Soicety

Why do societies fail? With lessons from the Norse of Iron Age Greenland, deforested Easter Island and present-day Montana, Jared Diamond talks about the signs that collapse is near, and how (if we see it in time) we can prevent it.

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/jared_diamond_on_why_societies_collapse.html

frieze patterns in earthen art

I have been studying a lot of eco-art therapy. I have this wonderful book "Dig Your Hands in The Dirt: A Manual for Making Art out of Earth" by Kiko Denzer I was reviewing some of the material in this book to get inspiration for a project to do with the kids I work with at CitySprouts.
I noticed that a lot of the tile patterns he uses to make mud mosaic murals are made into frieze patterns. He describes how to make your image more simplified, create a pattern out of it and reverse and repeat the image. The work he does is beautiful and full of symmetry!
P.S. we're trying to start some mud mosaic murals as a part of the eco-expressive therapies group at Lesley- let me know if you're interested!

another escher master piece

I found this by Escher. Its a more complete illustration by him displaying his artistic skills in composition set up and use of the gray scale very effectively. His talent in creating a metamorphosis' are amazing.

origami tesselations

folding paper lamp by Kouichi Okamoto

This beautifully unique lampshade is expertly handcrafted from Denguri paper found locally in the Shikoku region of Japan. The honeycomb paper diffuses the light creating a soft, gentle glow.
It is designed by Kouichi Okamoto, and manufactured by Kyouei Co. Ltd., Japan.
He’s got some rather impressive and unique design concepts- you can see some more information on his designs here.

I just thought that this video pertained to what we were doing in class. Just some cute and creative tessellations http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aq6eLQihh2M&feature=related

A new look at everything

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/garrett_lisi_on_his_theory_of_everything.html

While brainstorming ideas for the Tessellation project I checked out some work done from artists all around the world. Here's a link to a Tessellation artist data base, http://tessellation.info/?open=general/artistinfo.php&lang=english&style=default.

Looking at this work will help you form a piece of your own.