Equipped with a ballpoint pen and a love for the cosmos, California artist and amateur astronomer Russell Crotty showcased and discussed his star-studded work in the Windgate Center Art Gallery.

Higher Education Program Coordinator Nakeya Palmer described the collaboration as “kismet.” “It’s really not even a coincidence that we have the eclipse happening next week, and then he has a lot of work based on astronomy,” Palmer said.

The gallery talk, held April 4 and April 6, featured around nine artworks on display.

The body of work ranged from panoramic-styled landscapes and paper-based hanging globes to large, linen-bound sketchbooks and traditional works.

Not only do all of the pieces involve space in some matter, but each work also features ink from Crotty’s signature medium — the ballpoint pen.

“I use special ball pens,” Crotty said. “For the last 20 years I’ve been using this one called a Ballograf pen, and they sign all the official documents in Sweden with this ink that doesn’t fade.”

The reason why Crotty has exclusively used the Ballograf pen for so many years is due to the poor ink quality of an everyday ballpoint pen.

“They’re great for in the moment [regular ballpoint pens], but if you’re going to archive something, then it’s tricky,” Crotty said.

Each of the pieces found in the gallery is unique in presentation, yet they all feature a similar scratchiness produced by the ballpoint pen.

“I’m kind of a nervous, obsessive type so that’s naturally why the things, the scratchiness, makes sense in terms of my process,” Crotty said. “I drink a lot of coffee and I get wired up.”

Growing up in the San Francisco Bay area, Crotty has found himself living all across California, including Los Angeles, the Santa Monica Mountains and currently, Ojai.

“Having artists from all over the world come to Arkansas and share their craft and their experience with students I think is very impactful,” Palmer said.

Crotty’s astronomy work began in the early 1990s.

“I like to be able to use my expertise in terms of astronomy because I’m not good at math, so I never could be an astronomer,” Crotty said. “So, this is one way I could really partake in astronomy in a special way.”

Although Crotty does refer to himself as an amateur astronomer, the artist has gone so far as to build a 10-inch Newtonian reflector titled “The Solstice Peak Observatory” in the Santa Monica mountains.

The observatory burned down during a 2007 wildfire.

While Crotty isn’t an astronomer in the normal sense, he does find that the occupation has striking similarities to being an artist.

“There’s a parallel with being an artist, like developing different bodies of work over time. It’s not slapdash. It’s very, very slow and methodical over time,” Crotty said.

Crotty’s globe work, such as “Nightfall Sespe Wilderness” and “Auriga Over Western Ridges,” both displayed in the exhibit, can each take up to a year to produce, whereas Crotty’s panoramic art can take about five to six months to complete. However, Crotty is never working on only one piece at a time.

“Epic Moon Over Lizard’s Mouth,” a 16-by-80-inch panoramic piece, was crafted by Crotty specifically for the Windgate exhibit.

The piece features ink, colored pencil and gouache, and displays one of Crotty’s adventures while bouldering.

“It’s just a very simple, little narrative about one little slice of one experience, you know, that I like to share with people because I find it so wonderful,” Crotty said.

Compared with other pieces at the exhibit, “Epic Moon over Lizard’s Mouth” stands out as one of the most colorful.

“There’s an anecdote, you know, as you get older, a lot of artists change and start using more color or do something odd. And I feel like now I’m starting to push the color a little bit. Whereas before, I was very restricted, like for 20 years, I used black ballpoint pen. That was it,” Crotty said.

Russell Crotty’s exhibit, “A Look into the Vast,” will be on display in the Windgate Center’s art gallery until April 26.