From Fort Thomas to the Moon: Learn More About the Local Artist Who Designed the Artemis II Space Patch

By Chuck Keller, Writer

“Space. The final frontier.” Well, you know the rest of the Star Trek introduction. This is a story about a local artist who sent his work to the moon and back. There are few who can claim that and Fort Thomas’ Greg Manchess is one of them.  

Manchess has been in the news lately because he designed the official patch for the Artemis II astronauts that flew around the moon and returned home in preparation for future missions. But there is so much more to this story. 

Manchess attended art school after he graduated from Highlands High School in 1973. He said, “HHS was a near perfect place to be educated. It was open-minded, encouraging, and optimistic. Highlands taught me how to try, through sports, classes, the band, the theater. I felt like I could learn to do anything if I only applied effort to my dreams. It spurred my interests to create something with my life. I’m still creating because of Highlands.” That’s high praise from one of the country’s most respected illustrators. 

There were a few early artistic influences, he said. “My parents were the first to expose me to the arts and music. They had lots of books, and music played everyday in our home. I learned my mom’s music, my dad’s, my sister’s, and their interests brought me to mine. I’m still a huge fan of The Beatles who showed me how to laugh at life while being serious about creating something special. My mother was my first real critic of my drawings and was able to push me toward getting better. I’m still in awe of how she tolerated my interests (She let me learn the drums!) while gently coaxing me to reach beyond my grasp.”

He faced a few challenges in art school and he questioned if he was even on the right path. “As much as I was drawing and feeling good about learning it, I was rejected from all of the universities I applied to. They didn’t think I had what it took, and that was ‘talent.’ I could’ve told you at the time I didn’t think I had talent either, and their rejections confirmed it for me. That’s why I wanted to go to college in the first place: to learn how to be an artist! But one school did accept me…on probation.” Manchess knew he wanted to be an artist but his instructors were not as confident in him.  

He was determined to learn what he needed and develop into the artist that he envisioned for himself. “That set me on my course of self-education. I had to teach myself how to paint, and it was not easy. To this day, I teach students how to learn their own particular voice and how to express themselves as an artist with drawing and painting.”

Manchess recalled that, ”When I got my first job after school, it was for an illustration studio in Iowa. The leader of the illustration department, Gary Kelley, took a chance on me because of the strength of my drawing, but I soon discovered there was so very much to learn. Gary become a mentor, and a north star to reach for. I knew if I had his approval of my work that I would be on the right track. Years later, I gave his introduction at the Society of Illustrators when he was inducted in the Hall of Fame. Many years after that, I, too, was inducted into the Hall of Fame—two artists from a humble studio in Waterloo, Iowa.” Manchess was on his way to becoming the artist that he wanted. 

Manchess has a distinctive look or “voice” because he paints in oils. He reflected that, “no one wanted my oil painting technique and my agents encouraged me to find something more contemporary. One agent… liked my painterly approach, except that he couldn’t sell it in that market. Long story short, I was able to apply oil painting to all sorts of areas of the field: books, magazines, stamps, advertising, film. I get asked to apply my painterly approach for all kinds of assignments now. So I made the technique become my voice, and that allowed for the range.” No doubt you have probably used stamps that Manchess designed for the holidays and not even know that a “neighbor” designed them. He keeps a low profile.  

Manchess has expressed his art in other forms. He wrote and illustrated a piece of fiction, Above the Timberline. It’s the story of arctic explorers and personal challenges. It’s a large “coffee table” type of book that sparks the imagination. Its full of adventure and imaginative illustrations.  He said, “The story of ATTL came from a single painting. The painting drove curiosity about the character in the piece. I made up a whole bunch of background material about the character and it turned into a broader story in a made-up world.” But then he turned the story into a radio play for the Norman Rockwell Museum when he had a show there. Then he turned that into a stage play that eventually won 14 National Awards. He said, “I’m working on another story that’s based on a painting of gryphons!”

Kentucky is still home. In fact, his Wikipedia page identifies him as a Kentucky artist even though he lives and works in New York City. He said, “My family loves Kentucky and so do I. The state doesn’t get much recognition, somehow, so I like to point to KY as a place of education and adventure. It’s easy to say I’m an artist in NYC, but an artist from Kentucky? With its history and landscape, I just love the place.”

So how does an illustrator then connect with NASA? Manchess recalled that, “I was introduced to an astronaut, Kjell Lindgren, who is a science fiction fan like myself, at a convention of writers focused on science fiction and fantasy. I asked him questions about space travel and told him about my book. I saw him again at another convention, this time in Texas, and asked him who was doing his mission patch. I thought he’d say,”NASA,” but he said he didn’t know yet. I said, “let me have a shot at it.Next thing I know, I’m on a zoom call with the astronaut team for the Dragon Crew 1. I designed their patch, and they passed my name on to other crews. I’ve done crews 1,2,3,5,7,8, the 67th Expedition patch, all for the missions to the space station. I got to know the pilot of Crew 1, Victor “IKE” Glover, and when he was tapped to pilot the Artemis mission, he contacted me.”

He worked with the crew for over two years to get to the final product. The patch was the result of their optimism and ideas. Manchess said that.”At the end, we all came away with something we love. They were thrilled with the patch!” 

He said, “I met lots of people at the Cape that worked on the Artemis II mission and every time they found out I was the patch artist, they shook my hand and told me how that one design symbolized all their efforts and focused work. There was real pride coming off that mission.” 

Then Manchess was invited to watch the launch. He said, “It’s tough to explain the feeling of being there in language. We were surrounded by thousands of people connected to the mission, so when the first flare of light flashed under the fuselage of the SLS rocket, it was dead silent, then an audible gasp, then cheers as that fire built into a gleam of pure white-hot flame stretching quickly into a column of smoke. Intermittent cheers and shouts to “GO! GO! GO!” between tears—everyone was choked up as they watched their own contributions to the mission streak into the sky. It was halfway up our field of vision before we felt a mild wind and heard the crackle of the thrusters.”

Manchess teaches as well. He believes that, “It’s important to attempt, fail, study, re-attempt, fail, study, re-attempt, succeed, follow through.” This is great life advice as well. 

Art helps us interpret the world. We are influenced by great works of art as well as commercial art. Manchess believes that, “Artists are built, not born. An artist must grasp they’re already original. We don’t have to try to become original. What’s important to discover is your own authenticity. That speaks to people because as an audience we can feel that readily. Express yourself and move forward. Learning is exploration. Exploration is discovery. Discovery is training.” 

Manchess often visits Fort Thomas. In fact he bought his childhood home which gave him the excuse to “come home.” He said that, “Life in Fort Thomas was fairly idyllic. After my world had been turned inside out by the art college, I wanted security. When I left home, I didn’t expect to be so miserably home-sick: for my friends, the town, my old life, my old house. The house represented security and grounding, even though I knew I had to make my own way in the world, to take risks to follow my dream of becoming an artist. So the house is home forever to me. The place my dreams began, the place my desires were formed of being an astronaut, writer, artist, musician. It represents potential for me, a touchstone to rekindle my next adventure.”

Ideas are vague notions floating around in our heads. They only become real when we express them in words, music, paint, food, or whatever. Then we learn even more as we refine those creations. It’s fun, challenging, frustrating, and impactful. 

Refining these ideas got Greg Manchess into space. Imagine where it could get you.