PATTERN MAKERS ON THE WEB

I have been using a handy feature that Google offers called Google Alerts, to have them search for instances of mandala art that appear on the web. I get alot of hits for Tibetan sand art, which really is fascinating, but I have been more interested in contemporary applications and how they are being used. This morning I wanted to point you in the direction of a couple of my recent finds.

Caterina Martinico creates mandalas using techniques developed by Judith Cornell. She also lives in Northern California, but a couple counties south of me. Go visit her blog here. She also does collage and wax encaustic painting.

Another mandala maker I encountered the more old fashioned way (by following a link on Andrew Daniel's blog to her artblog to her mandala blog) is the work of TeriC. You can view her gelpen mandalas here. Bright and colorful and fun. Say hi and tell her I sent you. She is also pretty geeky. Nothing like another techno-sister.

My favorite find recently, though, has been this art exhibit sponsored by Art and Science Collaborations, Inc. (ASCI) I have never really thought of myself as either a mathematician or scientist, but the more I work in digital art with images from nature, the more I recognize how it all blends together. This art show on pattern making is well worth taking the time to look at. I love this quote by Agnes Denes:

"Pattern-finding is the purpose of the mind and the construct of the universe. There are an infinite number of patterns, some of which are known; those still unknown hold the key to unresolved enigmas and paradoxes."
- Agnes Denes, 1967 (1)
Agnes Denes - Tree Mountain, A Living Time Capsule - ©2003


This could almost be a late submission for Blog Action Day as I am reading about her project:

A huge man-made mountain measuring 420 meters long, 270 meters wide, 28 meters high and elliptical in shape was planted with eleven thousand trees by eleven thousand people from all over the world at the Pinziö gravel pits near Ylöjärvi, Finland, as part of a massive earthwork and land reclamation project by environmental artist Agnes Denes. The project was officially announced by the Finnish government at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro on Earth Environment Day, June 5, l992, as Finland's contribution to help alleviate the world's ecological stress. Sponsored by the United Nations Environment Programme and the Finnish Ministry of the Environment, Tree Mountain is protected land to be maintained for four centuries, eventually creating a virgin forest. The trees are planted in an intricate mathematical pattern derived from a combination of the golden section and the pineapple/sunflower system designed by the artist. Even though infinitely more complex, it is reminiscent of ancient earth patterns.
More here

There are some intriguing and inspiring mandalas and other patterns inspired by nature/science in this Digital '07 show on Pattern-Finding. I hope you take the time to look as a way of really seeing the overlays of science with art. Im going to add it to my digital art links as well.

I will be back on Sunday with another Photoshop tutorial. I 've had a request for more about masks. Is there anything else you would like me to cover? Be sure to let me know.