Susan Happersett
In my art, I explore the aesthetic qualities of mathematics through
sequences, series and, now, mapping. I express my ideas in drawings,
paintings, artist's books, and videos. Recurring themes in my work are
the Fibonacci Sequence, Chaos Theory, the Cartesian Coordinate System,
the Cantor Set, Self Similarity and Fractals. Crucial to me is that
all my work is hand-drawn: I design the algorithm and then I execute
it by hand. I am the computer. I have always been interested is
creating hyperbolic forms using basic geometric paper shapes. First
Möbius strips and circles, now I am exploring using squares, octagons
and other polygons. By combining a series of identical shapes I have
been able to build complex sculptures.
Quadrilateral Lace Hyperbolic was formed using 12 squares. Each
square features a 2 by 2 grid of 4 square lace algorithmically
generated mapping drawings. Each quadrilateral drawing has 4-fold
rotational symmetry. Folding each square horizontally and
vertically through the center, then cutting a slit in each of the
12 square sheets of paper, I am able to stack and interweave the
squares. The result is an accordion book sculpture with a
continuous pattern that forms ruffles and winds its way out of the
2-dimensional plane.