2016 Joint Mathematics Meetings
Andrea Heald
Artists
Andrea Heald
Part-time Lecturer
Math Department, University of Washington
Seattle, Washington, USA
Statement
As a mathematician, I like incorportating mathematical concepts into my work. When doing crochet I like creating works that have some purpose beyond aesthetics. Recently I have become very fond of creating interesting stuffed animals for my young son.
Artworks
Collatz Cornsnake
38 x 25 x 5 cm
Crocheted Wool Yarn
2015
The "scale" pattern of this snake was inspired by the Collatz conjecture. Each row of the body was derived from the row before in the following manner: if even, it was divided by 2, if odd it was multiplied by 3 and then 1 was added. Each number is expressed in ternery. Two brown stiches denote a 0, two green stitches denote a 1 and two lavender stitches denote a 2. To distguish one number from the next, each number ends in a 00 (or 4 brown stitches). The initial round is 2^15 - 1.