Mads Ledbetter
I studied fiber arts at East Tennessee State University and am now
pursuing a career as a botanist. In the spring of 2021, I and longtime
friend and fellow artist Caroline Bowen first collaborated on a
project documenting the Brood X cicada emergence in the southeastern
US by ethically gathering, processing, and laminating tens of
thousands of their wings over the course of six weeks. This piece is
our second collaboration in our work together as science artists.
This piece depicts a damped radial wave as a 3D surface mesh,
illustrated using a sculptural technique developed as part of an
open-ended investigation into different ways of depicting 3D
mathematical surfaces. A 3D-printed base featuring a grid of pegs
of varying heights was generated by a Python script before being
printed as six separate pieces then assembled together on a
Melamine base. Embroidery floss was then tied to the pegs to
create the 3D mesh, then painted with alcohol ink to show the
surface's contour levels, with the peaks of the wave in shades of
pink and the troughs in shades of orange.