Math and Art

I must make a public confession. My students know this about me, but even those of you who think you know me well may not realize this. I have a PASSION about math and art. My students see me reading math biographies, or "God created the Integer" or "Sacred Geometry" and realize that I'm VERY serious about my math. I have also lately focused on work by and about Calder - we saw his work at the Smithsonian in D.C., and I was absolutely fascinated by it. I was hoping to someday go back without very small children and just sit still and watch them move. My girl scouts will tell you that Jasper Johns 0 through 9 is one of my favorite artworks (hmmm art and numbers- can't go wrong) and we walked through the special exhibit about him and the endless ways he worked the same piece of art (the girls even drew their own version on the ride home). In my mind DaVinci was probably one of the most brilliant people ever on earth.

Somehow recently I came across a website about Dutch artist/engineer Theo Jansen, and I am hooked. He creates the amazing kinetic sculptures that walk, and he wants to build herds of them to walk on the beach - out there, but SO COOL to watch move. The perfect combination of math and art. I must admit though that some of his artwork unnerves me in how they move - so very regimented and sort of crablike. Check him out: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=896557073146925329&q=&hl=en
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Therapy was today, I forgot my camera so I'll try to upload the video of her walking from last week or so. I love this new brace. It has really evened out her gait.

A family (you've probably seen them and their daughter Jesse on the news channels) has recently come forward with their daughter's story. She will have surgery like Blondie's in June. They have generously started a scholarship for kids like mine who are entering college (yes, they go to college). If you are interested in contributing to the fund please let me know and I'll hook you up with them - a really great family. ALSO, just passing on this tidbit from my yahoo group, one of the young women like Blondie just made the Dean's list at her college, and generally carries a 3.25 in her Speech Language Pathology major. See - we can do that too.