For some unknown reason lately, symmetry group P31m has been number one for my latest efforts at creating tessellations. I’m not a big fan of mirrors in nested shapes, by far I prefer the fluid lines of other symmetry systems. Well, this guy showed up as a vampire in its original sketch.
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Pentagonal Derivative #Tessellations: just a short fancy way of saying that I used a grid built up of pentagons to come up with these two designs. It was quite a blast and a struggle last year (it’s not yet a complete project) to re-create all of the ways that a surface (plane) can be equally divided using pentagons. Continue reading
Most of us learn the easy/best way. Look at the masters, follow their path and learn all that we can from them. Replicate their artwork. It is a long process, especially without any direction or assistance from a teacher. This is where I’m at right now — copying / learning from the pentagon symmetry system seekers: Reinhardt, Kershner, James, Rice, Stein, Mann, McLoud, and Von Derau. As I did for a while, copying M.C. Escher’s tessellations, decades ago, although I no longer need MCE inspiration to create a tessellation. Continue reading
My Pentagon Challenge is keeping me busy. I am plowing my way through all of the pentagonal tiling types. Quite a few of them are built within either a perfect hexagon, or one that has been distorted beyond recognition. I am finding some interesting rules of symmetry I had not yet encountered. Wrapping my noggin around new concepts. Many of these symmetry types are skew-able, not only scale-able. Also, many of the anchor point for division lines inside hexagons are variable in their location, as long as the variable is kept constant for each pentagonal unit. Continue reading
Another challenge showing up on my desk, compliments of Woodpecker Carving. Hussein posted a beautiful Islamic geometric design, displaying the use of pentagons. But wait I thought, aren’t pentagons impossible to tile using the original seventeen symmetry groups? Or so I thought. I had seen intriguing examples of pentagonal tiles over the years, but I was still obsessed with M.C. Escher type nested shapes – and will always be. Continue reading
These ocean-side tessellation topics are dear to my heart since we moved to the Island, a decade ago already. The weather is wonderful, winter and summer, those year-round hikes — local, beautiful, plentiful, varied. Continue reading
Since M.C. Escher started popularizing “nested shape” tessellations, many artist have dabbled in the field. Some show a passing interest, yet still create with a very deep understanding of the rules of symmetry. Others can’t get enough and create constantly in this medium. Still other artists push the boundaries and explore off-spurs, into fractals, circle limits, non-repeating planes, animation, metamorphosis, pentagonal rules, morphing shapes, platonic solid tessellations, architecture, art shows, consumer products… Continue reading