Bridges 2024 Exhibition of Mathematical Art, Craft, and Design

Laurel Shastri

Artists

Laurel Shastri

Teaching Artist, Dancer

Scotts Valley, California, USA

laurelshastri@yahoo.com

Statement

We met over star polygons. You* were leading an action-packed workshop integrating math and dance. We had created rhythms using the consonants and vowels of our names, played our names as polyrhythms with a partner, transformed rhythms into whole body movement, and now you were showing how different polyrhythms (patterns of sound) could graphically be represented as stars with different numbers of points. As a teaching artist myself integrating dance and science, I was familiar with movement and patterns, but you blew my mind with the exquisite connection between complex rhythms and star polygons. That might have been the end of it, but it wasn't. And now here we are… looking at pretty buttons. *Karl Schaffer

Artworks

Image for entry 'The Story of How We Met, and Look! Pretty Buttons!'

The Story of How We Met, and Look! Pretty Buttons!

45.0 x 45.0 cm

Thread, rings, fabric

2024

This is a galaxy of thread ring buttons arranged in a spiral with traditional buttons at the center. Buttons are loosely grouped by number of spokes that increase moving outward along the spiral. Each button plays with variations and combinations of star polygons. This artwork celebrates the beautiful patterns found in shirtlace buttons, which are made by wrapping thread around a ring (first in spokes then in segments around the spokes) and covering any gaps on the ring with blanket stitches. The seven traditional buttons, one of which is a Dorset button, gave me the techniques necessary to explore the possibilities. The rest are discoveries of color, design, pattern and curiosity. Encapsulated within each button is the story of how we met.