Bead Art at the Joint Mathematics Meetings 2012

I just got back from Boston, MA, where I gave a talk on "Using Tiling Theory to Generate Weaving Patterns with Beads (PDF)" at the Joint Mathematics Meetings.  This image shows the basic idea of what I presented. 

I also showed five of my beaded star weaves bracelets in the Mathematical Art Exhibit which I designed using the ideas I presented.  Here I am posing with my bracelets and the handout I distributed at the meeting. 

You might recognize some of these beaded bracelets.  From left to right, they are Kepler's Star, Archimedes Star, David's Star, Night Sky and Snow Star. You can see my beads at 0:57 in this short video about the exhibit narrated by Robert Fathauer, a regular curator of mathematical art.

Someday soon, I'll finish a complete paper explaining all of the details of my talk, with my coauthor Blake Mellor.  Blake and I met at the meeting to review our paper together (version 14), and after years of writing, we are getting close to being done and submitting it for publication.  (You might remember Blake as the mathematician with whom I wrote about the symmetry of beaded beads. He is a mathematical rock star as far as I'm concerned. If you don't want to buy the journal's version of our paper, you can download a PDF file of the pre-print for free here: beaded beads paper.  The publisher's version has undergone peer review and revision by the editors at the Journal of Mathematics and the Arts.  The writers and editors of JMA are many of the same people who spoke gave talks on mathematical art, and showed their work in the mathematical art exhibit.)  Here you can see me with about half of the exhibit.  

 

I am happy to report that the JMM mathematical art exhibit has been getting noticeably larger every year as more people hear about it, and the organizers of the meetings provide more space to show all of the entries.  This year, there were over 80 artists showing their work, but only three sets by beaders.  In addition to me, the folks over at The Beaded Molecules showed three pieces.  You can see me standing right next to their giant beaded beads above.  Susan Goldstine and Ellie Baker also had a nice set of bead crocheted bracelets, and Ellie let me take a picture of her next to them below.  

Susan gave a slick and elegant talk on how they designed their bead crochet patterns right before I spoke.  It was nice that they scheduled the talks of beading together.  In general, the JMM are amazingly well organized.  Mathematicians are good like that.

Here's a little history of JMM and bead art (and me):  Last year (January 2011) my Ionic Beaded Beads were the only bead art in the exhibit, and the year before (2010) I didn't exhibit, so I got the task of writing an article about it for JMA instead.   The only beads in 2010 were bead crochet bracelets, by you guessed it, Susan Goldstine and Ellie Baker and this time joined by Sophie Sommer.  In 2009, there were no beads, and in 2008, Laura Shea showed a few pieces with triangle weave.  Laura also showed triangle weave and beaded polyhedra in 2007.  In 2006, I showed a selection of symmetric beaded beads, and they were the only beads in the exhibit. Blake and I also presented a talk on our associated paper that I mentioned above.

The first art exhibit at JMM that I participated was in 2005.  There were only 21 artists that year and nobody submitted any beads, including me.  I hadn't started beading yet, but I did paint, and my piece was gouache and ink on paper, called Symmetry 1.  Maybe you can see that what I was doing then with ink and paint is similar to what I'm doing now with beaded angle weave designs.  I believe the art exhibit started in 2004, but that year's exhibit is not posted on line.  As far as I know, there were no beads in the exhibit or contributed paper sessions before mine in 2006.

Here is a link to the complete list of related mathematical art exhibits organized within Bridges and the JMM, just in case you'd like to sit here a while an appreciate more mathematical art.  I know you'll find more of Laura Shea's bead work in the Bridges' conference exhibits there every year from 2006 to 2010, and perhaps a few other pieces of bead work if you search for it.  They've got the eye-and-brain candy if you have the time.  Go make a cup of tea.  Stay a while.