Harriet Evans Artist Talk

Harriet Evans Artist Talk at Artspace

Hear from the Artist behind the From Flower to Form Exhibition.

Art is hard to define, but three words characterize the work that I most admire: ORDER FROM CHAOS. I believe that art can be beautiful, sensitive, lyrical, and strong. It can also have a message.
For many years I taught calculus and geometry and made paintings. I made large floral still lifes in a loose, painterly, realistic and somewhat dramatic format using both oils and acrylics. Later I did watercolors- smaller and more detailed. I was also immersed in a project I designed relating math to the fine arts and humanities. I called it “A Mathematical Magic Show”. This began as a school event and became a geometry exhibit for science museums, renamed “Spaceshapes” My motivation for the project was to show that math and art have a rich history together in a culture where the two disciplines are rarely mentioned in the same breath. I was further inspired by a meeting of artist-mathematicians from all over the world, which I attended at the State University of New York at Albany in 1995.
Several years ago it occurred to me that I could convey a lot of math through paintings and geometric structures. I am interested in conveying the essence of the elegant and less familiar geometries as a motivational device. This involves intense research on the topics I want to illustrate and has required inventing and mastering new techniques. My work is currently focused on this project, which I find immensely challenging, satisfying and enjoyable.

Harriet Stone Evans