It’s fun simply to look at the images in the SymmetryScapes exhibition, now on view in the 4th floor of Malott Hall. It’s even more fun to know about the mathematics that allows us to create images like these. The kernel of the idea is as simple as a sine wave, but the story touches on such far-flung topics as group theory and partial differential equations. Building from scratch, I’ll take you through my technique of turning photographs into mathematical art.

Frank Farris has served as editor of Mathematics Magazine and as the MAA Chair of the Council on Publications and Communications. His book, Creating Symmetry: The Artful Mathematics of Wallpaper Patterns, was published by Princeton University Press in 2015. The book describes his new artistic process for creating art from source photographs. In this work, photographs are manipulated using mathematical formulas called complex wave functions, to produce patterns that reference the original in unexpected ways. The resulting art is a surprising blend of mathematical rhythms with organic textures and colors. Farris has taught mathematics at Santa Clara University since 1984. His undergraduate degree is from Pomona College (1977) and his Ph.D. from MIT (1981).