When Dr. Carolyn Yackel isn’t teaching mathematics, she’s often using math concepts to create art for exhibitions and conferences around the world. She’s been a Mercer University professor since 2001, around the same time she started exploring her interest in mathematical art.
“I made up the term mathematical fiber arts,” she said. And she admits that when she talks to people about her passion, she doesn’t expect them to deeply understand all the math. “I think as a mathematician, I tend to think about things mathematically but not always in equations.”
Mathematical art involves “knowing a mathematical concept and using that to inform art or having an artistic concept and using mathematics to inform that art,” Dr. Yackel said.
One Japanese art form she explores mathematically is called itajime shibori, a type of dye process involving mirror patterns.
“In 2021, I won the Journal of Mathematics and the Arts Outstanding Paper Award for my paper ‘Wallpaper Patterns Admissible in Itajime Shibori,’” she said. “I never thought I would win an award like that! What makes the award even better is that it’s not given every year. It’s only given when the award committee thinks that the award is warranted.”
Another Japanese art form she embraces uses math elements to create intricate patterns for needlework pieces called temari balls, a form of folk art that originated in Japan.
In 2021, after a year and a half working on a large-scale, group art installation project out of Duke University, Dr. Yackel and the 24-member team launched “Mathemalchemy.” “Mathemalchemy” was the brainchild of fiber artist Dominique Ehrmann and mathematician and physicist Dr. Ingrid Daubechies, who invited Dr. Yackel to join the project.
The 3D art installation is 20-feet long by 10-feet wide and features visual depictions including a lighthouse, books, flowers, the sea, the silhouette of three people, and Dr. Yackel’s two temari ball arches.
With the help of two other people, Dr. Yackel created 120 temari balls that vary in size, color and pattern. The smaller arch contains 20 visible spheres and uses the mathematical concept of a convergent sequence: the successively smaller diameters add up to a finite total length. The larger arch is a divergent sequence, which has no limit, and flows into the sea to represent that it will keep going on, reaching infinitely far.
Since premiering at Duke in 2021, “Mathemalchemy” has been touring North America including stops at the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, D.C.; 808 Gallery in Boston; and the Beaty Biodiversity Museum at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. It is currently featured at the National Museum of Mathematics in New York City, and it will open at the University of Quebec in Montreal in November.
The real-world applications of mathematical art are endless. For example, Dr. Yackel and a collaborator from James Madison University have developed an online symmetry generator.
“We made this because my collaborator has this knitting machine, and she wanted to make knitting patterns for her knitting machine.”
In addition to mathematical fiber art, a topic on which Dr. Yackel has edited three books, her artwork also includes knitting, crocheting, digital art and laser cutting. She is also preparing to launch a journal about the topic, titled Interlace, in 2026.
In the classroom, Dr. Yackel says her experiences creating and researching mathematical art often shape how she encourages her students to build their own creativity.
“I’ve started to talk a lot more intentionally in my classes about creativity,” she said. “So many people just don’t believe math to be creative, which isn’t true.”
Dr. Yackel also participates in service work where she says she strives to make sure there are places for people to publish, and she encourages young people who are interested in the field. She says she struggles with calling herself an artist.
“I think it’s super scary to say that I’m an artist. I have a degree in math, so I get to say I’m a mathematician,” she said. “Art is hard, and math is hard, and putting them together is hard, because you have to understand the math and the art both really well, in order to see them together.”
