Artists
Bruce Torrence
Professor Emeritus of Mathematics
Randolph-Macon College
Ashland, Virginia, USA
Statement
As someone with a passion for the visual arts, I've long been fascinated by the ways humans process and interpret visual information. As a mathematician, I relish the joy and satisfaction that come from solving a difficult problem and understanding its underlying ideas. I strive in my own work to present viewers with patterns and symmetry, to convey a sense of wonder in its intricacy and scale, and to challenge viewers to make sense of what they see.
Artworks
Calendar in Twelve Cross-Sections
122.0 x 92.0 cm
Digital Print
2025
This collection shows 558 distinct "A-Puzzle-A-Day" configurations for the 8-piece polyomino puzzle. Pairs of configurations are joined by an edge if they can be transformed from one to the other by reconfiguring just two units (individual pieces or fixed assemblages of adjacent pieces). Each of the 12 clusters represents a month. There is a configuration for every day of that month, and a path from each to a common configuration in the center. All paths have been proved to be the shortest possible for their date, and the longest path has length five. Hence this work serves as a constructive proof, a roadmap showing how to move between configurations for any pair of calendar dates by manipulating just two pieces or assemblages at a time.