Imagine five friends in a quilting circle decide to make five quilts in a “round robin” sort of way. Is it possible to find a way to pass quilts among five people so that each person works on each quilt, and no person passes to the same person twice? The pursuit of an answer leads to “Latin squares” — mathematical objects with a thousand-year history and modern applications.
The journey doesn’t stop there, though; this talk will describe how one simple problem connects quilting, taste testing, combinatorics, group theory, graph theory, number theory, music, Tom and Jerry, and the power/limits of modern computing. We may be starting with just a simple quilt, but we’ll end up with some mathematical mysteries that remain unsolved to this day.
🖼️ This lecture coincides with the museum exhibition Alisa Banks: Unerased, on view from February 7 – September 6, 2025
🍹 Themed Cocktail: Square Root Spritz—A zesty and refreshing twist on the classic spritz, featuring ginger beer for an earthy “root” flavor.
🗣️ Lecturer: Beth Malmskog, Associate Professor of Mathematics and Computer Science, Colorado College
🎟️ Tickets: $24 ($18 for FAC Members), includes your first drink. Bar opens at 5 p.m.
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About Libation Lectures
Libation Lectures is lecture series offering an educational twist to the traditional happy hour. Each lecture explores an aspect of the amazing art and artists from various FAC exhibitions and theatre shows, served up with a themed drink to help you really dive deep into the topic!
This lecture is part of the Libation Lectures Fall Series, which includes four lectures:
Squaring the Circle — with Quilts!, Friday, August 15, 2025
Sherlock(s): Holmes and Watson and Us Through the Ages, Friday, August 29, 2025, Friday, September 19, 2025
What Makes an Artist? The Art Students League of New York at the FAC, Friday, September 19, 2025
Practically Perfect in Every Medium: Mary Poppins from Page to Screen to Stage, Friday, October 17, 2025
You may also like the following events from Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center at Colorado College:
Also check out other
Arts events in Colorado Springs,
Exhibitions in Colorado Springs,
Theatre events in Colorado Springs.
