Art Meets Science is an exhibition of quilts inspired by science. It is worth an hour of your time to see. Until 2011-03-16, it is on view at 235 E 42 St, New York City. The building is Pfizer’s; to see the exhibit, you need to email Ms Therese Sathue two days in advance with your name and the date and approximate time of your planned visit.

Most of the 35 beautiful quilts on display are inspired by the physical sciences. Many of the images are biological and relate beauty and death. Several placards describe the copyright status of sources but leave out much of the rest of the quilts’ provenance. Not all of the inspiration is physical, though—there are references to Sierpinski and Fibonacci. By the way, does the definition of a fractal really require self-similarity? Surely having fractional Hausdorff dimension does not require self-similarity.

Hat tip to Nina Paley, who is jumping into quilting with a splash. She increased my appreciation for these quilts by letting me try using a sewing machine for the first time!