2023 Bridges Conference Art Exhibition

Megan Martinez, Amanda Taylor Lipnicki

Artists

Megan Martinez

Associate Professor of Mathematics

Ithaca College

Ithaca, New York, USA

mmartinez@ithaca.edu

https://www.ithaca.edu/faculty/mmartinez

Amanda Taylor Lipnicki

Associate Professor of Mathematics

Alfred University

Alfred, New York, USA

amanda.lipnicki@gmail.com

https://www.alfred.edu/academics/faculty-staff/profiles/lipnicki-amanda-t.cfm

Statement

Megan Martinez and Amanda Taylor Lipnicki have been working together since 2019 on developing patternmaking algorithms for crochet and knit fiber arts. They are tenured math professors with long histories of love for and engagement with the arts. Megan received her PhD from Dartmouth in combinatorics and is also a flutist, painter, and quilter. Amanda received her PhD from Binghamton University in geometric group theory and currently identifies as a reader, writer, singer, knitter, and crocheter. Both have a deep affection for connecting their passions with other areas of their lives, including mathematics research and teaching.

Artworks

Image for entry 'A Functional Family'

A Functional Family

28.0 x 43.0 x 30.0 cm

Wool Yarn, Polyester Fiber Fill, Wire, Safety Eyes & Buttons, Duct Tape

2023

Additional info

Boo, NB, Yves, Felicia, and Clint aren’t your typical family. Their forms were born from hundreds of hours of work by the artists on a program that automates the creation of crochet patterns for surfaces of revolution. The program intakes a positive differentiable function, x-bounds, a scale, and row and stitch gauges; from these, it outputs a pattern to crochet the associated surface of revolution. The program uses arclength integrals to create landmarks for row placement. A variant of the Hausdorff metric and modulus calculations are used to place increases and decreases within the rows. Details about this program can be found in our Bridges papers this year.