Patterns: Illusions: History

Giuseppe Arcimboldo was an Italian Renaissance painter best known for creating imaginative portrait heads made entirely of such objects as fruits, vegetables, flowers, fish, and books — that is, he painted representations of these objects on the canvas arranged in such a way that the whole collection of objects formed a recognizable likeness of the portrait subject.

http://lunaticadesnuda.blogspot.com/2009/03/renaissance-illusion-paintings-giuseppe.html

Patterns: Optical Illusions

Online Resources


92 Visual Phenomena & Optical Illusions
http://www.michaelbach.de/ot/index.html

Top 10 Visual Illusions (2011 Contest)
http://illusioncontest.neuralcorrelate.com/cat/top-10-finalists/2011/

New Optical Illusions
http://newopticalillusions.blogspot.com/

Color: History: Newton & Goethe

Our modern understanding of light and color begins with Isaac Newton (1642-1726) and a series of experiments that he publishes in 1672. He is the first to understand the rainbow — he refracts white light with a prism, resolving it into its component colors: red, orange, yellow, green, blue and violet.

http://www.webexhibits.org/colorart/bh.html

Newton had viewed color as a physical problem, involving light striking objects and entering our eyes. Goethe realized that the sensations of color reaching our brain are also shaped by our perception — by the mechanics of human vision and by the way our brains process information. Therefore, according to Goethe, what we see of an object depends upon the object, the lighting and our perception.

http://www.webexhibits.org/colorart/ch.html

ACTIVITY: Hello, Red Fox
http://www.eric-carle.com/bb-HRFnotes.html

Color: Making & Changing Colors

With art supplies, there are three primary colors: red, yellow, and blue. You can mix these colors together to make all the other colors but no colors can be mixed together to make red, yellow, and blue. Look for the primary colors that separate out of the marker color! You can remember the colors of the rainbow with the acronym ROY G BIV, where each letter stands for the name of a color.

http://www.crayola.com/coloringcraft/craft/printer.cfm?id=1755

ACTIVITY: Bleeding Markers
http://educationaltoyfactory.com/colorscience.htm

Secret Colors in a Black Marker
http://www.exploratorium.edu/science_explorer/black_magic.html

Color Changing Milk
http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/experiment/00000066
Video: http://youtu.be/6T3C-0-Djas

Color: Illusions: Artificial Color

In 1894, toymaker Mr. C.E. Benham discovered that a spinning disk with a particular pattern of black and white marks could cause people to see colors. Mr. Benham called his disk an "Artificial Spectrum Top" and sold it through Messrs. Newton and Co. Benham's Top (or Benham's Disk) has puzzled scientists for over 100 years.

http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/benham.html

ACTIVITY: Benham's Top

http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/pdf/benham.pdf

Online Resources

Simulation: http://www.biyee.net/color-science/benham-top/

Color and Light: Rainbows

Sunlight does not look as if it has any color, so it is called white light. But sunlight is actually made from lots of different colors. You can see these colors when it is sunny and raining at the same time as a rainbow forms. The raindrops split the light into seven different colors: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet.

http://www.kids-science-experiments.com/cat_curiouscolors.html

ACTIVITY: Rainbows in a Dark Room
http://www.kids-science-experiments.com/rainbowsinadarkroom.html
Rainbows in a Bright Room
http://www.kids-science-experiments.com/makingarainbowonasunnyday.html
Magic Color Breakdown
http://www.kids-science-experiments.com/colorbreakdown.html

Color: Theory: Color Wheel

Leonardo da Vinci, in 1490, was the first to use, and expand upon the concepts of the color wheel, and the theory of color. The use of primary colors enhanced the importance of colour theory, and is one of the reasons we still use it today.
http://www.colors-4life.com/color-theory.html


ACTIVITY: Determining Your Eye Color
http://www.color-chart.org/eye-color-chart.php
Worksheet: http://illuminations.nctm.org/Lessons/EyeToEye/Eye-AS-EyeColor.pdf


Video: Color Mixing Wheel
http://youtu.be/WYZWDEmLR90

Color: Perception: Color Blindness

Color blindness is used in colloquial terms to refer to the difficulty in telling colors apart but a more correct term would be color vision defect. Color blindness is a misnomer because only a small percentage of people are unable to see any color. Color vision is important in many everyday tasks, such a driving a car (does that traffic light mean "stop" or "go"?).
http://www.uic.edu/com/eye/LearningAboutVision/EyeFacts/ColorBlindness.shtml 

Online Resources
Ishihara Test: http://www.toledo-bend.com/colorblind/Ishihara.asp
Colors for the Color Blind: http://www.toledo-bend.com/colorblind/index.asp


Video: Online Color Vision Test
http://youtu.be/yEIM4jmK1F0

Patterns: Indian Art: Mandalas

The word "mandala" is from the classical Indian language of Sanskrit. Loosely translated to mean "circle," a mandala is far more than a simple shape. It represents wholeness, and can be seen as a model for the organizational structure of life itself--a cosmic diagram that reminds us of our relation to the infinite, the world that extends both beyond and within our bodies and minds.
http://www.mandalaproject.org/What/Index.html


ACTIVITY: Color Paper Mandalas (Bodily-Kinesthetic Learning)
http://www.papermandalas.com/mandalas.htm
Rainbow Mandala Maker (Bodily-Kinesthetic Learning)
http://murraycreek.net/ipmm/Kids%20Rainbow%20Mandala.htm


Online Resources
Exploring the Mandala: http://www.graphics.cornell.edu/online/mandala/


Video: Tibetan Mandala Time Lapse Video (at Agnes Scott College)
http://youtu.be/g-H0TlXi868

Patterns: American Folk Art: Quilts

Quilting is a sewing method done to join two or more layers of material together to make a thicker padded material.The process of quilting uses a needle and thread to join two or more layers of material to make a quilt. Typical quilting is done with three layers: the top fabric or quilt top, batting or insulating material and backing material. The quilter's hand or sewing machine passes the needle and thread through all layers and then brings the needle back up. The process is repeated across the entire piece where quilting is wanted.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quilting


ACTIVITY: Pinwheel Quilt (Bodily/Kinesthetic Learning)
http://www.quiltsforkids.org/images/gallery/Pinwheel_Quilt_Pattern.pdf


Online Resources
History of Quilting: http://www.womenfolk.com/historyofquilts/

Video: Quilts for Kids (Who Are Sick)
http://youtu.be/GRdloKZxP-o

Patterns: Architecture: Islam

In a religious context, Muslims do not draw human figures or animals because the Qur'an teaches that only God should be worshipped. Secular Muslim artworks do include human and animal images -- this is strictly kept to the secular decoration, as anything that might be mistaken as idols or idolatry is prohibited. In religious Islamic art, geometric designs, floral designs and calligraphy are all commonly used.  The beautiful geometric designs create the impression of unending repetition, which is believed by some to encourage the contemplation of the infinite nature of God.
http://www.dltk-kids.com/world/muslim/islamic_geometric_art.htm

ACTIVITY: Tiling (Bodily/Kinesthetic Learning)

http://www.dltk-kids.com/p.asp?b=m&p=http://www.dltk-kids.com/world/muslim/cgeometrical.gif

Online Resources

Tiling Search: http://tilingsearch.org/

Pattern in Islamic Art: http://www.patterninislamicart.com/


Video: The Alhambra in Spain
http://youtu.be/zxMi5gh7wrc?t=48s

Patterns: Tessellations: Escher

A tessellation or tiling of the plane is a pattern of plane figures that fills the plane with no overlaps and no gaps. One may also speak of tessellations of parts of the plane or of other surfaces. Generalizations to higher dimensions are also possible. Tessellations frequently appeared in the art of M. C. Escher. Tessellations are seen throughout art history, from ancient architecture to modern art. In Latin, tessella is a small cubical piece of clay, stone or glass used to make mosaics.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tessellation

ACTIVITY: Escher Tessellations (Bodily/Kinesthetic Learning)

http://www.artprojectsforkids.org/2008/02/mc-escher-tessellations.html

Online Resources

Official Escher Website: http://www.mcescher.com/

Escher Web Sketch: http://escher.epfl.ch/escher/

Tessellations Tutorials: http://mathforum.org/sum95/suzanne/tess.intro.html

Tessellations: http://www.tessellations.org/

Video: How to Make an Escher-esque Tessellation
http://youtu.be/212XC1zfxXY?t=46s

Patterns: Fractals: Nature

A fractal is a never-ending pattern. Fractals are infinitely complex patterns that are self-similar across different scales. They are created by repeating a simple process over and over in an ongoing feedback loop. Driven by recursion, fractals are images of dynamic systems - the pictures of Chaos. Geometrically, they exist in between our familiar dimensions. Fractal patterns are extremely familiar, since nature is full of fractals. For instance: trees, rivers, coastlines, mountains, clouds, seashells, hurricanes, etc.
http://fractalfoundation.org/resources/what-are-fractals/


ACTIVITY: Fractal Tetrahedron (Bodily-Kinesthetic Learning)
http://fractalfoundation.org/resources/fractivities/fractal-tetrahedrons/


Online Resources
Fractivities: http://fractalfoundation.org/resources/fractivities/
Fractals for Elementary and Middle School: http://math.rice.edu/~lanius/frac/


Video: Patterns in Nature
http://youtu.be/u_CaCie8R4U