A Happy Person

A successful career in the art world is not often expected of a qualified mathematician but Dale Copeland is not one for stereotypes. Copeland was born in Taranaki and completed an MA with first class Honours in Mathematics. While teaching maths and physics, she was offered a Doctoral Scholarship in Chaos Theory. However the winds of change were in the air and a life as a full-time artist was commenced instead. Now, Copeland describes herself as an artist, mathematician, book binder and happy person. She has worked in collage, jewellery and book-making, photography, fabric art and sculpture, but her preferred medium is assemblage art. As well as all this, she runs the annual International Collage Exchange, has written several books, writes websites for artists, and can even claim an award from the Queen as her own, after being made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit (MNZM) in 2012 for services to art. This example of Copeland’s own collage work is an exhibition invitation to one of her shows.