Bruce Torrence

Professor of Mathematics
Randolph-Macon College
Ashland, Virginia

I am interested in the way in which humans process visual information. I'm also interested in the visual representation of mathematical ideas. My artwork represents an attempt to bridge these interests.

Martin Gardner - Master Puzzler
Martin Gardner - Master Puzzler
20" x 20"
Archival Inkjet Print
2010

This portrait of Martin Gardner (1914-2010) was made by coloring the individual tiles on a kite and dart Penrose tiling. This particular tiling exhibits fivefold rotational symmetry (can you find the center?), and was created by "deflating" a wheel of five kites eight times. Gardner's oft-cited January 1977 Scientific American column introduced the public to Penrose's aperiodic tiles.