Elizabeth Paley
A recovered academic with degrees in physics, astronomy, piano
performance, and music theory, I have been working with clay since
2002. My art often begins with wheel-thrown pieces that I subsequently
alter, cut, and assemble.
In 2020, I joined a team of mathematicians and artists to
collaboratively create the math-art installation "Mathemalchemy,"
which is on exhibit at Boston University during JMM 2023.
Mathemalchemy harnesses art and narrative to celebrate the joy,
creativity, and beauty of mathematics.
The work submitted here imagines what might happen if two of the
animals inhabiting Mathemalchemy were to take a trip to the beach.
What mathematical wonders await them there?
Ada and Évariste have gathered a trove of mathematically
intriguing treasures at the beach. Some are clearly critter-made:
Ada holds a Babylonian numeral tile found under a dodecahedral
fishing float, while Évariste carries Borromean rings dug from the
sand. They hope seashells offer data to resolve two burning
questions: (1) The golden ratio in conch whorls and shark-eye
spirals: rumor or reality? And (2) fractals on sea olive surfaces:
fact or fiction?
Ontologically, the rodents are unaware of how mathematics shaped
_them_. Like most of the clay critters in Mathemalchemy, they
began as collections of cylindrical, spherical, conical, and
otherwise rotationally symmetric wheel-thrown components that were
then altered and assembled.