South Jersey teen's artwork headed to moon with Lunar Codex mission

CAMDEN COUNTY, N.J. (WPVI) -- It's one small step for art and one giant leap for a South Jersey teen artist.

Seventeen-year-old Gisele Brown's hyperrealism pieces are heading to the moon in a time capsule of talent.

Brown, a Camden County native, was selected as a finalist for the sixth Lunar Codex mission, a project that aims to send works of art to the lunar surface.

The judges selected her family portraits to be on board a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket in December. She said she never expected two very personal pieces of art -- a charcoal portrait of her dad and sister -- would be going to the moon.

"It's just amazing. I can't believe it. I still feel like, I'm still like processing," she said while en route to Washington, D.C., for another art competition.

The 17-year-old has been creating hyperrealism drawings and paintings since she was 14.

Her artwork will be digitized and put onto a quarter-sized disc that's about 12 millimeters in diameter.

Giselle hopes to one day become a professional artist.