1. Provide a general definition of tessellation. Define what Escher meant by regular tessellation of the plane. Link to 5 examples of Escher’s regular tessellations.
-A tessellation is an art form that illustrates a pattern of some sort. They can be of any design, shape, animal, etc that is able to be either rotated, reflected, or translated along a surface. A regular tessellation of the plane is described as an arrangement of the same regular polygon that covers the plane, the pattern must be the same at every vertex. There are only three regular polygons that make regular tessellations, those being equilateral triangle, the square and the regular hexagon. There are semi-regular tessellations that are made up of two or more regular polygons. The last four images in my gallery for the Tessellations page illustrate regular and semi-regular tessellations. (Tesselations)
2. Relate Escher’s work to Polya’s work. Link to examples that show the relationship, being sure to show the complete set of Polya’s work.
-Polya is responsible for designing the 17 different categorizations of symmetry groups. As discussed on my Symmetry Groups page, Escher used some of these groups when designing his tessellations. (Plane Symmetry Groups) on this page there is a link to an assignment from earlier in the year that describes two of Escher's tessellations, and the symmetry group that Chris and I thought they illustrated. The first image on the page also shows Polya's symmetry groups.
3. Define Platonic Solids and link to examples of the complete set. Link to examples of Escher’s work using them. Describe Escher’s Solid and link to examples.
-A Platonic Solid is a three dimensional object that has either four, six, eight, twelve, or twenty sides. Each side of each respective platonic solid is the same polygonal shape. The first image shown on my Platonic Solids page illustrates the five solids, and the final image, entitled Polyhedra, is one of Escher's works that demonstrates his use of Platonic Solids. (Platonic Solids) Escher's Solid is the object illustrated on the right tower of his work Waterfall. He utilized mathematics to come up with the measurements and overall shape of the object.
4. Describe the telegraph wire effect and link to Escher’s work showing examples.
-The telegraph wire effect describes the appearance of two parallel and straight lines appearing to curve due to either the distance they are being from or the perspective of the person who is viewing them. Some works that demonstrate this are Belvedere and Hand With Reflecting Sphere. These works can be seen as the 8th and 14th piece in the MC Escher Gallery. (MC Escher Gallery)
5. Define the 4 types of Art Analysis discussed in class.
-Formal: The work is the primary focus of this type of analysis. The analyzer takes an in depth look at the different aspects of the piece such as shape, color, etc. He/She also looks into the principles of the piece such as balance and unity.
Patronage: This type of analysis focus on the influence of a patron or purchaser has on the piece. What the piece has to say about the life of the artist such as when they lived, their social status, and so on is also looked at with this type of analysis.
Iconographic: The focus of this type are things such as imagery and symbols that make up the piece, and their interpretation by historians. The aim is to understand the piece on a deeper level by putting into context things like religiosity or cultural significance of the piece.
Stylistic: This type focuses on the general style of work from the period in which a piece was produced. It compares and contrasts trends that occur/have occurred throughout different historical and artistic periods. It attempts to draw lines between various periods.
6. Define Ekphrasis.
-It is an in depth verbal description of a visual work of art. These descriptions can be dramatic, and can be of physical works or imagined works. The goal is to make the one receiving the description capable of envisioning the described work as if it were in front of them.
7. Reflect on how we placed Escher’s work in context and how this improved your understanding and appreciation of Escher’s work.
-Before taking this course I had never really discussed Escher or his artistic contributions. I had seen some of his works, but never really paid much attention to them. As we progressed through the course I began to recognize his work, and just how special they were. The context they were placed in is that of an almost genius-like aura because of his incorporation of mathematics. In my experience art is not typically recognized as an intellectually stimulating discipline, but this course, and analysis of Escher's works, has helped me to realize that that is not the case. While creativity plays a huge role in art, there are various other forms of academia that play a role, as has been made evident by Escher. His use of mathematics is what makes him so special because there is a certain preciseness in much of what he did whether that be with tessellations, his impossible worlds, or any other works he produced. If I were to be asked to sum up Escher as an artist, I could not do so without also describing him as a mathematician. This course has allowed me to take a more in depth look at art work in general, but especially Escher's because almost all of his works are more than just an image he conjured up in his head.
8. Reflect on why Escher’s work has been largely ignored by art critics, despite public acclaim. Be sure to include a discussion on the role of art critics (along with references from your previous assignment on this topic). Also, compare and contrast what appeals to critics and what appeals to the general public: What are they really looking for?
-One reason that I have concluded about why Escher's work was ignored is his individuality, and his lack of concern for recognition. He did not seem to care about what form of art was popular at the time, or attempting to gain publicity, he simply continued to produce work that he was inspired to do. His work was indicative of how he perceived the world, but much of his work was viewed as lacking complexity or creativity by critics. Oftentimes critics try to standardize artwork, and to judge all art based on a similar basis of criteria. This practice has deteriorated over time as one would expect with the evolution of society in an open-minded since. So perhaps one could argue that Escher's work was not appreciated because he emerged before his time. However, his public acclaim could be attributed to the uniqueness of his work. Almost a "quite the contrary" viewpoint, in the sense that the public does not judge artwork by a certain set of criteria, they simply judge it based upon if it is appealing to them. That is one thing that nobody can deny about Escher's work is that it is mind-boggling in a way. Critics look for aspects of the work that demonstrate a knowledge and utilization of artistic characteristics that might show up in an art textbook, and works that lack that are not given due consideration despite how unique or intriguing they are. The public looks for characteristics that make a work unique, one could almost describe it as them viewing it from an unbiased and almost simpler perspective.
studiointernational.com/index.php/the-amazing-world-of-mc-escher-review-scottish-national-gallery-modern-art
artscenecal.com/ArticlesFile/Archive/Articles1998/Articles0798/MCEscherA.html
9. Define thesis and discuss strengths and weaknesses of your thesis and defense in your research paper.
-A thesis is an idea, opinion, or fact that must be supported by various examples of pertinent sources that either prove or rebut your original statement. I believe that a strength of my thesis is that is very clear. Due to its clarity I was able to find sources that were easy to understand and draw from. While my thesis is clear, it is also broad and somewhat basic which I would chalk up as a weakness. That made it difficult to meet the page count requirement, and because of that I felt as if I may have been rambling or straying away from the point at times. Ultimately I felt that a portion of my paper was well-done, but the lack of depth in the thesis statement hurt me in the long run. (Papers)
10. Discuss comments on your research paper provided by two students and the Writing Center. Provide documentation of the comments received, and show how your paper changed as a result.
-The comments received by Chris Thompson and Ethan Forrester were fairly similar. When they viewed my original rough draft both said that the paper was well written, the grammar and punctuation was pretty consistent, but the length was an issue. Chris suggested that I discuss the aspects of the works I referenced in my paper(Waterfall and Ascending and Descending) in depth to provide an added bonus to the length of my paper.
-A tessellation is an art form that illustrates a pattern of some sort. They can be of any design, shape, animal, etc that is able to be either rotated, reflected, or translated along a surface. A regular tessellation of the plane is described as an arrangement of the same regular polygon that covers the plane, the pattern must be the same at every vertex. There are only three regular polygons that make regular tessellations, those being equilateral triangle, the square and the regular hexagon. There are semi-regular tessellations that are made up of two or more regular polygons. The last four images in my gallery for the Tessellations page illustrate regular and semi-regular tessellations. (Tesselations)
2. Relate Escher’s work to Polya’s work. Link to examples that show the relationship, being sure to show the complete set of Polya’s work.
-Polya is responsible for designing the 17 different categorizations of symmetry groups. As discussed on my Symmetry Groups page, Escher used some of these groups when designing his tessellations. (Plane Symmetry Groups) on this page there is a link to an assignment from earlier in the year that describes two of Escher's tessellations, and the symmetry group that Chris and I thought they illustrated. The first image on the page also shows Polya's symmetry groups.
3. Define Platonic Solids and link to examples of the complete set. Link to examples of Escher’s work using them. Describe Escher’s Solid and link to examples.
-A Platonic Solid is a three dimensional object that has either four, six, eight, twelve, or twenty sides. Each side of each respective platonic solid is the same polygonal shape. The first image shown on my Platonic Solids page illustrates the five solids, and the final image, entitled Polyhedra, is one of Escher's works that demonstrates his use of Platonic Solids. (Platonic Solids) Escher's Solid is the object illustrated on the right tower of his work Waterfall. He utilized mathematics to come up with the measurements and overall shape of the object.
4. Describe the telegraph wire effect and link to Escher’s work showing examples.
-The telegraph wire effect describes the appearance of two parallel and straight lines appearing to curve due to either the distance they are being from or the perspective of the person who is viewing them. Some works that demonstrate this are Belvedere and Hand With Reflecting Sphere. These works can be seen as the 8th and 14th piece in the MC Escher Gallery. (MC Escher Gallery)
5. Define the 4 types of Art Analysis discussed in class.
-Formal: The work is the primary focus of this type of analysis. The analyzer takes an in depth look at the different aspects of the piece such as shape, color, etc. He/She also looks into the principles of the piece such as balance and unity.
Patronage: This type of analysis focus on the influence of a patron or purchaser has on the piece. What the piece has to say about the life of the artist such as when they lived, their social status, and so on is also looked at with this type of analysis.
Iconographic: The focus of this type are things such as imagery and symbols that make up the piece, and their interpretation by historians. The aim is to understand the piece on a deeper level by putting into context things like religiosity or cultural significance of the piece.
Stylistic: This type focuses on the general style of work from the period in which a piece was produced. It compares and contrasts trends that occur/have occurred throughout different historical and artistic periods. It attempts to draw lines between various periods.
6. Define Ekphrasis.
-It is an in depth verbal description of a visual work of art. These descriptions can be dramatic, and can be of physical works or imagined works. The goal is to make the one receiving the description capable of envisioning the described work as if it were in front of them.
7. Reflect on how we placed Escher’s work in context and how this improved your understanding and appreciation of Escher’s work.
-Before taking this course I had never really discussed Escher or his artistic contributions. I had seen some of his works, but never really paid much attention to them. As we progressed through the course I began to recognize his work, and just how special they were. The context they were placed in is that of an almost genius-like aura because of his incorporation of mathematics. In my experience art is not typically recognized as an intellectually stimulating discipline, but this course, and analysis of Escher's works, has helped me to realize that that is not the case. While creativity plays a huge role in art, there are various other forms of academia that play a role, as has been made evident by Escher. His use of mathematics is what makes him so special because there is a certain preciseness in much of what he did whether that be with tessellations, his impossible worlds, or any other works he produced. If I were to be asked to sum up Escher as an artist, I could not do so without also describing him as a mathematician. This course has allowed me to take a more in depth look at art work in general, but especially Escher's because almost all of his works are more than just an image he conjured up in his head.
8. Reflect on why Escher’s work has been largely ignored by art critics, despite public acclaim. Be sure to include a discussion on the role of art critics (along with references from your previous assignment on this topic). Also, compare and contrast what appeals to critics and what appeals to the general public: What are they really looking for?
-One reason that I have concluded about why Escher's work was ignored is his individuality, and his lack of concern for recognition. He did not seem to care about what form of art was popular at the time, or attempting to gain publicity, he simply continued to produce work that he was inspired to do. His work was indicative of how he perceived the world, but much of his work was viewed as lacking complexity or creativity by critics. Oftentimes critics try to standardize artwork, and to judge all art based on a similar basis of criteria. This practice has deteriorated over time as one would expect with the evolution of society in an open-minded since. So perhaps one could argue that Escher's work was not appreciated because he emerged before his time. However, his public acclaim could be attributed to the uniqueness of his work. Almost a "quite the contrary" viewpoint, in the sense that the public does not judge artwork by a certain set of criteria, they simply judge it based upon if it is appealing to them. That is one thing that nobody can deny about Escher's work is that it is mind-boggling in a way. Critics look for aspects of the work that demonstrate a knowledge and utilization of artistic characteristics that might show up in an art textbook, and works that lack that are not given due consideration despite how unique or intriguing they are. The public looks for characteristics that make a work unique, one could almost describe it as them viewing it from an unbiased and almost simpler perspective.
studiointernational.com/index.php/the-amazing-world-of-mc-escher-review-scottish-national-gallery-modern-art
artscenecal.com/ArticlesFile/Archive/Articles1998/Articles0798/MCEscherA.html
9. Define thesis and discuss strengths and weaknesses of your thesis and defense in your research paper.
-A thesis is an idea, opinion, or fact that must be supported by various examples of pertinent sources that either prove or rebut your original statement. I believe that a strength of my thesis is that is very clear. Due to its clarity I was able to find sources that were easy to understand and draw from. While my thesis is clear, it is also broad and somewhat basic which I would chalk up as a weakness. That made it difficult to meet the page count requirement, and because of that I felt as if I may have been rambling or straying away from the point at times. Ultimately I felt that a portion of my paper was well-done, but the lack of depth in the thesis statement hurt me in the long run. (Papers)
10. Discuss comments on your research paper provided by two students and the Writing Center. Provide documentation of the comments received, and show how your paper changed as a result.
-The comments received by Chris Thompson and Ethan Forrester were fairly similar. When they viewed my original rough draft both said that the paper was well written, the grammar and punctuation was pretty consistent, but the length was an issue. Chris suggested that I discuss the aspects of the works I referenced in my paper(Waterfall and Ascending and Descending) in depth to provide an added bonus to the length of my paper.