Audrey Nasar
I am a mathematics professor, illustrator, and printmaker. My work is focused on teaching mathematical concepts through illustration, graphic novels, and animation. Recently, in preparing teaching material for a course on geometry and art, I’ve found inspiration in the symmetry of protein structures.
The artwork draws from the theory of Caspar and Klug, which provides a conceptual framework for the construction of icosahedrons from a template based on a hexagonal net. Depicted in each image, are four icosahedrons built from triangles that are drawn on the same net according to the vector T(h,k)= h^2+hk+k^2 for T=1, 3, 4, and 7. The choice of composition aims to showcase the sequential formation of the icosahedrons as a result of different triangulations.
The images titled Genetic Economy I and II, are inspired by the icosahedral symmetry present in the capsids (encasements) of spherical viruses. This symmetry allows the viruses to use a lower amount of genetic material to build the capsids as one gene can code for many identical protein subunits.