Reza Sarhangi Homage

In 2005 I created a homage to Reza Sarhangi, the nucleus of the Bridges Conference on Mathematical Connections in Art Music and Science. I never shared it so I think I will pull it out now that this year's conference is over and I am re-inspired. There are quite a few mathematical properties going on in this thing - puzzle with it.
And thank you Reza for being the special person that you are!

Joint Meeting of the American Mathematical Society and Mathematical Association of America Conference 2009

This blog entry is to share a few moments and images of the AMS and MAA Joint Meeting held this year in Washington D.C. The first lonely image is a view from my hotel room bed as I tried to get to sleep by counting the sheep jumping over the Washington Monument. The weather for the most part was cold and rainy and made my three-quarter mile walk to the conference a little trying at times. However the last day was nice and offered the image below which was shot from my hotel room window as the sun was rising in the east.

The shot below is a 180 degree panoramic view of 21 images sewn together to provide an overview of the entire show of mathart. The show is always modestly done due to its modest budget (relative to art galleries) but it is always done well and the people who work on it are wonderful enthusiastic individuals who feel mathart can make a difference. They even gave out prizes this year.
The shot below is of the past president of the Mathematical Association of America, Joseph Gallian as he was browsing the show.

Speaking of browsing the show … The next image (below) is of our friend Ivars Peterson who writes about mathart for many publications including Science News.

From left to right: Reza Sarhangi the nucleus of the Bridges Conference on mathematical connections in art music and architecture , Annette Emerson, the Public Relations Officer of the AMS and Anne Burns, one of the Judges for the mathart exhibit and webmaster for the mathart exhibit webpage.
The next image is of Robert Fathauer who curates the mathart show each year and also owns and operated Tessellations a company devoted to selling objects that inspire the math aesthetic.

Here is Nat Friedman and one of his knots displaying a minimum surface by spanning a soap bubble film across the knot. Very interesting and simple stuff showing complex concepts.

The next image is of Reza Sarhangi with Arthur Benjamin who happens to spend a lot of time on stage racing calculators … I have seen him in action and yes, he can calculate in his brain faster than you can calculate on your hand calculator. Check out this video.

JoAnne Growney and Sarah Glaz recently edited an anthology of mathematical love poems titled “Strange Attractors”. The book was published by AK Peters and can be seen in the above photo at the bottom right of the image. Also in the photo are Klaus Peters (left) and his lovely wife Alice (Thus AK). The conference also provided a poetry reading session to deliver poems from the book. The event was organized by co-editor JoAnne and you can see the crowd gathering for the reading in the image below.

In the image above you can see JoAnne standing and speaking to the crowd and Sara sitting and listening (lower right). The image below is of fellow mathematical poet Bob Grumman as he delivers one of his long division mathematical visual poems.

The image above is of me delivering my poem "Prometheus's Epistle to Job"

Here is a link to a review of the poetry reading by Karren Alenier.

See the Mathart show in Washington D.C.

Here is the link for the mathart show in Washington D.C. this January. You can see the variety of work from the links presented. The image I chose to show (above) is titled:
“A Strange Dream”
Oil crayon on paper, 20" x 24" (framed), 2008. "

The work is by Karl Kattchee, Associate Professor of Mathematics, Mathematics Department, University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, La Crosse, WI

Professor Kattchee says, "I generally work in the abstract and typically with oil crayons or pencil on paper. Each drawing has an internal logic, mathematical in nature, which usually evolves while I work. My mathematical instincts urge me to keep the internal logic consistent, but my artistic side wants to bend the rules. The soul of my drawings is the balance between the two."

The American Mathematical Society Show Is Up And Running

View the show here




The AMS show is now visible in it physical construction in Exibit Hall B at the San Diego Convention Center. The good news is that you don’t have to be in San Diego to view it you can go to the link here. The bad news is that the internet destroys some of the subtleties in the images. For example, the image by Andy Lomas (above) has beautiful delicateness that cannot be imagined here on the internet.

Andy’s image is composed of layered trajectories followed by millions of particles. Each individual trajectory is essentially an independent random process, with the trail terminating when it reaches a deposition zone. Collectively the paths combine to form delicate complex shapes of filigree and shadow in the areas of negative space that the paths don't reach. Over time, as particles deposit they create a growing region that future particles will not be able to enter. There are no actual defined boundaries, simply intricately structured gradients of tone formed by the end points of trajectories.

Andy Lomas, Digital Artist, London "These pieces are part of a study into how complex organic forms can be created from simple mathematical rules.
The base algorithms used to generate the forms are variations on Diffusion Limited Aggregation. Different structures are produced by introducing small biases and changes to the rules for particle motion and deposition. The growth like nature of the process, repeatedly aggregating on top of the currently deposited system, produces reinforcement of deviations caused by forces applied to the undeposited particles as they randomly move. This means that small biases to the rules and conditions for growth can produce great changes to the finally created form. All the software used to simulate the structures and render the final images was written by the artist in Visual C++."
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The image above is of a three dimensional piece by Carlo Sequin in which he explores the geometrical relationships of a hole to a surface moving through a tube-like structure.
" Scherk's 2nd Minimal Surface" is a way to weave together two intersecting planes so that an infinitely long chain of holes and saddles replaces the intersection zone; it is possible to do that so that the resulting single surface has everywhere zero Gaussian curvature. The same basic scheme can be used to also blend together three planes that share a single intersection line. A small region, comprising just 5 monkey saddles and 4 Y-shaped holes, has been cut out of such a minimal surface; it has been artistically stretched and twisted to make a towering sculpture. Carlo H. Séquin, Professor of Computer Science, EECS Computer Science Division, University of California, Berkeley

Mathartist statement:

"My professional work in computer graphics and geometric design has also provided a bridge to the world of art. In 1994 I started to collaborate with Brent Collins, a wood sculptor, who has been creating abstract geometrical art since the early 1980s. Our teamwork has resulted in a program called "Sculpture Generator 1" which allows me to explore many more complex ideas inspired by Collins' work, and to design and execute such geometries with higher precision. Since 1994, I have constructed several computer-aided tools that allow me to explore and expand upon many great inspirations that I have received from several other artists. It also has resulted in many beautiful mathematical models that I have built for my classes at UC Berkeley, often using the latest computer-driven, layered-manufacturing machines. My profession and my hobby interests merge seamlessly when I explore ever new realms of 'Artistic Geometry'."

Reza Sarhangi - At The AMS Show in San Diego - January

The next few days I am going to diverge from mathematical poetry and display some of the visual mathematics work done by many talented people who have their work admitted to the American Mathematical Society mathart show coming up in January. The following image is by Reza Sarhangi and Robert Fathauer (see Robert's work)
Reza is one of, if not the most important person in the vismath genre for Reza is the nucleus of the Bridges conference on mathematical connections in art music and science. He is a very special man and I really appreciate everything he has done and continues to do for the genre.

This print was inspired by Abu’l-Wefa Buzjani's (10th Century Persian mathematician) construction of a regular heptagon contained in his treatise, “On Those Parts of Geometry Needed by Craftsmen”. His construction is illustrated by the linework in the center portion of the print. The characters around the perimeter of the design repeat Buzjani’s name in Farsi.

Reza Sarhangi, Professor of Mathematics, Towson University and Robert Fathauer, Small business owner, puzzle designer, and artist, Tessellations Company

Reza Sarhangi is interested in Persian geometric art and its historical methods of construction, which he explores using the computer software Geometer's Sketchpad. Robert Fathauer creates digital artworks on a Macintosh computer, primarily using the commercial programs FreeHand and Photoshop.

Bridges Reminder