Susan McBurney
“Ellipse Lace”
Computer-generated graphic art; digital print, 14” x 14”, 2005 .
This complex and intricate design is created very simply from just one element—the ellipse. The width and height are varied and the sets are rotated, but the result is not at all what one might expect. In particular, the interior circles are generated entirely by the interaction of the parts. There are no circles drawn at all and the complexity of the design is entirely natural and unpredicted.
Susan McBurney, Western Springs, IL
"It is my intention to use the computer as a tool to generate designs that are not only aesthetically pleasing, but that also reveal the order, structure and beauty inherent in mathematical objects. Additionally, if an attractive design can be made from the simplest of elements, then the generating process itself becomes an object of beauty as well. Complexity from a simple beginning via an elemental algorithm is a common, fascinating and universal process."
smcburne@iit.edu