Jeannine Mosely (with collaborators Dick Esterle, Kevin Box for "Waxing Gibbous")

Statement

I am an mathematician and origami artist. I am interested in abstract geometric designs with repeated motifs. Recently I have been exploring the connection between traditional smocking designs and paper tessellations. Most artists working in cloth tessellations either treat the cloth as a developable surface - like paper - producing a flat surface by pressing, or they allow the cloth to deform into three dimensional bulges with fluid shapes. I wanted to reproduce these rounded shapes in paper, so I used differential geometry to develop a theory that could compute the shape and position of the straight and curved creases needed to describe some of the forms that cloth takes when smocked. I also occasionally work in other media, such as egg cartons.

Artworks

I was inspired by classic smocking patterns to create this paper tessellation. In smocking, tiny stitches on the back side of the fabric create gathers that cause the cloth on the front side to form orderly pillows. Recreating these pillows in paper presents a special challenge because the surfaces must be developable. I derived equations to determine the shape and position of the curved and straight creases required for this design. The resulting integral lacks a closed form solution and was solved numerically using Mathematica. I printed the principal domain onto card stock, cut it out and used it to trace multiple repetitions of the design onto a larger sheet of paper. These were "scored" with an embossing tool and then folded.

I was inspired by classic smocking patterns to create this paper tessellation. In smocking, tiny stitches on the back side of the fabric create gathers that cause the cloth on the front side to form orderly pillows. Recreating these pillows in paper presents a special challenge because the surfaces must be developable. I derived equations to determine the shape and position of the curved and straight creases required for this design. The resulting integral lacks a closed form solution and was solved numerically using Mathematica. I printed the principal domain onto card stock, cut it out and used it to trace multiple repetitions of the design onto a larger sheet of paper. These were "scored" with an embossing tool and then folded.

In 2008 I invented "or-egg-ami", the art of weaving geometric sculptures from strips of egg cartons. Sculptor Kevin Box with assistance from Dick Esterle bronzed and gilded one of these models. The result is "Waxing Gibbous", whose external white patina and golden interior are reminiscent of a broken egg, or a moon that has cracked open to reveal a molten interior. The mathematical form is based on the rhombicuboctahedron.