Though I prefer to share my findings through workshops, I often also present my work formally by giving talks. These tend to give more of an overview of a body of work, sometimes spanning over multiple schemata, sometimes focusing on one.
See also Workshops, Exhibitions and Publications.
According to founding members of the Concrete Art movement, its intention is to avoid re-producing nature and, instead, to embody abstract ideas in real, concrete form, in order to make the built environment more bearable. Mathematics is a fount of abstract ideas, some of which are primarily visual. I have been making mathematically-based art for more than 30 years, and will discuss some of the algorithms and processes that I have used to design and produce artwork based on the Hilbert Curve, a fractal that fills a square surface, to any desired density. Along the way, I will also present artwork by some of the artists who have influenced my work. A number of my pieces will be on display in the accompanying exhibit that will be shown at the 2013 CMS Summer Meeting.
According to founding members of the Concrete Art movement, its intention is to avoid re-producing nature and, instead, to embody abstract ideas in real, concrete form, in order to make the built environment more bearable. Mathematics is a fount of abstract ideas, some of which are primarily visual.
In this talk, Eva Knoll, who has been making mathematicallybased art for more than 30 years, will discuss some of the algorithms and processes that she uses to design and produce artwork based on the Hilbert Curve, a “discrete” fractal that covers a square surface, to any desired density. Along the way, she will also present artwork by some of the artists who have influenced her work.
In the past few months, the Student Resource Center of the Mathematics Department of Dalhousie University has been moved and refurbished. This project included the commission and purchase of several pieces of contemporary mathematical art. As part of the colloquium, the artist will discuss the pieces and their inspiration, including the mathematics underlying some of their conception. This talk is accessible to a wider audience with a curiosity about mathematics.
Deltahedra are polyhedra with all equilateral triangular faces of the same size. We consider a class of we will call ‘regular’ deltahedra which possess the icosahedral rotational symmetry group and have either six or five triangles meeting at each vertex. Some, but not all of this class can be generated using operations of subdivision, stellation and truncation on the platonic solids. We develop a method of generating and classifying all deltahedra in this class using the idea of a generating vector on a triangular grid that is made into the net of the deltahedron. We observed and proved a geometric property of the length of these generating vectors and the surface area of the corresponding deltahedra. A consequence of this is that all deltahedra in our class have an integer multiple of 20 faces, starting with the icosahedron which has the minimum of 20 faces.
Image resolution can be a real headache. The image looks great on your screen but the minute it comes out of your office printer, it ends up in the garbage, or the image slows down your whole online project. What went wrong? We propose to unravel the resolution mystery so you can publish your images online, in print or on the Web painlessly. The quality of the end product depends on such things as understanding resolution and using the proper color depth. We will sort it all out for you so you can feel confident you are making the most of your images. Scanners, laser copiers, computer monitors and professional printers measure the image resolution in different ways. What are the standards for professional-quality images? What are the properties of color and how do they affect your image? We will show you how to use the proper color model for each type of image printed, online or for the web. How many colors do you need to use to keep quality up and file size down? An image file needs to be optimized for each application. Color depth is the key. All the steps needed to get a good image into your document are waiting to be revealed to you!
abstract: Topology teaches us that the two dimensional plane and three dimensional space have a comparable structure. In fact, this apparent parallel is deeply rooted in our consciousness and is applied in many domains, including various fields in the design industry, through the use of such tools as descriptive geometry and perspective drawing. From the particular point of view of the designer, however, this parallel in structure has often been simplified to plans, sections and elevations i.e. 2-D slices through a 3-D object. It has therefore not been an integral part of the design process, but rather a tool of representation of the design process.