Silhouettes

Silhouettes & Vortices

Fabrication

Designing the Silhouettes

The Silhouettes were drawn by Dominique Ehrmann. The Little Girl and Teenager underwent some minor variations until their outline was fixed, but the Adult changed quite a bit – maybe because Dominique’s perception of mathematicians changed as the project progressed?

First maquette presented at the JMM 2019 — Compare first maquette (left) and final maquette (right) to see the evolution of the adult Silhouette

Compare first maquette (left) and final maquette (right) to see the evolution of the adult Silhouette

Silhouettes Fabrication

Once their design was finalized, they were vectorized in great detail by Ingrid Daubechies; these digitizations were then used by Edmund Harriss to mill the shapes out of plywood with a CNC machine. During the construction phase they were given several coats of black paint.

Silhouettes’ Structural Role

Each of the three silhouettes also plays a structural role: the pole holding up the Teenager and the Little Girl herself provide attachment support for the Vortex Sheet, and the Adult is an anchor for the Cavalcade attachment. This structural side was designed and fabricated by Dominique and Stephan LaCourse.

The Vortex visualization is made from two fine mesh (squares with 1” sides) metal fence layers, cut to shape, with steel wool added at the edges. They were designed by Dominique and fabricated by Stephan.