Strange Attractor #14

"My work can be seen from multiple dimensions: microscopic to the immensity of space. I do not start with a concept or design. Often a color or texture will initiate a new piece. I am a quilter, specifically I piece (sew) bits of fabric together. I work with shibori-dyed fabric and solid-colored hand-dyed and commercial cotton. I dye fabric. I cut freehand shapes and lines, and sew them together in varied combinations, creating textures and forms. Units are then combined into large compositions. Once the top of a quilt is complete, I add an additional layer of multicolored stitched lines.

My Strange Attractor series is influenced by kaleidoscopic images of my earlier work and Chaos Theory from which it draws its name. An 'Attractor' is that which pulls you toward it, draws you to its core. 'Strange' attractors have a fractal structure, a repeating pattern at all dimensions. Strange Attractor #14 was intuitively designed and machine-pieced. Every change in color is an individual piece of fabric. I am inspired by nature in all its forms, colors, and textures as well as by the interface between regular patterning and apparent randomness. My passion for intricate piecing, subtle variations in color, and organic textures and forms, results in ever-unfolding visual imagery." -- Niraja Cheryl Lorenz

Our puzzle design features a number of whimsey pieces that are fractal based. Fractals found in nature appear here in snowflakes, spiraling seashells, lightning, a branching tree, and a peacock fanning its tail. A common trope of chaos theory – a butterfly flapping its wings causing a tornado in some far-off place – is depicted in a compound whimsey piece. Higher level mathematical concepts are also represented here such as a whimsey of the Lorenz Attractor.