"Hyperbolic Aquarium - an experiment in non-Euclidean crochet "

Fiber art soft sculpture, 20" x 20" x 12", 2009.

This is an installation piece consisting of fifteen "sea-creature" soft sculptures based on non-Euclidean geometry. The materials used were natural and synthetic fibers. The pieces were constructed using simple crochet stitches which were increased (or decreased) at a rate to create exponential growth. The effect is simultaneously organic and geometric. The creatures represent several forms including: Hyperbolic surfaces (negative curvature), modified pseudospheres, spiraling corkscrews, and modified catenoids.

Mickey Shaw, Freelance artist
LeRoy, Kansas

"These soft sculptures were constructed from fibers crocheted in such a way as to grow exponentially, creating 3-D variations of non-Euclidean geometry. My inspiration is a marriage of the natural organic world and geometric forms. In combining what is traditionally viewed as hard-edged, rigid shapes with the colors, textures and fluid nature of fiber, a visual and mental juxtaposition is created. My goal, as artist, is to create for the viewer, visually, the concept that art and mathematics display a fundamental connection, a visual window to the idea that both encompass more than what is seen. Art is an aspect of almost every visual experience, and mathematics provides a basis for understanding and creating those same visual experiences. "