Artists

Jillian Schmid

Mathematical Art Student

Maggie L. Walker Governor's School

Richmond VA, USA

jillianschmid17@gmail.com

Statement

Since a young age, math has been my favorite subject in school. Over time, I have also developed an appreciation for art. As a high school senior, I have had the opportunity to take a seminar course on mathematical art. Being in this class has challenged me to find the combinations between math and art in ways that I wouldn’t normally think about. I have found particular interests in using interesting and unique mediums and finding math in nature.

Artworks

Image for entry 'Cube Roots'

Cube Roots

30 x 19 x 15 cm

Wooden Cubes, Popsicle Sticks, Toilet Paper Roll, Paint, Glue

2019

This piece was inspired by a piece I did on square roots. I wanted to develop the idea further and create a piece that was 3D to create a visual for cube roots. Each root (defined as a string of cubes with one connection to the “ground”) has a total number of cubes representing the perfect cube number. The number of dark brown cubes in a singular root is the cube root of that total number. For instance, the root with a total of 8 cubes has 2 dark brown cubes. There are only 4 roots in this project due to size. My choice of materials was driven by a desire for all of the materials to be wood or paper products to connect the root idea even deeper.