Lemniscate

Skip to main content
Artist/Maker (American, born 1964)
Date2014
MediumWelded mill-finish aluminum
DimensionsOverall: 8ft. 5 1/4 in. × 54 3/4 in. × 51 1/4 in. (2m 57.2 cm × 139.1 cm × 130.2 cm)
Credit LineCommission. William G. Roehrick '34 Art Acquisition and Preservation Fund
Object number2014.5
On view
DescriptionThe title of this work refers to the algebraic term for two loops that meet at a central point. The sculpture is a composite of ellipses that stack and intersect at forty-degree angles, resulting in a Möbius striplike form, which is cyclical and never-ending. Related to Shotz’s work Three Fold, a permanent commission created for Stanford University’s School of Medicine in Palo Alto, California, in 2013, Lemniscate is based on similar fundamental forms twisted and folded in various ways. The work is suspended from the ceiling and hovers in space, with sightlines through the work at every angle. Shotz cites the rings of Saturn as an influence and adds, “I am interested in this shape because it references the concept of a continuum—a shape without boundaries or simple definition.” Lemniscate was commissioned by the Wellin Museum of Art for its permanent collection.

Additional Details

Exhibition History 2014
Clinton, NY (Ruth and Elmer Wellin Museum of Art, Hamilton College). "Alyson Shotz: Force of Nature," October 11, 2014 - April 5, 2015 (brochure).
https://www.hamilton.edu/wellin/exhibitions/detail/alyson-shotz-1
Provenance 2014: Hamilton College (Ruth and Elmer Wellin Museum of Art), by commission from the artist.
© 2021 The Jacob and Gwendolyn Knight Lawrence Foundation, Seattle / Artists Rights Society (AR…
Jacob Lawrence
Date: 1977
Medium: Lithograph
Object number: 2020.2
Photo by John Bentham.
Alyson Shotz
Date: 2014
Medium: Pigment print on paper, hand-crumpled
Object number: 2015.1
Photo by Mark DiOrio.
Dorothy Shakespear
Date: 1919
Medium: Watercolor on paper
Object number: 1994.94
Photo by Mark DiOrio.
Dorothy Shakespear
Date: 1937
Medium: Watercolor on paper, mounted on cardboard
Object number: 1996.10
Photo by Mark DiOrio.
Dorothy Shakespear
Date: c. 1914-1919
Medium: Watercolor and graphite on paper
Object number: 1994.200
Photograph by John Bentham.
Tony Feher
Date: 1996
Medium: Plastic bottles, water, food dye, wire and rope
Object number: 2012.3.4
Venice: Piazza San Marco
Unknown artist
Date: 1875-1900
Medium: Gelatin silver print
Object number: S2018.2.136
© Alyson Shotz. Image courtesy of The ƒ/Ø Project, Los Angeles. For educational purposes only.
Alyson Shotz
Date: 2019
Medium: Suite of four salt print photograms within a portfolio case with colophon
Object number: 2019.14.1-4
Photograph by John Bentham.
Wyndham Lewis
Date: 1918
Medium: Charcoal, pen and ink, watercolor, and gouache wash on paper
Object number: 1995.73
© Marla Sweeney. Image courtesy of Light Work, Syracuse, NY. For educational purposes only.
Marla Sweeney
Date: 2003
Medium: Archival inkjet print
Object number: 2020.8.22
Image courtesy of the Ruth and Elmer Wellin Museum of Art at Hamilton College, Clinton, NY. Pho…
David Smith
Date: 1945
Medium: Bronze
Object number: 1986.20
© Jeffrey Gibson. Image courtesy of the Ruth and Elmer Wellin Museum of Art at Hamilton College…
Jeffrey Gibson
Date: 2015
Medium: Glass and plastic beads, tin cones, steel and brass studs, nylon fringe, and artificial sinew on repurposed wool army blanket, mounted on repurposed canvas punching bag with steel chain
Object number: 2016.5