Kerry Mitchell
“Mom”
Photographic print from digital file, 11" x 14", 2007.
"Mom" is based on a 40-year-old portrait photograph of my mother. It was rendered using three space-filling curves. Each curve is based on recursively dividing a square into a 5 x 5 grid of sub-squares, similar to the Hilbert curve. The widths of the line segments comprising approximations to the fractal curve were varied according to the grayscale level of the photograph. Finally, three such layers were combined, resulting in islands showing the structure of the underlying curves, and discrete points, suggesting the foundational square grid.
Kerry Mitchell, Institutional Research Analyst, Phoenix College
"My work is composed primarily of computer generated, mathematically-inspired, abstract images. I draw from the areas of geometry, fractals and numerical analysis, and combine them with image processing technology. The resulting images powerfully reflect the beauty of mathematics that is often obscured by dry formulae and analyses. An overriding theme that encompasses all of my work is the wondrous beauty and complexity that flows from a few, relatively simple, rules. Inherent in this process are feedback and connectivity; these are the elements that generate the patterns. They also demonstrate to me that mathematics is, in many cases, a metaphor for the beauty and complexity in life. This is what I try to capture."
Another work by the artist
“Dad”
Photographic print from digital file, 11" x 14", 2007.
"Dad" is based on a 40-year-old portrait photograph of my father. It was rendered using three space-filling curves. Each curve is based on recursively dividing a square into a 3 x 3 grid of sub-squares, similar to the Hilbert curve. The widths of the line segments comprising approximations to the fractal curve were varied according to the grayscale level of the photograph. Finally, three such layers were combined, resulting in islands showing the structure of the underlying curves, and discrete points, suggesting the foundational square grid.