** PLEASE CIRCULATE ** ALL WELCOME **



** SORRY FOLKS FOR INCORRECT DATE IN PREVIOUS MESSAGE!! IT IS 10TH MARCH **



SOME MATHEMATICS WITHIN? WHAT ACTUALLY GOES ON IN SOME

TRADITIONAL TEXTILES CRAFTS?

An LKL Maths-Art seminar by Mary Harris

Thursday 10 March 2011, 6.00 - 7.30pm



Mary Harris has been an influential researcher on mathematical thinking

and domestic textile crafts over many decades. In the 1980s, she

developed the hugely successful exhibition COMMON THREADS which toured

the UK for two years, and was re-developed as a touring exhibition for

the British Council, which visited 23 countries between 1991 and 1994.

(A summary of this experience was published in the 1997 book, "Common

Threads: Women, mathematics and work".)



This seminar returns to the original questions which inspired Common

Threads. Most of us wear clothes most of the time and they and the

fabrics they are made of are mostly made by women, either at home or in

factories. Whilst researching women's work with textiles during the

1980s I found myself discovering undeniable mathematical thought going

on in the very medium often taken as the mark of "brainless femininity".

So I have spent a lot of time since then studying the kinds of

mathematical thought which are involved in domestic work with textiles.

In the Common Threads exhibition, low-status domestic textiles were

labelled in the high-status language of mathematics. By co-incidence

this happened just at a time when the relative failure in school

mathematics of girls and some ethnic minority children had been

recognised as a serious problem. 



I will begin the seminar with an incident which provoked me into taking

a closer look at what actually goes on when weaving a kilim rug. I will

then look at some knitted garments and how they were made. Current

commercial instructions for hand-knitting, confusingly called

"patterns", tend to be line by line physical descriptions of what a

knitter does. This does not always reflect what a knitter actually

thinks and such "patterns" often end up looking like uninviting sheets

of algebra. I argue that there must be a better way, and invite you to

find a general way of writing instructions for making a tam o' shanter. 



To enjoy this session there is absolutely no need whatsoever to be able

to knit! 





DATE: Thursday 10th March

TIME: 6.00 to 7.30pm

PLACE: London Knowledge Lab, 23-29 Emerald St, London, WC1N 3QS

[Travel information & maps at: http://bit.ly/LKL-MathsArt-venue ]



FUTURE SEMINARS: April 14, Nick Sayers; May 12, Daniel White; 

June 9, special origami/maths-art meeting co-organised with the 

British Origami Society.



LKL Maths-Art seminars are free to attend, and All are welcome. No

reservation is required, but an email to [log in to unmask] is

appreciated for planning purposes





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Dr Phillip Kent, Visiting Fellow, London Knowledge Lab

[log in to unmask]   [log in to unmask]

www.phillipkent.net    m: 07950 952034

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