"Chaos Lines"

Ink on paper, 24” x 24”, 2009.

Chaos Theory shows that even within apparent disorder there can often be found both order and structure. This drawing begins with 8 spokes drawn on the Cartesian Co-ordinate System. The line segments fall on the x-axis and y-axis and the y=x and y=-x lines. Each spoke becomes the starting point for a new 8-spoke shape but the line segments are half as long as the original spokes. This process continues through four iterations, creating a circular fractal network of lines. I use differently sized stencils, each with a small margin of error. The errors accumulate, creating cloud-like, chaos-derived drawings.

"Chaos White-out"

Ink on paper, 24” x 24”, 2009 .




The starting point for this drawing is a Chaos Line drawing, but I only perform three of the four iterations executed for Chaos Line. This leaves an interesting pattern of negative space that I filled in with white ink, making the actual lines fade into the background. This provides another way to see structure and pattern in what at first appears to be chaotic.

Susan Happersett, Artist


Jersey City, NJ

As an artist, my goal is to express the beauty and grace I find in Mathematics. Through my drawings I hope to uncover the intrinsic aesthetic elements of mathematical sequences, functions, symmetries and proportions in a way that is accessible to anyone regardless of their mathematical knowledge. I use an algorithmic process to generate my drawings. All decisions for each work are made before I begin to draw. These drawings are meant to illuminate the aesthetics of both the specific mathematical subject matter as well as the algorithmic process. In my Chaos Drawings, I visually interpret the phenomenon of Chaos Theory, illustrating that within apparent disorder there can be found both order and structure. Each drawing begins with an 8-spoke pattern and continues with multiple iterations in decreasing scale using stencils with small margins of error. This creates cloud-like images; only after close study you see the underlying patterns.