In Search of the Stars (and Our Place in the Cosmos)

In a light-polluted city like Los Angeles, how does one attempt to make sense of the universe when you can't see the stars?

In the Season 4 finale episode of Becoming Artsy, Jessie visits the Griffith Observatory to watch the PST ART: Art & Science Collide film on cosmograms: an ultimate collision of art and science across cultures, in which artistic symbols of the patterns of the sky are used to try to make sense of our universe. She's inspired to go in search of the stars, which takes her to the "dark sky" locales of Julian, California, and Anza-Borrega Desert State Park.

Along the way, Jessie reflects on how this season of Becoming Artsy has led her on a journey to reconnect with nature, and how, in the words of Ed Krupp, director of the Griffith Observatory, "artists are always in the middle of something that's never quite completed...and the pleasure is not in the finish line—it's just delightfully entertaining to be in the midst of it now."