Frank Mayer Smullin (10 March 1943 - 14 November 1983) was an American sculptor known for pioneering computer-aided methods in art and for his large welded tubular sculptures.
[2][3] He was a Fellow from 1979 to 1980 at MIT's Center for Advanced Visual Studies and Sculpture Space in Utica, New York, which helped enable him to make large-scale works.
[8] In 1981, Smullin gave a keynote lecture about his tubular sculptures and techniques at a design conference in Nashville, paying particular attention to the granny-knot, which he found to have "an artistically much more interesting, 3-dimensional structure than the functionally preferred, but much flatter square-knot.
"[9] Smullin had written a computer programme called SCULPT to assist with the vector analysis in his design process, implemented on a Tektronix 4052.
[10] He was calculating the elliptic intersections and producing computer-generated outlines of his sculptures which he would color by hand; he would then use a pen-plotter to produce a scale cardboard model, before finally cutting a rolling the final sheet-metal version; his techniques left a lasting influence on computer scientist Carlo Séquin, who was in the audience.