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Showing posts from May, 2017

Botanica Mathematica goes back to its roots!

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Knitted wall hanging of D'Arcy Thompson Exciting news! The Botanica Mathematica project is heading to Dundee for the whole of June as part of the centenary celebrations of D'Arcy Thompson's On Growth and Form . The newly classified collection of Binary Bonsai be on display in the most appropriate setting imaginable. Thompson wrote On Growth and Form in 1917, inspiring the field of mathematical biology and a host of artists later in the 20th century.  His collection of zoological specimens in housed in the University of Dundee along side a permanent collection of related artwork. Julia Collins and I started working on Botanica Mathematica in 2013 with Thompson's ideas in mind.  We wanted to explore simple, mathematical rules that would generate botanical forms using textile craft processes. We came up with a few ideas, some based on the way early computer graphics simulated plant growth. Binary Bonsai, L-system Fibonacci Flowers, Hyperbolic Kelp and Chanterell