2024 Joint Mathematics Meetings

Gabriele Meyer

Artists

Gabriele Meyer

Senior Lecturer Emerita

University of Wisconsin, Madison

Madison, Wisconsin, USA

gemeyer60@gmail.com

https://people.math.wisc.edu/~gemeyer/

Statement

I love sea shells and admire their varied forms and patterns. They were an inspiration to both my hyperbolic crochet and my linoleum prints. As a youth I realized that the lines, patterns and shapes can be explained mathematically, which provided an impetus to go into this field, since it provided a stable income. Now that I am retired, I can devote my time to depict shells and make hyperbolic crochet surfaces, which I love doing. In both areas I emphasize the mathematical aspects such as the patterns on shells and their shapes, also the play of light and shadows on them.

Artworks

Image for entry 'smooth curves and fractal lines'

smooth curves and fractal lines

61.0 x 46.0 cm

linoleum print

2023

This print shows a murex ramosus, the snail that the ancients used to make the color purple, and a fig snail. The murex’ opening looks like a fractal line, very curvy, and these curves repeat two more times as you turn the snail around its central axis. As a contrast, the fig snail is characterized by smooth curves spiraling around the snail’s axis. There are other lines that appear to be parallel to the central axis. Depending on the location on the snail one set of lnes appears more pronounced than the other. This is a very delicate snail and actually much smaller than the murex. But I wanted to emphasize the contrast of the lines.
Image for entry 'noble volute, whelk and scallop'

noble volute, whelk and scallop

61.0 x 46.0 cm

linoleum print

2023

The noble volute has a pattern that is created by biology’s version of a Rule 30 cellular automaton (Wolfram 1983), displaying aperiodic chaotic behavior. The whelk shows a lovely pattern on its spiral form also and the clam embodies a central dilation.