Source: American Mathematical Society
Providence, RI: The 2017 Mathematical Art Exhibition Awards were made at the Joint Mathematics Meetings last week "for aesthetically pleasing works that combine mathematics and art." The three chosen works were selected from the exhibition of juried works in various media by 73 mathematicians and artists from around the world.
"Fractal Monarchs," by Doug Dunham and John Shier, was awarded Best photograph, painting, or print. "The goal of our art is to create aesthetically pleasing fractal patterns. This is a fractal pattern whose motifs are monarch butterflies. We modify our usual rule that motifs cannot overlap by allowing the antennas - but not the rest of the motif - to overlap another motif. Expanding on the area rule of the Goals statement, the area of the n-th motif is given by A/(zeta(c,N)(N+n)^c), where A is the area of the region, and zeta(c,N) is the Hurwitz zeta function, a generalization of the Riemann zeta function (for which N = 1; our algorithm starts with n = 0). For this pattern c = 1.26, N = 1.5, and 150 butterflies fill 72% of the bounding rectangle." The 2016 work is a 30 x 40 cm digital print.
"Torus," by Jiangmei Wu, was awarded Best textile, sculpture, or other medium. "I'm interested in how paper folding can be expressed mathematically, physically, and aesthetically. Torus is folded from one single sheet of uncut paper. Gauss’s Theorema Egregium states that the Gaussian curvature of a surface doesn’t change if one bends the surface without stretching it. Therefore, the isometric embedding from a flat square or rectangle to a torus is impossible. The famous Hévéa Torus is the first computerized visualization of Nash Problem: isometric embedding of a flat square to a torus of C1 continuity without cutting and stretching. Interestingly, the solution presented in Hévéa Torus uses fractal hierarchy of corrugations that are similar to pleats in fabric and folds in origami. In my Torus, isometric embedding of a flat rectangle to a torus of C0 continuity is obtained by using periodic waterbomb tessellation." The work is made of Hi-tec Kozo Paper and measures 45 x 45 x 20 cm.
"AAABBB, two juxtapositions: Dots & Blossoms, Windmills & Pinwheels," by Mary Klotz, received Honorable Mention. "I’m currently exploring complex patterning in triaxial silk ribbon color algorithms (woven by hand). This permutated pair of triaxial weavings are exactly identical in weave structure, with identical color sequencing in all three directions. (AAABBB). Only the starting points of the color sequence in the diagonal elements vary between the two. " This work made of hand dyed silk ribbon is 66 x 46 x 3 cm.
The Mathematical Art Exhibition Award "for aesthetically pleasing works that combine mathematics and art" was established in 2008 through an endowment provided to the American Mathematical Society by an anonymous donor who wishes to acknowledge those whose works demonstrate the beauty and elegance of mathematics expressed in a visual art form. The awards are US $400 for Best textile, sculpture, or other medium; and $200 for Honorable Mention. The Mathematical Art Exhibition of juried works in various media is held at the annual Joint Mathematics Meetings of the American Mathematical Society (AMS) and Mathematical Association of America (MAA). Works in the 2016 exhibition will be in an album on Mathematical Imagery. (Click on thumbnails to see larger images.)
Contacts: Mike Breen and Annette Emerson
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