Provided

"Somewhere Over the Brainbow," by artist Sue Brightly in collaboration with a neurobiology student, in the "We Step into the Light" exhibition in Willard Straight Hall.

Math in glass

Like the Möbius loop you’ve probably crafted out of paper, the Klein bottle is an example of topology – sometimes called rubber math, where surfaces can be stretched and bent without tearing, creating beautiful structures and amazing theorems.

Cliff Stoll of Acme Klein Bottles will discuss math frozen in Pyrex glass and a variety of complex topological shapes in “Math in Glass – The Möbius Loop, Klein Bottle, and Torus,” May 9 at 1:30 p.m. in G01 Uris Hall. The event is free.

Stoll’s public lecture is part of the 51st Cornell Topology Festival, May 8-10, which features talks on a range of topics, including negatively curved spaces. For information, email festival15@math.cornell.edu.

The festival has received annual support since its inception from the National Science Foundation, and for several years has featured an annual prize donated by Acme Klein Bottle, purveyors of “the finest closed, non-orientable, boundary-free manifolds sold anywhere in our three spatial dimensions.”

DIY synth workshop

Take a miniature powered speaker, a 9-volt battery and a variable frequency square wave oscillator – what do you have? A simple analog synthesizer. You can build your own and bring it home after a workshop May 9 from 2 to 5 p.m. hosted by The History Center in Tompkins County. No soldering, tools or prior experience required.

The Do-It-Yourself Synthesizer Workshop is led by Trevor Pinch, the Goldwin Smith Professor of Science and Technology Studies; and instrument maker Jordan Aceto, who specializes in analog synthesizers. Pinch also builds and plays synthesizers and is the author of “Analog Days: The Invention and Impact of the Moog Synthesizer,” a history of the instrument created by Robert Moog, Ph.D. ‘65.

Held in conjunction with the History Center exhibition “Switched-On: The Birth of the Moog Synthesizer,” which closes with a Bob Moog Birthday Bash, a daylong celebration May 16. The workshop is supported by Cornell and Ithaca College.

Squier’s sculpture

The Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art is featuring the artwork of a revered emeritus professor of art in a new exhibition, “Jack Squier: The Arts Make Life Worthwhile,” through June 7 in the Hirsch Lecture Lobby. Free and open to the public.

Squier, MFA ’52, was appointed professor of sculpture in 1965. He taught, mentored and inspired students for more than three decades and retired from teaching in 2004. His work reflects his fascination with ancient cultures and his deep interest in experimenting, creating a unique sculptural style in media including bronze, wood and polyester resin.

Now 88, Squier was the subject of a 40-year retrospective at the Johnson Museum in 1993 and was honored there during Reunion 2007. His work is in such public collections as the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art and the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden.

The Johnson Museum installation – organized by Lee Rice ’16 with the assistance of Stephanie Wiles, the museum’s Richard J. Schwartz Director – celebrates the recent gift of Squier’s carved wood sculpture “Blind Animal II” to the museum.

Epic journey

Cornell Cinema presents a free screening of “The Cut,” a new film set in the aftermath of the 1915 genocide of Armenians in Turkey, May 10 at 7 p.m. in Willard Straight Theatre. Cosponsored by the Departments of Near Eastern Studies and Anthropology and the Ottoman and Turkish Studies Initiative.

The film by German-Turkish director Fatih Akin follows a young man who survives the genocide, but loses his family, speech and faith – and sets out years later on a quest from Mesopotamia to Cuba to North Dakota to find his two daughters who may still be alive.

The cinema finishes its spring season with screenings May 8-16 including “Monty Python and the Holy Grail,” "Kingsman: The Secret Service," and two 2014 Oscar winners: Best Animated Feature “Big Hero 6” and Best Picture “Birdman.” 

Art to thrive by

Artwork created by and for “thrivers” celebrates their lives beyond the experience of violence in an exhibition hosted by the Cornell Women's Resource Center, "We Step Into the Light," on display May 11-17 in the Willard Straight Hall Browsing Library. Free and open to the public.

We Step Into the Light is a project to raise awareness through art about sexual assault, relationship- and gender-based violence and stalking. Volunteer thrivers (a term chosen to replace "survivors") are paired with volunteer artists to create a work of art together – painting, sculpture, photography, poetry, dance, music and other creative media.

The organizers say “the artwork focuses on the thriver’s hobbies, goals and ambitions instead of on the trauma that the thriver experienced, emphasizing that although … assault makes up part of who they are, it does not define them as a person.”