You are invited to the next Interdisciplinary Speaker Series talk this coming Monday, October 28 at 4:00pm in Gannett G115 (in the Department of Art, Art History, and Architecture). This goal of this series is to make academic connections between departments and showcase how different areas of study available on campus can interact. Prof. Megan Martinez from the Mathematics Department will be talking about her work in MATH + ART: Symmetries in the Embroidery Art of Sashiko.
The practice of sashiko embroidery originates in Japan and can trace its origins as far back as the 17th Century. The practice, which began as a way to mend damaged fabric, has evolved into an art form creating beautiful, geometric embroidery designs spanning the surface of a fabric. Particular types of sashiko stitches (classified in the “hitomezashi” style of sashiko), can be encoded with binary strings and their resulting symmetries can be determined just by looking at the binary strings involved in the pattern!
In this talk, we will learn about the history of sashiko, work to understand its mathematical connections, and design some of our own hitomezashi designs that exhibit beautiful symmetries.