Elizabeth Whiteley (born 1945) is an American fine artist and designer.

Early life and education

Whiteley was born in

Erie, Pennsylvania Erie (; ) is a city on the south shore of Lake Erie and the county seat of Erie County, Pennsylvania, United States. Erie is the fifth largest city in Pennsylvania and the largest city in Northwestern Pennsylvania with a population of 94,831 a ...

, US, in 1945. Whiteley earned a B.A. degree from

Carnegie Mellon University Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. One of its predecessors was established in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical Schools; it became the Carnegie Institute of Technology ...

(CMU), and a M.S. in

library science Library science (often termed library studies, bibliothecography, and library economy) is an interdisciplinary or multidisciplinary field that applies the practices, perspectives, and tools of management, information technology, education, and ...

from

Case Western Reserve University Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) is a private research university in Cleveland, Ohio. Case Western Reserve was established in 1967, when Western Reserve University, founded in 1826 and named for its location in the Connecticut Western Reser ...

(CWRU). She received a B.F.A. from the

School of the Art Institute of Chicago The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) is a private art school associated with the Art Institute of Chicago (AIC) in Chicago, Illinois. Tracing its history to an art students' cooperative founded in 1866, which grew into the museum and ...

(SAIC).

Career

Whiteley concentrates on the connections between

mathematics and art Mathematics and art are related in a variety of ways. Mathematics has itself been described as an art motivated by beauty. Mathematics can be discerned in arts such as music, dance, painting, architecture, sculpture, and textiles. This artic ...

, with an emphasis on seeking geometric principles related to rectangles, triangles, and squares. They form the basis for her work with various

genres Genre () is any form or type of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially-agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other for ...

in the

visual arts The visual arts are art forms such as painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics, photography, video, filmmaking, design, crafts and architecture. Many artistic disciplines such as performing arts, conceptual art, and textile arts al ...

. As part of a critic's residency essay,

David Carrier David Carrier (; born 1944) is an American philosopher of art and cultural critic. Education Carrier received a Ph.D. in philosophy from Columbia University, where he was a student of Arthur Danto, in 1972. He was a Getty Scholar (1999–2000), ...

wrote about her work "I understood better how her images were produced by seeing the grid she used to compose. This apparent way of restricting her composition actually gave her the freedom to choose where to set her patterns."

Paintings, drawings, and sculpture

Since 1988, she has used the geometric design elements of

dynamic symmetry Jay Hambidge (1867–1924) was a Canadian-born American artist who formulated the theory of "dynamic symmetry", a system defining compositional rules, which was adopted by several notable American and Canadian artists in the early 20th century. ...

as presented by

Jay Hambidge Jay Hambidge (1867–1924) was a Canadian-born American artist who formulated the theory of "dynamic symmetry", a system defining compositional rules, which was adopted by several notable American and Canadian artists in the early 20th century. ...

, for paintings, works on paper, and sculpture. She also uses the geometric construction of the sacred cut, named by a Danish engineer, Tons Brunes. She is also influenced by the research on the sacred cut done by Kim Williams and by Jay Kappraff. She applies the sacred cut line drawing as subject matter and a compositional structure for her ink drawings and metalpoint drawings. She has been inspired by propositions in Euclid's ''Elements'' when creating sculpture and drawings. An attraction to pattern design led to independent study of the techniques and writings of British designers such as

Lewis Foreman Day Lewis Foreman Day (29 January 1845 – 18 April 1910) was a British decorative artist and industrial designer and an important figure in the Arts and Crafts movement. Biography Day was born at Peckham Rye, south London, on 29 January 1845. Hi ...

. She used his techniques for disguising the generator to create contemporary patterns.

Artist's books

Whiteley has explored various printed and handmade processes for creating

artist's book Artists' books (or book arts or book objects) are works of art that utilize the form of the book. They are often published in small editions, though they are sometimes produced as one-of-a-kind objects. Overview Artists' books have employed a ...

s. She learned about artists' books as works of art utilizing the form of the book when she was a photography student of

Keith A. Smith Keith A. Smith (born 1938 in Tipton, Indiana) is an American artist and author. He has taught at the Visual Studies Workshop, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and the University of Illinois. He is a recipient of two Guggenheim Fellow ...

at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. In 1989, she was the artist's book designer and co-illustrator for a shuffle book, ''Deck of Cards'', by Peter H. Beaman. She oversaw the

offset lithography Offset printing is a common printing technique in which the inked image is transferred (or "offset") from a plate to a rubber blanket and then to the printing surface. When used in combination with the lithographic process, which is based on ...

production of the edition at

Pyramid Atlantic Art Center Pyramid Atlantic Art Center (PAAC) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit contemporary arts center specializing in papermaking, printmaking, and book arts. They are currently located at 4318 Gallatin Street in Hyattsville, Maryland. History The PAAC was ...

, founded by Helen C. Frederick.

Johanna Drucker Johanna Drucker (born May 30, 1952) is an American author, book artist, visual theorist, and cultural critic. Her scholarly writing documents and critiques visual language: letterforms, typography, visual poetry, art, and lately, digital art aest ...

included an analysis of the book in her textbook on artists' books. Whiteley created ''Welcoming Beauty 1'' in 2018. It is composed of hand painted folders containing elaborately folded papers based on the

two-dimensional In mathematics, a plane is a Euclidean (flat), two-dimensional surface that extends indefinitely. A plane is the two-dimensional analogue of a point (zero dimensions), a line (one dimension) and three-dimensional space. Planes can arise as s ...

principles of dynamic symmetry transposed to three-dimensions. As the reader unfolds the papers, Whiteley's original writings about beauty as a spiritual theme are revealed. She expanded the content of ''Welcoming Beauty 1'' and created a digital, or electronic, artist's book. Titled ''Welcoming Beauty 2'', it contains her paintings and writings, as well as drawings based on the sacred cut. The e-book was published in 2019.

Metalpoint drawings

Whiteley uses

silverpoint Silverpoint (one of several types of metalpoint) is a traditional drawing technique first used by medieval scribes on manuscripts. History A silverpoint drawing is made by dragging a silver rod or wire across a surface, often prepared with gesso ...

as a

drawing Drawing is a form of visual art in which an artist uses instruments to mark paper or other two-dimensional surface. Drawing instruments include graphite pencils, pen and ink, various kinds of paints, inked brushes, colored pencils, crayons, ...

medium. The technique was widely used during the

Italian Renaissance The Italian Renaissance ( it, Rinascimento ) was a period in Italian history covering the 15th and 16th centuries. The period is known for the initial development of the broader Renaissance culture that spread across Europe and marked the trans ...

. She became fascinated by drawing with metal while an art student at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Her anatomy teacher, Paula Gerard, was a master of the technique of using a sterling silver

stylus A stylus (plural styli or styluses) is a writing utensil or a small tool for some other form of marking or shaping, for example, in pottery. It can also be a computer accessory that is used to assist in navigating or providing more precision w ...

on a prepared ground. Whiteley draws with silver or gold styluses to represent botanical themes, geometric forms, frieze groups, and the sacred cut. For an essay about her solo exhibition of silverpoint drawing over color washes at the McLean Center for the Arts, curator Nancy Sausser wrote "As an artist, Whiteley shows us her respect for the past, pays homage to it in these works, yet remains firmly rooted in the present as well." Her work with metalpoint drawing over inkjet printed images is discussed in a metalpoint textbook by Susan Schwalb and Tom Mazzullo.

Professional activities

Along with Sheila Rotner and Zinnia, she was a founder and editor of ''EyeWash'', a monthly tabloid of visual arts peer reviews for the Washington DC area. It was published from 1989 to 1993. In addition to editing, she contributed editorial page articles and reviews of exhibits. Issues and administrative records for ''EyeWash'' are available in the

Archives of American Art The Archives of American Art is the largest collection of primary resources documenting the history of the visual arts in the United States. More than 20 million items of original material are housed in the Archives' research centers in Washingt ...

. Whiteley has published articles in professional journals and she has presented talks at conferences on mathematics and art, such as the annual international

Joint Mathematics Meetings The Joint Mathematics Meetings (JMM) is a mathematics conference hosted annually in early January by the American Mathematical Society (AMS). Frequently, several other national mathematics organizations also participate. The meeting is the largest g ...

(JMM). She has presented papers on historical approaches to contemporary pattern design, using basic geometric shapes to create surface patterns, and frieze groups. From 2006 to 2011, she served on the editorial board of the ''

Journal of Mathematics and the Arts The ''Journal of Mathematics and the Arts'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal that deals with relationship between mathematics and the arts. The journal was established in 2007 and is published by Taylor & Francis. The editor-in-chief ...

'' (JMA) and was a peer reviewer. From 2010 to 2011 she served as an associate editor and co-editor for book and exhibition reviews. From 2006 to 2011, she served as an associate editor of ''Hyperseeing'', the journal of the International Society of Art, Mathematics, and Architecture (ISAMA).

Exhibitions

She has shown her artworks in juried and invitational fine art exhibits from regional to international levels. In 1979, she won a museum purchase award from the

Carnegie Museum of Art The Carnegie Museum of Art, is an art museum in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Originally known as the Department of Fine Arts, Carnegie Institute and was at what is now the Main Branch of the Carnegie Library of Pittsbur ...

at the 70th Annual Exhibit of the

Associated Artists of Pittsburgh Associated Artists of Pittsburgh (AAP) is the oldest, and largest nonprofit visual arts membership organization in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States and the oldest continuously exhibiting visual arts organization in America. History Associat ...

. In 1985, she had a solo exhibition of paintings and hand colored

monoprints Monoprinting is a type of printmaking where the intent is to make unique prints, that may explore an image serially. Other methods of printmaking create editioned multiples, the monoprint is editioned as 1 of 1. There are many techniques of mono-pr ...

at the

Pittsburgh Center for the Arts The Pittsburgh Center for the Arts (PCA) is a non-profit community arts campus that offers arts education programs and contemporary art exhibitions in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. It also provides services and resources for artists th ...

as a member of the Associated Artists of Pittsburgh.

The Bridges Organization The Bridges Organization is an organization that was founded in Kansas, United States, in 1998 with the goal of promoting interdisciplinary work in mathematics and art. The Bridges Conference is an annual conference on connections between art and ...

has included Whiteley's mathematical art in juried exhibitions at their international conferences. Her sculptures based on the dynamic symmetry of the square root of two were exhibited in 2006 and

bas-relief Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term ''relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that the ...

sculptures with flexible planar surfaces were exhibited in 2012.

Selected collections

Whiteley's works on paper and metalpoint drawings are in museum collections such as the

, the

Erie Art Museum Erie Art Museum is located in Erie, Pennsylvania. The Museum holds a collection of more than 8,000 objects, with strengths in American art pottery, American ceramics, Tibetan art, Tibetan paintings, Arts and entertainment in India#Sculpture, Indian ...

, and the

Spencer Museum of Art The Spencer Museum of Art is an art museum operated by the University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kansas. Accredited by the American Alliance of Museums, the Spencer Museum seeks to "...present its collection as a living archive that motivates object-c ...

. Her artists' books are located in non-circulating special collections within the libraries of numerous museums. For her handmade artists' books, they include: the

Art Gallery of Ontario The Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO; french: Musée des beaux-arts de l'Ontario) is an art museum in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The museum is located in the Grange Park neighbourhood of downtown Toronto, on Dundas Street West between McCaul and Beve ...

; the

Ryerson & Burnham Libraries The Ryerson & Burnham Libraries are the art and architecture research collection of the Art Institute of Chicago. The libraries cover all periods with extensive holdings in the areas of 18th-, 19th- and 20th-century architecture and 19th-century ...

of the

Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago's Grant Park, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the world. Recognized for its curatorial efforts and popularity among visitors, the museum hosts approximately 1.5 mill ...

(AIC); the

Brooklyn Museum Libraries and Archives The Brooklyn Museum Libraries and Archives holds approximately 300,000 volumes and over 3,000 linear feet of archives related to the history of the museum and its collections. The library collections comprise books, periodicals, auction catalogs, a ...

of the

Brooklyn Museum of Art The Brooklyn Museum is an art museum located in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. At , the museum is New York City's second largest and contains an art collection with around 1.5 million objects. Located near the Prospect Heights, Crown H ...

; the

Clark Art Institute The Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, commonly referred to as the Clark, is an art museum and research institution located in Williamstown, Massachusetts, United States. Its collection consists of European and American paintings, sculp ...

; the

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston The Museum of Fine Arts (often abbreviated as MFA Boston or MFA) is an art museum in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the 20th-largest art museum in the world, measured by public gallery area. It contains 8,161 paintings and more than 450,000 works ...

; the

National Gallery of Art The National Gallery of Art, and its attached Sculpture Garden, is a national art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, located on the National Mall, between 3rd and 9th Streets, at Constitution Avenue NW. Open to the public and free of char ...

, Washington, DC; the

National Museum of Women in the Arts The National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA), located in Washington, D.C., is "the first museum in the world solely dedicated" to championing women through the arts. NMWA was incorporated in 1981 by Wallace and Wilhelmina Holladay. Since openin ...

; and the

Whitney Museum of American Art The Whitney Museum of American Art, known informally as "The Whitney", is an art museum in the Meatpacking District and West Village neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1930 by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney (1875–1942), ...

. For her artist's books created with an offset lithography process, the special collections include: the

Thomas J. Watson Library The Thomas J. Watson Library is the main research library of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and supports the research activities of the museum staff, as well as outside researchers. It is located in the Met's main building, The Met Fifth Avenue. ...

of the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

; the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...

(MoMA); and the

National Art Library The National Art Library (NAL) is a major reference library, situated in the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A), a museum of decorative arts in London. The NAL holds the UK's most comprehensive collection of both books as art and books about art, ...

of the

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...

(V&A). Art schools that have collected her artists' books for the study and research purposes of their students include the

Maryland Institute College of Art The Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) is a private art and design college in Baltimore, Maryland. It was founded in 1826 as the Maryland Institute for the Promotion of the Mechanic Arts, making it one of the oldest art colleges in the U ...

(MICA), the

Rhode Island School of Design The Rhode Island School of Design (RISD , pronounced "Riz-D") is a private art and design school in Providence, Rhode Island. The school was founded as a coeducational institution in 1877 by Helen Adelia Rowe Metcalf, who sought to increase the ...

(RISD), and the

Savannah College of Art and Design Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) is a private nonprofit art school with locations in Savannah, Georgia; Atlanta, Georgia; and Lacoste, France. Founded in 1978 to provide degrees in programs not yet offered in the southeast of the Unit ...

(SCAD).Savannah College of Art and Desig

Savannah, GA.

Selected publications

* Whiteley, E. "Visually Transforming Square Root Rectangles," ''Symmetry: Culture and Science''. vol. 6, no. 3, pp. 535–538 (1995). * Whiteley, E. "Visual Transformation of Square Root Rectangles," ''Symmetry: Culture and Science''. vol. 6, no. 4, pp. 639–640 (1995). * Whiteley, E. "Hyperseeing on a Two-Dimensional Plane," ''Hyperseeing'', the Journal of the International Society of Art, Mathematics, and Architecture, September 2007. * Whiteley, E. "A Process for Generating 2D Paintings and Drawings from Geometric Diagrams," ''Journal of Mathematics and the Arts'', Vol. 2, No. 1, March 2008. * Whiteley, E. "Curved Plane Sculpture: Triangles," Hyperseeing Special Issue on ISAMA(International Society of Art, Mathematics, and Architecture) 2010. ''Proceedings''. Ergun Akleman and Nathaniel Friedman, editors. * Whiteley, E. ''Welcoming Beauty 2'', Spring Light Books, 2019. Apple Books app, Cupertino CA. * Whiteley, E. ''A Loose Leaf Sketchbook''. Sketchbook Project, Volume 15. Brooklyn Art Library. Brooklyn, New York, 2019. * Whiteley, E. "Contemporary Art Inspired by Geometry," ''Journal of Mathematics and the Arts'', v. 14:1-2, pp. 164–166. March–June 2020.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Whiteley, Elizabeth 1945 births Living people People from Erie, Pennsylvania 21st-century American painters 21st-century American women artists American abstract artists Book artists 20th-century American painters 20th-century American women artists American women printmakers School of the Art Institute of Chicago alumni