Honors College to Host Lecture by Mathematician, Artist and Author Edmund Harriss

Edmund Harriss and Silvianna Amethyst, Barth Sextic, 2020. Photo: Edmund Harriss.

Angela Carpenter, Edmund Harriss and Carl Smith, Walnut Grove, 2016. Photo: Tim Hursley.

Edmund Harriss, Curvahedra, 2019. Photo: Russell Cothren.

Russell Cothren

Edmund Harriss will explore the connections between art and math in his lecture.

Mathematically inspired art shows up around the world, from symmetrical patterns in Fijian tapa cloths to "frieze group" patterns found in Icelandic knitting to sunstones used by Vikings for navigation.

Edmund Harriss, an artist and assistant clinical professor of mathematics in the Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences, will explore these connections in his Honors College Mic lecture, "Perceiving Mathematics and Art," which will be offered via Zoom at 5:15 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 28. If you are interested, please fill out this online form to gain access to the lecture.

From a young age, Harriss has been fascinated by the sweet spot where mathematical systems and artistic tools align to impact our perception of what's in front of us.

"They do it in different ways. Art tends to abstract away from what we're seeing, to get to the emotional content," Harriss said. "Mathematics visualizations must communicate mathematical ideas. That's the heart of it, and it requires both mathematicians and artists to be a little uncomfortable." 

Harriss' own work ranges widely, from "curvahedra" sculptures where the Gauss-Bonnet theorem is applied to flat pieces to shape sinuous spheres, to a luminous landscape art installation at a historic walnut grove in Fayetteville. The latter project, designed and built in collaboration with Carl Smith, an associate professor of landscape architecture, and Angela Carpenter, fabrication labs manager — both in the Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design — is typical of Harriss' interdisciplinary approach.

He has also partnered with Alex Bellos, an acclaimed science writer and columnist for The Guardian newspaper, to produce two coloring books of dizzyingly beautiful geometric patterns. Next up, he will publish a children's book, Hello Numbers! What Can You Do?, coauthored with Houston Hughes and illustrated by New York Times artist Brian Rea.

Last fall Harriss participated in Illustrating Mathematics, a semester-long symposium on mathematics and art hosted by the Institute for Computational and Experimental Research in Mathematics at Brown University. There, he worked with mathematicians and artists exploring the connections between math and art in new media. His talk will move through this work and the powerful tools artists are using to transform mathematical ideas into reality, from videos to robot manufacturing. His talk will conclude by addressing the importance of these collaborations.

"Together mathematics and art provide a powerful lens that can reveal the present and potential of the world we live in," he said.

The Honors College Mic lecture series showcases top faculty on campus with expertise on fascinating topics. Overall, these lectures foster intellectual conversation at the University of Arkansas through shared dialog between lecturer and student, faculty and staff, and the wider populace.