Bridges 2026 Exhibition of Mathematical Art, Craft, and Design

Lucy Birkinshaw

Artists

Statement

I am an artist/ex-scientist working in many media and scales. I have produced large bespoke wallpaper installations in collaboration with the University of Gloucestershire in the UK (funded by Arts Council England) and have exhibited at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition in London. I have a long-term love of print, and a more recent beginnings of a beading addiction.

Artworks

Image for entry 'Crunching Curvature'

Crunching Curvature

22.0 x 83.0 cm

Archival Ink on board

2026

I have been making some approximations of hyperbolic planes using glass beads, but noticed that the increases I need to make often cluster in very awkward patterns. Rather than just be jealous of people working in more flexible crochet, I began drawing out these patterns using ink on a flat surface. I use a cell to represent a bead, and a rose-thorn shape to show where the increases are. Here you can see the resulting 'stitch diagrams' for an increase every 2,3,4,5 and 6 beads. The visual characteristics of these ink drawings are now interesting in their own right as well as being a useful tool to investigate the properties of these surfaces, and to aid the design of future beaded works.