Materials and Process

• Pencil
• Paper
• Compass
• Protractor
• Markers

Artist's Narrative

Beginning this assignment, I just began drawing freely on a sheet of paper with a compass, just to see what designs and patterns I began to see emerge. Once I found a pattern, I wanted to work with more, I measured out how far apart I would make each circle, then began to put down the circles in the right spots to form the pattern. I worked the same way with all the patterns that I made. I then began coloring in the patterns, pretty intuitively. I had a scrap piece of paper next to me, so I could see how different colors looked together before deciding that I wanted them in the pattern. I have always enjoyed coloring in patterns, so I guess that would be my only source of inspiration. I didn't look at any books or anything, I just started to draw and see what came of it. I did like working with the circle as my basis. It was interesting to me how many different patterns I could make using just a circle.

Teacher's Comment

This practicum also shows a field pattern with surrounding border patterns, with symmetry-breaking at the corners of the borders. Here, however, the field pattern shows more symmetry-breaking of shapes, scale, placement and color. Yet, even with so much symmetry-breaking, there is still the sense of symmetry that we perceive. It is never quite clear just how much symmetry-breaking is too much, which provides an intellectual and visual challenge for artists, scientists, and mathematicians alike.