Few people have seen a “Natural Pi”, a “Garden Pi” or a “Sand Pi”. Come along to this exhibition by Alan Cossins and join this select group.

Influenced by Andy Goldsworthy, this is a brilliant show of photographs of large ephemeral sculptures, built by Alan, relating to mathematical concepts. The exhibition also includes photographs taken by the artist, portraying mathematical constructs found in everyday life and drawings showing mathematical structures too.

Many mathematical constructs have a visual appeal and some have a beauty of their own. The images in this exhibition try to convey some of this beauty. For example, both artists and mathematicians have been fascinated by geometry. Sometimes the pleasure is derived from the symmetry of the shape, at other times the fact that the shape has reached a proportion that is pleasing to the eye. The exhibition illustrates the beauty of a parabola, as seen in the hull of a boat or a coastal sunset, as well as showing a sand spiral that reaches its golden proportion.

On some occasions mathematics can influence what we see. Numbers, used to record data, can yield predictions that indicate hazards to our environment. Some of the images in the exhibition are intended to warn of the peril of being “number blind” to the threats to our natural world.

Mathematics is part of the natural environment and this exhibition uses parts of the natural environment to illustrate mathematical ideas.

On other occasions numbers are used to record more macabre data, data that we perhaps find unpalatable. At least one of the images records this use of number.

Essentially, the exhibition is intended to celebrate the way that mathematics and art feed off each other and that mathematicians and artists have much in common. However, as artists come in all shapes and sizes so do mathematicians: one was a former President, another was an Emperor. Come to the exhibition and receive a calling card from one of them.

There are 65 images, to celebrate the exhibitor’s sixty-fifth birthday, but the viewer will be able to create more images and capture them with their camera during the exhibition.