BREATHING MATHEMATICS
Is what I really want to make
something fundamental
that joins life to form
To make the known
we think we know
release the not-known
transforming us sublime
at the glimpsed Infinite
Willow Winston 2014
Throughout my life I have searched for beauty and its causes. How does harmony differ from discord? Do they both contribute to beauty?
Beauty seems to resonate with Life itself; it makes us more fully alive whether the cause is from tragedy or laughter. In looking to the sky, the possibly infinite universe, its beauty balances out fear of its impossible depths. To see Saturn on the other side of the Solar System with the naked eye, as was possible during the latter months of 2020, is to be transfixed by the beauty of that planet and the idea of its being. Seeing that minute, perfect circle of pale pink light in the darkness confirms we belong here with it. We connect in the pattern of mutual existence.
The wish to create and share experiences which transform us, relayed through the profound activity of art, has been at the heart of my life’s work.
Mathematics, sitting at the fulcrum of science and art, through both of which we search to understand what the Universe is and our place in it, is a major element in my sculpture. It gives people the chance to experience the surprising beauty and emotional power of mathematical concept in material form.
What in our brain and body resonates with such images? Is there an ‘aesthetics detector’, a cluster of synapses, activated by specific forms? Are these archetypes?
Fifteen years ago I discovered how to construct all five of Plato’s Perfect Solids as virtual sculptures in books. Metallic thread is attached to reflective pages so the 3-D geometric figures unfurl from the crushed mesh as the pages open. Their crystalline forms hang tantalisingly between reality and illusion, between existence and non-existence, close to Plato’s ideal.
I continue to look for the unknown in those ancient forms. They are a constant source of wonder. My sculptures include a series of ‘dissections’ of the cube. Examining the polished interior of a brass tetrahedron I had fabricated to fit precisely into a hinged, opening cube, I was rewarded with the beautiful surprise of an icosahedron reflected in its corner. The most complex of the Platonic Solids lives its secret virtual life inside the most simple of the Solids. I call it Higgs Boson. When we think we are close to the ultimate particle, it splits and more complexity is revealed. Its life in mirrors also suggests creation coming from other, less easily described dimensions than our familiar coordinates. The possibility of higher dimensions is a tantalising concept.
Science – informative – frees up thought through acquiring information. Art – transformative – frees up thought by opening imagination. Unfamiliar practices which cross between these great endeavours can open minds to unexpected insights.
Willow Winston 2020
Is what I really want to make
something fundamental
that joins life to form
To make the known
we think we know
release the not-known
transforming us sublime
at the glimpsed Infinite
Willow Winston 2014
Throughout my life I have searched for beauty and its causes. How does harmony differ from discord? Do they both contribute to beauty?
Beauty seems to resonate with Life itself; it makes us more fully alive whether the cause is from tragedy or laughter. In looking to the sky, the possibly infinite universe, its beauty balances out fear of its impossible depths. To see Saturn on the other side of the Solar System with the naked eye, as was possible during the latter months of 2020, is to be transfixed by the beauty of that planet and the idea of its being. Seeing that minute, perfect circle of pale pink light in the darkness confirms we belong here with it. We connect in the pattern of mutual existence.
The wish to create and share experiences which transform us, relayed through the profound activity of art, has been at the heart of my life’s work.
Mathematics, sitting at the fulcrum of science and art, through both of which we search to understand what the Universe is and our place in it, is a major element in my sculpture. It gives people the chance to experience the surprising beauty and emotional power of mathematical concept in material form.
What in our brain and body resonates with such images? Is there an ‘aesthetics detector’, a cluster of synapses, activated by specific forms? Are these archetypes?
Fifteen years ago I discovered how to construct all five of Plato’s Perfect Solids as virtual sculptures in books. Metallic thread is attached to reflective pages so the 3-D geometric figures unfurl from the crushed mesh as the pages open. Their crystalline forms hang tantalisingly between reality and illusion, between existence and non-existence, close to Plato’s ideal.
I continue to look for the unknown in those ancient forms. They are a constant source of wonder. My sculptures include a series of ‘dissections’ of the cube. Examining the polished interior of a brass tetrahedron I had fabricated to fit precisely into a hinged, opening cube, I was rewarded with the beautiful surprise of an icosahedron reflected in its corner. The most complex of the Platonic Solids lives its secret virtual life inside the most simple of the Solids. I call it Higgs Boson. When we think we are close to the ultimate particle, it splits and more complexity is revealed. Its life in mirrors also suggests creation coming from other, less easily described dimensions than our familiar coordinates. The possibility of higher dimensions is a tantalising concept.
Science – informative – frees up thought through acquiring information. Art – transformative – frees up thought by opening imagination. Unfamiliar practices which cross between these great endeavours can open minds to unexpected insights.
Willow Winston 2020