married to Marine Corps Colonel Gerald P. (Jerry) Carr, one of 19 Group 5 astronauts selected by NASA in 1966. He was Commander of the Skylab 4 84-day mission. Their life is the subject of the documentary The Artist & The Astronaut which had its Connecticut premiere at the Stamford Museum & Nature Center in May 2023 and will be shown again as a Nights Out program on March 8, 2024.