Fibonacci Tree

Posted by Susan Happersett

With New York closed, I have been social distancing at home. My last blog was about the Armory Show in early March. I have not been out and about to look at art since then, so this blog has been on a hiatus.

But… today one of my Fibonacci drawings is featured on the American Mathematical Society’s Page-A Calendar, I decided to post the May 3rd page.
It has been a very difficult time for many people. I am hoping everyone is healthy and safe.

Susan Happersett

Booklyn Artist’s Book Fair

Posted by Susan Happersett

I have been busy working on new series of limited edition Artist books with Purgatory Pie Press titled “Cartesian Lace Bricolage”. The five sculptural books will feature letterpress prints of my Cartesian Lace drawings in two size scales and a variety of overlapping configurations. The construction of these pieces incorporates a new syncopated intertwined double accordion structure that I have been developing over the past year. We will have this new work on display at the Booklyn Artist’s Book Fair in Manhattan next weekend.

You can find the location and opening hours of the fair here.

Susan Happersett

Finding Fibonacci

Posted by Susan Happersett

Two Fibonacci Number sightings.

I am happy to report that the “Box of Growth” set of artist’s books published by Purgatory Pie Press in 1999 is on display at Connecticut College’s exhibition “Loose Leafs and Bindings: Book Arts and Prints”. This set of five small books feature my counted marking drawings that illustrate Fibonacci Sequence growth patterns.

Installed in the backroom at the Odetta gallery in Brooklyn. I found two cement Fibonacci Numbers from Patrick Gallagher and Chris Klapper’s “Exploring the Poetry of Numbers” series.

This number is F67, the 67th number in the Fibonacci Sequence

This number is F96, the 96th number in the Fibonacci Sequence.

Susan Happersett

More Art from JMM – San Diego

Posted by Susan Happersett

There were so much interesting work on display at the JMM that I wanted to explore a few more.

Tom Bates – “Six Easy Pieces” – 30 x 28 x 25 cm -Bronze – 2010

Tom Bates’ cast bronze sculpture “Six Easy Pieces” is based on one of the Chen-Gackstatter minimal surfaces. Mathematical minimal surfaces are skin-like surfaces where the area is locally as small as possible. Quite often when minimal surfaces are represented as sculpture they are shown with a smooth surface. Bate’s bronze is unpolished and rough. I really like this more organic form. It adds an unexpected hand made feel to the work.

Elizabeth Whiteley -“Euclidean Arabesque 1”
41 x 51 cm – graphite + color pencil on archival paper – 2017

One of the exciting things about returning to the JMM show over a number of years is being able to see how artists’ work changes. This year Elizabeth Whiteley is showing elegant geometric drawings. These new renderings were produced using two circles with radii in a 1:0.75 ratio and arcs measuring 180 and 270 degrees. The drawing references Euclid’s Elements Book Three: proposition 12. The series of colored lines Whiteley has used to illustrate chords on the imaginary surface brings the form to life. The shape seems to float over the surface of the paper.

In case you are wondering what I brought to the JMM this year… I had one of my new lace drawings in the exhibit. “Syncopated Hexagons” features elements created on six axis (instead of four). These elements possess order 6 rotational symmetry.

Susan Happersett – Syncopated Hexagons
35 x 11 x 4 cm – Ink on paper – 2017

Susan Happersett

My Artist’s Statement in the Journal of Mathematics and the Arts

Posted by Susan Happersett

The current (December 2017) issue of the Journal of Mathematics and the Arts (JMA) is introducing a new feature, highlighting individual artists through their statements. The fist artist covered is yours truly.

Publisher Taylor & Francis is making the article available to everyone. You can read it here. The accompanying picture is also on the cover of JMA this issue.

Happy Holidays!

Mathematical Meditations in Beacon, New York

Posted by Susan Happersett

A survey of my Mathematically inspired paintings, drawings, videos and artist’s books is currently on view at the Roundhouse Gallery in Beacon, NY. Situated in a restored 19th century factory building, the gallery space provides ample room for a wide range of work I have completed over the past twenty years.

Included in the exhibit are my counted marking drawings. I started making these early in my career and I am still creating them with more complex algorithms.

There is also a range of work based the Chaos Theory.

A wew of my pieces from my recent “Cartesian Lace” series are also on display.

This wonderful opportunity has offered me a chance for the first time, to present an exploration of all of the various types of my Mathematical art all in one room.

The opening last weekend was wonderful. On May 21, Dikko Faust and Ester K. Smith of Purgatory pie Press will be at the gallery for a meet and greet. Over the past years I have collaborated with them on a number of limited edition letterpress projects, that are also on display. Meet Esther and Dikko from 2PM to 6PM.

Susan Happersett

Cartesian Lace Drawings

Posted by Susan Happersett

The past few months I have been developing a new type of drawing process based on Set Theory and the concept of mapping. Using the Cartesian coordinate system, I started by plotting sets of points on the x, y and z axes. To create a visual metaphor for the 4th dimension, I added one more axis perpendicular to the z axis. Using different mapping procedures I connect points from one axis to point on another. I utilize bijective (one point to one point) mapping, as well as non-bijective (one point to many points ) mapping patterns.

These new drawings use mathematics to create intricate patterns that relate to technological network maps, neurological phenomena, but also to hand-made lace.

Susan Happersett

College Art Association Conference Math Art Lecture

Posted by Susan Happersett

This Saturday, February 18 at 12 Noon EST, I will be speaking about mathematical art at the CAA’s annual conference at the Hilton Midtown in New York. I will be focusing on the works I have made in collaboration with Purgatory Pie press, which will be on display (and for sale).

College Art Association Conference
Hilton Hotel, 1335 6th Ave) at 53rd St
Second Floor – Rhinelander Gallery – Table 219

Susan Happersett

A Million

Posted by Susan Happersett

I never planned to use this blog to discuss my political leanings but …

My sister Laura and I participated in the Woman’s March in Washington this past weekend. The size of the crowd was of a magnitude I have never experienced before. Anyone who has seen my work knows i have a predisposition for counting. Years ago, I developed a system of creating counted mark-making drawings. One project – from 1999 – titled “A Million Markings for the Millennium features 125 prints, each with a 40 by 20 square grid. Each grid square contains 10 markings. The number one million is thrown around freely in rhetoric and dialog, causing it to loose its gravitas. This work is my visual answer to the question “Just How many is a million?”

Standing on Indepence Avenue on Jan 21 I was overwhelmed by the sea of people all walking together. The societal effects of very large number was palatable. I had not planned on discussing these emotions in this forum but when the concept of counting becomes an issue with regards the Presidential inauguration crowd, I could not stop myself.

Artists, even Math artists, do not work in a bubble (although I have attempted to crawl under a rock for the last two months). Objective counting and measuring has become a source of political existential angst. There is really no such thing as “alternative accuracy”. Sometimes numbers speak louder than words.

I guess I will always be a Nasty Number Geek

Susan Happersett

Sara VanDerBeek at Metro Pictures

Posted by Susan Happersett

“Pieced Quits, Wrapped Forms” is Sara VanDerBeek’s current solo exhibition at Metro Pictures Gallery. There is a variety of work on display, including large abstract photographs and monochrome sculptures, all with geometric themes based of quilts, Pre-Columbian patterning, and modern textile arts.

Sara VanDerBeek, “XXXVII”, 2013, acrylic on wood
Picture courtesy of the gallery and the artist

The totem pole-like structure “XXXVII” is a stacked tower of eight rectangular prisms or cuboids. By painting the entire structure white, the artist allows the viewer to focus on the patterns and shadows on each side of the prisms. Each rectangular side has a width to height ratio of 2:3. Bisecting the rectangle along the diagonal, order 2 rotational symmetry is achieved and two right triangles are formed. There is a series of consecutively smaller but similar triangles, that form a step-like pattern into the prism.

Sara VanDerBeek, “XXXVII”, 2013, acrylic on wood (detail)
Picture courtesy of the gallery and the artist

VanDerBeek has successfully taken the geometric basis from textile patterning and distilled it to its purest form, presenting these ideas in a contemporary visual dialog.

Susan Happersett