2023 Bridges Conference Art Exhibition

Justin Dimmel, Samuel Hoey, Gregory M. Ondo, Eric Pandiscio

Artists

Justin Dimmel

Associate Professor of Mathematics Education and Instructional Technology

University of Maine

justin.dimmel@maine.edu

Eric Pandiscio

Associate Professor, Mathematics Education

University of Maine

Orono, Maine, USA

ericp@maine.edu

Gregory M. Ondo

Associate Professor of Sculpture

University of Maine

Orono, Maine

gregory.ondo@maine.edu

https://www.gregondosculpture.com/

Samuel Hoey

Sculptor

Art Department, University of Maine

Orono, Maine, USA

samuel.hoey@maine.edu

https://www.behance.net/samhoeysculpture

Statement

The SunRule is public art installation in Orono, Maine, USA. Greg Ondo and Samuel Hoey, sculptors at the University of Maine, are the lead designers and artists. Eric Pandiscio and Justin Dimmel, mathematics educators at the University of Maine, worked with Greg and Sam to design a kinetic sculpture that uses sunlight to model multiplication. The sculpture is a bronze disk encircled by a bronze wall--engraved with narrow slits--attached to a sculpted granite plinth. The disk can be swiveled, to align a slit with the azimuth of the sun, and tilted, to change the angle at which sun rays strike the surface of the disk. By titling and swiveling, the SunRule can be positioned to represent products with beams of light.

Artworks

Image for entry 'The SunRule'

The SunRule

25.0 x 60.0 cm

Bronze

2022

The SunRule represents multiplication with beams of light. It was inspired by a geometric definition of multiplication. Over millennia, sunlight has been used for telling time, navigation, and generating electricity, but we believe our design is the first to use sunlight as a veritable straightedge for geometric constructions. By tilting and swiveling, the sculpture can be positioned to catch sunlight at different angles and project products onto the surface of a ruled bronze disk. The vision for the installation is it that its aesthetic appeal will invite interaction and spur public engagement with mathematical ideas--in particular, that the sun is an emitter of parallel rays and that multiplication can be defined geometrically.