{"id":13,"date":"2016-03-21T21:00:10","date_gmt":"2016-03-21T21:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.harvard.edu\/lreisig54blog\/?p=13"},"modified":"2016-03-21T21:09:41","modified_gmt":"2016-03-21T21:09:41","slug":"islamic-geometric-patterns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/lreisig54blog\/2016\/03\/21\/islamic-geometric-patterns\/","title":{"rendered":"Islamic Geometric Patterns"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone  wp-image-14\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.harvard.edu\/lreisig54blog\/files\/2016\/03\/arabic-geometric-pattern-300x245.jpg\" alt=\"arabic geometric pattern\" width=\"587\" height=\"479\" srcset=\"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/lreisig54blog\/files\/2016\/03\/arabic-geometric-pattern-300x245.jpg 300w, https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/lreisig54blog\/files\/2016\/03\/arabic-geometric-pattern-768x626.jpg 768w, https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/lreisig54blog\/files\/2016\/03\/arabic-geometric-pattern-1024x835.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 587px) 100vw, 587px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>As discussed in class, art historians would classify islamic art\u00a0used in mosques into three categories. \u00a0The first is calligraphic art, discussed in earlier posts. \u00a0The second is arabesque, which is a pattern that includes lines and foliage. \u00a0This pattern is also common in rugs. \u00a0Lastly, there is geometric art, which uses simple shapes to create patterns.<\/p>\n<p>In order to understand these styles, I created a pattern in Adobe Illustrator that is similar to an islamic pattern. \u00a0The pattern above is created by a set of polygons with six sides on a white background. \u00a0Though this is a very geometric pattern, it also has hints of vegetation that characterize arabesque patterns. \u00a0The white negative space, when viewed as positive space, create a flower. \u00a0In many ways, the geometric pattern is an abstraction and simplification of arabesque patterns. \u00a0This creates an image of life, but also an image of order, which i think is emblematic of the view of god in the Quran. \u00a0God provides life and order.<\/p>\n<p>I choose to use shades of blue in the design, to replicate the patterns we saw in images of mosques shown in class. \u00a0The blue gives the design a royal feel, since centuries ago, blue dyes were typically too expensive for use by those other than the noble and royal classes.<\/p>\n<p>While this pattern may appear simple, it became extremely apparent when designing this, that these geometric patterns are not easy to create. \u00a0In order for the pattern to fit together nicely, a knowledge of math was necessary. \u00a0The 6-sided shape needed to be designed very precisely to create symmetry and for the pieces to fit together. \u00a0Below is an image of the shapes needed to create the six-sided figure. \u00a0It required precision to create the shapes above.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-15\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.harvard.edu\/lreisig54blog\/files\/2016\/03\/Screen-Shot-2016-03-21-at-4.59.15-PM-300x269.png\" alt=\"Screen Shot 2016-03-21 at 4.59.15 PM\" width=\"300\" height=\"269\" srcset=\"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/lreisig54blog\/files\/2016\/03\/Screen-Shot-2016-03-21-at-4.59.15-PM-300x269.png 300w, https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/lreisig54blog\/files\/2016\/03\/Screen-Shot-2016-03-21-at-4.59.15-PM.png 367w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As discussed in class, art historians would classify islamic art\u00a0used in mosques into three categories. \u00a0The first is calligraphic art, discussed in earlier posts. \u00a0The second is arabesque, which is a pattern that includes lines and foliage. \u00a0This pattern is also common in rugs. \u00a0Lastly, there is geometric art, which uses simple shapes to create [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7986,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/lreisig54blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/lreisig54blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/lreisig54blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/lreisig54blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7986"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/lreisig54blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/lreisig54blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/lreisig54blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13\/revisions\/17"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/lreisig54blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/lreisig54blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/lreisig54blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}