Kerry Mitchell (born 1961) is an American artist known for his
algorithmic and
fractal art
Fractal art is a form of algorithmic art created by calculating fractal objects and representing the calculation results as still digital images, animations, and Algorithmic composition, media. Fractal art developed from the mid-1980s onwards. ...
, which has been exhibited at the
Nature in Art Museum,
[ The Bridges Conference,][ and the ]Los Angeles Center for Digital Art
The Los Angeles Center for Digital Art (LACDA), established in April 2004, acts as a gallery for the display of digital artworks in Los Angeles, California, United States.
The founder and director of the gallery is Rex Bruce. The first LACDA venue ...
,[ and for his "Fractal Art Manifesto".][
]
Life
Mitchell was born in Iowa
Iowa ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the upper Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west; Wisconsin to the northeast, Ill ...
, United States, in 1961. His parents were LeRoy and Shirley Mitchell. His father was an art teacher and mother was a stay-at-home mother until Mitchell started seventh grade. Mitchell was a Presidential Scholar in 1979 and went on to pursue engineering at and graduated from Purdue University
Purdue University is a Public university#United States, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, United States, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded ...
in aerospace engineering
Aerospace engineering is the primary field of engineering concerned with the development of aircraft and spacecraft. It has two major and overlapping branches: aeronautical engineering and astronautical engineering. Avionics engineering is s ...
, did a master's degree at Stanford University
Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...
, and then a PhD work at Purdue. He worked at NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...
doing aerospace research. He then worked as a scientist at Arizona Science Center. He served as a mathematics and science professor at the University of Advancing Technology
University of Advancing Technology (UAT) is a Private university, private For-profit higher education in the United States, for-profit university in Tempe, Arizona. Founded in 1983, UAT offers Associate degree, Associate, Bachelor's degree, Bach ...
in Tempe, Arizona
Tempe ( ; ''Oidbaḍ'' in O'odham language, O'odham) is a city in Maricopa County, Arizona, United States, with the Census Bureau reporting a 2020 population of 180,587. The city is named after the Vale of Tempe in Greece. Tempe is located in t ...
. As of 2015, he works as a manager at Maricopa County Community College District
The Maricopa County Community College District (MCCCD), also known as Maricopa Community Colleges, is a Public college, public community college district in Maricopa County, Arizona. Headquartered in Tempe, Arizona, Tempe, MCCCD is among the la ...
in Tempe, Arizona
Tempe ( ; ''Oidbaḍ'' in O'odham language, O'odham) is a city in Maricopa County, Arizona, United States, with the Census Bureau reporting a 2020 population of 180,587. The city is named after the Vale of Tempe in Greece. Tempe is located in t ...
.
Artwork
Alongside his technical career, Mitchell works on algorithmic art
Algorithmic art or algorithm art is art, mostly visual art, in which the design is generated by an algorithm. Algorithmic artists are sometimes called algorists. Algorithmic art is created in the form of digital paintings and sculptures, int ...
. He ascribes his artistic awakening to a 1985 article in ''Scientific American
''Scientific American'', informally abbreviated ''SciAm'' or sometimes ''SA'', is an American popular science magazine. Many scientists, including Albert Einstein and Nikola Tesla, have contributed articles to it, with more than 150 Nobel Pri ...
'' on the Mandelbrot set
The Mandelbrot set () is a two-dimensional set (mathematics), set that is defined in the complex plane as the complex numbers c for which the function f_c(z)=z^2+c does not Stability theory, diverge to infinity when Iteration, iterated starting ...
, explaining:[
In 1999, Mitchell published his ''Fractal Art Manifesto''.]''Mobius Julia 4''
-> The artist Janet Parke notes that in the manifesto, Mitchell suggests that fractal art cannot be made by a computer alone, and that not everyone who has a computer can necessarily make good fractal art. Instead, she explains, Mitchell is arguing that the artist's creative process is needed to inject elements such as the considered selection of colours and gradients, the merging of multiple layers, and decisions on composition such as by zooming in to a fractal.
Mitchell also prepared tutorials on how to create fractal art with tools including Ultra Fractal. In 2011 he served on the panel of the "Fractal Art Contest".
Exhibitions, collections
* Nature in Art Museum, Gloucestershire, 2007[Art of Infinity Fractal Art Exhibition 2007]
/ref>
* The Bridges Conference, 2015[2015 Bridges Conference]
/ref>
* Los Angeles Center for Digital Art (LACDA), 2015-2016[Technarte: fusion of art, science and technology. Electron Salon International Group Exhibit]
Archived at https://web.archive.org/web/20151227160217/http://www.lacda.com/
Works
Books
* ''Selected Works'' (self-published with Lulu.com), 2009.
Papers
* Fractal Art Manifesto, 1999
* Introduction to Ultra Fractal version 2, 2001
* Using Ultra Fractal as a Drawing Tool, 2001
Techniques for Artistically Rendering Space-Filling Curves
* A Statistical Investigation of the Area of the Mandelbrot Set, 2001
* Rendering Fractal Images using Photographs, 2001
* Modeling Vortical Flows
* Fractal Tessellations and the Pythagorean Theorem
* Sequences and Patterns Arising from Mancala on an Infinite Board
* Toward a Chaotic World Vie
* Transcendental Signature Sequences
* Fun with Chaotic Orbits in the Mandelbrot Se
* Spirolateral Images from Integer Sequence
* Fun with Whirl
References
External links
Kerry Mitchell website
Mathematical Imagery
at the American Mathematical Society
The American Mathematical Society (AMS) is an association of professional mathematicians dedicated to the interests of mathematical research and scholarship, and serves the national and international community through its publications, meetings, ...
Fine Art America: Kerry Mitchell
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mitchell, Kerry
1961 births
Living people
Artists from Iowa
Purdue University alumni
Stanford University alumni
American digital artists
Mathematical artists
Algorithmic art