Wonnacott family donates Bathsheba Grossman sculpture to McIntosh Collection
Bathsheba Grossman’s bronze sculpture, Flow, is a gift from members of the Wonnacott family in to commemorate their relationship with Western University: Ronald Wonnacott (B.A., Western, M.A., Ph.D. Harvard, Professor Emeritus, Western, 1996, Honorary Doctorate, Western 2001, Officer of the Order of Canada, 2016); Paul Wonnacott (B.A. Western, Ph.D. Princeton); Thomas Wonnacott (B.A. Western, Ph.D. Princeton); Joy Wonnacott (B.A. Western, 1968), and Alma Wonnacott (B.A. Western 1969). Ronald Wonnacott taught Economics at Western from 1958-96, and was William G. Davis Chair in International Trade from 1994-96. Thomas Wonnacott was an Associate Professor of Mathematics at Western.
Bathsheba Grossman (b. 1966) is an American artist who creates sculpture using computer-aided design and three-dimensional modeling with metal-printing technology to produce sculpture in bronze and stainless steel. Grossman graduated summa cum laude with a degree in mathematics from Yale (1988), where she also studied sculpture. She shifted her focus on art for her graduate work and received an MFA in sculpture from the University of Pennsylvania (1993). Her bronze sculptures are primarily mathematical in nature, often depicting intricate organic patterns or mathematical models. Grossman’s work brings together art and mathematics, two subjects often considered separate. Challenging the stereotype that people who are interested in the arts find math intimidating, and vice versa, she rightfully points out that when you present an object that is clearly algorithmically driven, as so many biological objects are — a piece of coral, a seashell, the arrangement of seeds in the centre of a sunflower, Romanesco broccoli — most people are strongly drawn to it. Her work often serves as the catalyst that changes people’s perceptions. Flow was created using an algorithmically driven mathematical model inspired by knot theory to create a form that is organic yet hints at the infinite form of a complex Mobius strip.
