Mathematician to give talk on geometry and the arts

A visiting mathematics professor will explore the role of geometry in the development and aesthetics of the visual arts during a talk at the University of Alaska Fairbanks on July 10.

Asia Ivić Weiss is a professor of mathematics at York University in Toronto, Canada.  

Weiss’s talk, which begins at 7 p.m.  in Murie Building Room 104, will highlight the interaction of mathematics and art through symmetry. The talk will demonstrate that geometry has inspired artists from the early times of antiquity, how it continued to inspire throughout the Renaissance and that it continues to be significantly influential in our present day. It will also explore lessons mathematicians have learned from the visual arts. 

Weiss says that mathematicians use geometry to study the structure of certain mathematical objects, while artists use the pleasing effects of proportion, shape and pattern to produce their art. 

“The word 'geometry' evokes the concepts of points, circles, triangles and solids like spheres and polyhedra. And yet, geometry is so much more than that!” she said.

The event is hosted by the UAF Department of Mathematics, which is part of the UAF College of Natural Science and Mathematics. Admission is free, as is parking after 5 p.m.

Gordon Williams, a mathematics professor who is also the event organizer, said, “As long as people have been doing math and art, artists have been using ideas developed by mathematicians, and mathematicians have been inspired by what they see in art.”

“I’m very excited to give the Fairbanks arts and sciences community a chance to meet and hear Dr. Asia Ivić Weiss discuss her own experiences at the fertile playground where visual arts and mathematics meet,” Williams said.

ADDITIONAL CONTACT: Gordon Williams, giwilliams@alaska.edu, 907-474-5433.

ON THE WEB: https://sigmap.community.uaf.edu/public-lecture/

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