Artist Statement

Dr. Diane Hoffoss creates artworks that seek to express her awe of mathematical beauty deriving from her work in 3 dimensional topology. She is interested in the gathering of visual energy as discrete elements combine to form larger superstructures. The work explores movement, either kinetic or of light, adding layering and tone in both sunlit presence and the contrast of night. The resulting movements offer an evolving experience that offers space for reflection of the human experience. Much of the work seeks to offer a dynamic encounter where the observer’s body becomes an expressive instrument, adding a layer of kinetic poetry to the visual tapestry and transforming passive viewers into active contributors.

Embracing collective creativity, Diane gravitates towards team projects where diverse talents merge to produce unique and impactful artistic expressions. In pursuit of collectivity, much of her work includes the process of working with creative leadership and creating opportunities for inclusivity within the larger art building process to open up a process of shared purpose.

Within the parameters of reflection, symmetries, and rigid polyhedra, Diane employs dichroism and a LED color spectrum to create a mood through motion unfolding over time. These elements endeavor to communicate her profound love for the beauty inherent in mathematics.

diane hoffoss in open playa at sunset at burning man 2023 Photo by Frank Guthrie
diane hoffoss in white coat smilling next to reflextion at la jolla cave Ariete Baragora

Artist Bio

Diane Hoffoss creates large-scale, bold, geometric, interactive art installations of wood, steel, acrylic, electronics and programmed lighting to inspire joy, evoke curiosity about mathematics and geometric shapes. Her sculptures have been exhibited at Burning Man, La Jolla Cove, Everywhen, and The Soap Factory, and will soon be featured at the Without Walls Festival. These art pieces have garnered recognition in Forbes Magazine and on the cover of the Notices of the American Mathematical Society. Her fascination with leveraging computers for artistic representations of mathematics ignited during a research project at the Geometry Supercomputer Center.

Evolving through roles helping to optimize communication schedules for NASA’s Mars rovers and contributing to a new computer language at Belcore, she now channels this expertise into programming controllers for LED lighting animations. These animations both enrich the sculptures visually, by highlighting the shape and adding to its nighttime presence, and communicate and deepen their meaning, creating a seamless integration of technology and art.

Diane is profoundly committed to collaboration with other artists and the larger volunteer community. Drawn to the beauty and scope achievable through collective efforts, she co-founded the art collective ArtBuilds in 2019, with whom she now creates most of her sculptural pieces. Her dedication to fostering artistic collaboration extends to her roles as a Director, Electronics Lab Lead, and Education Lead at San Diego CoLab.

Lately, Diane splits her time between creating art pieces exploring the interplay of light and shadow called Penumbra, seeking permanent placement for Unfolding Humanity, and serving as Professor in the area of topology and geometry and Chair of the Mathematics Department at the University of San Diego.

Education

PhD Mathematics, University of California Santa Barbara

MS Mathematics, University of California Santa Barbara

BS Mathematics, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

Appointments

Professor of Mathematics, University of San Diego

Associate Professor of Math and Computer Science, University of San Diego

Assistant Professor of Math and Computer Science, University of San Diego

NASA Summer Faculty Fellow, Mars Rover Communications, Jet Propulsion Laboratory

G.C. Evans Instructor, Mathematics, Rice University

Visiting Assistant Professor of Mathematics and Computer Science, Colorado College

Teaching Associate/Assistant, Mathematics, University of California, Santa Barbara

Member of Technical Staff, Mathematics, Computer Science, and Communications Research Division, Bellcore (Bell Labs)

Visiting Researcher, Geometry Supercomputer Project in Minneapolis

Summer Program Instructor and Teaching Assistant, Virginia Tech

one tower of reflextion illuminated pink and orange at twilight in front of  blue ocean at la jalla cave
 upwand view of teal and blue illuminated corners of reflexion at la jolla cave Rachel Nishimusa
people sitting and lying on illuminated penumbra at night at burning man2024   A climber makes it to the very top ring of Re:Emergence.

Selected Art Grants, Honors, and Awards

Escondido Community Foundation Art Speaks Initiative, Threshold Five, 2024

Burning Man Honorarium Penumbra, 2024

Chasing Wonder Art Grant Bubble Lamp and MidCentury Lamp, 2023

Burning Man Honorarium Unfolding Humanity Renaissance, 2023

City of San Diego’s Park Social Initiative Art Grant  Reflexion, 2022

Spotlight Article in STEAM Journal our article on About Time, 2019

San Diego Collaborative Arts Project Art Grant Halo, 2019

Cover Story for Notices of the American Mathematical Society with 30k readership Unfolding Humanity, 2019

Maker of Merit at San Diego Maker Faire Unfolding Humanity, 2018

San Diego Collaborative Arts Project Art Grant  Unfolding Humanity, 2018

USD’s FIRSt Humanities Grant Unfolding Humanity, 2018

Burning Man’s Desert Arts Preview Invited to showcase Unfolding Humanity, 2018

Interviews

It’s Beautiful, Interviewed for Documentary, 2020

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Professors Taught New Astronauts During Time at the University of San Diego, KUSI News San Diego Interview, January 13, 2020 

Diane Hoffoss: Professor and Researcher in Topology, Interviews With Women In STEM Podcast, September 8, 2020

Unfolding Humanity, Burner Podcast Episode 97, April 3, 2019

Burning Man Pre-playa Planner, Burner Podcast Episode 87, August 17, 2018

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USD Group Creates Burning Man Festival Installation, NBC San Diego News Interview, August 14, 2018

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Diane’s Story of Lights, The Journey Project Fundraising Video Series, August 2017

Talks About Beauty and Art

The Imaginative Desert
Natural Landscapes and Human Meaning
Special Series on The Desert: Humanistic and Scientific Reflections
USD Humanities Center, 2023
Beauty in Mathematics
The Idea of Beauty Series: Mathematics and the Natural Sciences
USD Humanities Center, 2018
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It’s Beautiful documentary; section on Cerebral Beauty
Interview about beauty in mathematics and Unfolding Humanity, 2020
Unfolding Humanity: Mathematical Sculpture at Burning Man
Wellesley College Public Lecture Series, 2020

Public Lectures About Art Installations

Joint AMS / MAA Meetings Special Session on Mathematics and the Arts, 2024

Unfolding Humanity: Return to Burning Man

Mesa College Art and Technology Lecture Series, 2022

Building Big Art (with Gordon Hoople and Nate Parde)

Wellesley College Public Lecture, 2020

Unfolding Humanity: Mathematics at Burning Man

Babu Banarasi Das University, India, Popular Mathematics Lecture Series, 2020

Unfolding Humanity: Mathematics at Burning Man

University of Virginia Public Lecture, 2019

Unfolding Humanity: Mathematics at Burning Man

College of Staten Island CUNY Public Lecture, 2019

Unfolding Humanity: Mathematics at Burning Man

University of Maryland Baltimore Campus Public Lecture, 2019

Unfolding Humanity: Mathematics at Burning Man

Joint AMS / MAA Meetings Special Session on Mathematics and the Arts, 2019

Unfolding Humanity: Burning Man Mathematics (with S. Devadoss)

Articles Written About Art Installations

At the Intersection of Mathematics, Art and Religious Studies: Unfolding

Humanity

With S. Babka and S. Devadoss

Preprint (2020)

Makerspaces on the Continuum: Examining Undergraduate Student Learning in Formal and Informal Settings

With Gordon Hoople, Alex Mejia, and Satyan Devadoss

International Journal of Engineering Education Vol. 36, No. 4 (2020) 1184–1195

About Time: Visualizing Time at Burning Man

With G. Hoople, A. Choi-Fitzpatrick, N. Parde, M. Mellette, R. Nishimura, V. Gutman,

The STEAM Journal, Volume 4, Issue 1 (2019)

Unfolding Humanity: Mathematics at Burning Man

With S.Devadoss.

Notices of the American Mathematical Society, 66 (2019) 572–575