Designing and Drawing Tessellations: Math Fun While Encouraging Creativity

Tessellations in which the individual tiles are lifelike motifs are a fun and fascinating combination of art and mathematics. At first glance, the creation of these intriguing designs can appear to be a complete mystery. Once the mathematical underpinnings are understood, however, designing them is a skill anyone can master. Designing and Drawing Tessellations presents everything needed for mastering this art. History and background on the topic are followed by descriptions of the required geometric concepts, focusing on transformations and symmetry. Numerous tips and techniques on the artistic aspects of creating tessellations are also presented, material not available from any other source. A step-by-step illustrated example describes in detail the process of designing and drawing a tessellation. Finally, dozens of different templates are included for creating a wide variety of different tessellations. Pages are black-and-white, 8-1/2"x11", for easy reproduction for classroom use. Designing and Drawing Tessellations is designed for use either by individuals or in a classroom. Each chapter contains activities designed for a classroom setting. Students and adults alike love tessellations - they make math fun while encouraging creativity!

Robert Fathauer is a former NASA research scientist who has had a lifelong interest in art. He produced his first Escher-like tessellations in 1990, and today is recognized as one of the leading artists carrying on M. C. Escher's legacy of tessellation art. His interests have expanded to include fractal tessellations, fractal knots, and other types of mathematical art. He has also coordinated several exhibitions of mathematical art.

Dr. Fathauer began designing puzzles based on his tessellation designs in 1993 and founded a small business called Tessellations to produce and market them. The company has expanded to produced math manipulatives, classroom posters, and books. Dr. Fathauer's books include "Designing and Drawing Tessellations", "Lifelike Tessellations Activity Book", "Regular Polygon Tessellations Activity Book", and "Polyhedra Activity Book".