Twitter essay: Invoking the master of planes to avenge boring nightmares

Circle Limit III, M. C. Escher, 1959. Woodcut.

“The result of the struggle between the thought and the ability to express it, between dream and reality, is seldom more than a compromise or an approximation.” —Escher.

Seeking revenge on boring nightmares by turning them into art essays.

Nightmares— spent entire night tossing & turning. They weren’t even memorable nightmares. Just: “I need to make tuna salad.” So unfair. :P

— Desk. (@leanneriding) August 11, 2014

Seems to have been set off by some combination of crowds, music, and chocolate frozen yogurt. :P

— Desk. (@leanneriding) August 11, 2014

Will dedicate today to stuff of irrational nightmares— symmetry and tessellation MT @MoMath1 http://t.co/3dbzGE9Sx1 pic.twitter.com/RXvqPsqrIn

— Desk. (@leanneriding) August 11, 2014

Today on @teefury -- "Turtle Tesselation"by @Obvian #TMNT http://t.co/0RmTpn29Nb #tshirts pic.twitter.com/i5BkfquWJ2

— Dave & Manz - GritFX (@GritFX) August 9, 2014

"Symmetry 333" pic.twitter.com/WtAmHvAOkR

— Mark Rose (@markrose777) August 10, 2014

By the way…

symmetry of emoji trumps declarative meaning; in conversation with @CWStoddart pic.twitter.com/JWoR895Vc2

— Rashas Moustaches (@rashasman) August 11, 2014

Everything is all out of sorts, not just dreams.

Turns out I am sick today. Dunno why. :P And craving jujubes.

— Desk. (@leanneriding) August 11, 2014

Back the next morning for round two of essay. Sort of.

Yesterday was going to do some tweets on Tessellation and Symmetry, didn’t get anywhere (wasn’t feeling well).

— Desk. (@leanneriding) August 12, 2014

Watch the blooming petals of a giant cosmic flower: http://t.co/74SQfIRnvl pic.twitter.com/aec4VbKDsw

— The Creators Project (@CreatorsProject) August 12, 2014

@FlyingCarNews I am! :D Thank you.

— Desk. (@leanneriding) August 12, 2014

Yesterday morning I was feeling the last vestiges of an odd abstract nightmare. You know the type involving urgency about mundane things?

— Desk. (@leanneriding) August 12, 2014

It seemed like graphics involving symmetry and tessellation somehow perfectly captured that fading sense of uncapturable frustration.

— Desk. (@leanneriding) August 12, 2014

Amazing unfinished X-men tessellation by Annie Ludes http://t.co/uwfJzoIex4 pic.twitter.com/7VVOxahFvJ

— Desk. (@leanneriding) August 12, 2014

The master, of course, is Maurits Cornelis Escher. Here is his untitled Reducing Lizards Tessellation. pic.twitter.com/3aR45UGUXP

— Desk. (@leanneriding) August 12, 2014

Escher Bowl by Jim McNeill, who talks about the process of making it here: http://t.co/p636AOPJ0K Pic via ylgarris pic.twitter.com/gdurN5Tb5p

— Desk. (@leanneriding) August 12, 2014

Already worn out :-) will come back to this in a bit!!

— Desk. (@leanneriding) August 12, 2014

Exhausted already? Fine then. Take a couple hours, then round three.

Where elephants meet tessellations.

Fantastic paper tessellations on Flickr. Philip Chapman-Bell created this one, based on a pattern by Robert Lang. pic.twitter.com/RxDGOM1X54

— Desk. (@leanneriding) August 12, 2014

This design, called “Kites, Waterbomb / Flagstone Tessellation” is by Eric Gjerde. A work in progress, he says. pic.twitter.com/czZQQ7WJCD

— Desk. (@leanneriding) August 12, 2014

“Evaporated Stars Tessellation” created by Brian Loper in handmade parchment paper, took over 8 hours to fold! pic.twitter.com/QKVKAvgnBW

— Desk. (@leanneriding) August 12, 2014

Gorgeous “Paper Safe,” by Tom Crain, holds paper and is covered with origami tessellations. https://t.co/EhrbwAvnJM pic.twitter.com/CXCiPDlvSg

— Desk. (@leanneriding) August 12, 2014

“Homunculus” by Joel Cooper was folded in paper known as “elephant hide” and finished with glaze. pic.twitter.com/qN26PhBFbi

— Desk. (@leanneriding) August 12, 2014

Speaking of elephants RT @OregonZoo: Happy #WorldElephantDay! pic.twitter.com/TSD5yKc6dg (via @USFWSHQ )

— Desk. (@leanneriding) August 12, 2014

Okay, focus. Tessellations. Not elephants!

If I was on Pinterest right now I’d pin a quote just to remind any Pinners following what the topic du jour was ;) pic.twitter.com/5pk2yFIb5G

— Desk. (@leanneriding) August 12, 2014

For the Bronies: “My Little Tessellation” by BronyBiscuitBites, was created to celebrate the second season of MLP. pic.twitter.com/hiXts1ZVCu

— Desk. (@leanneriding) August 12, 2014

“Ballerina Tessellation” by Dax seems to capture the peculiar scariness of this mathematical art form. pic.twitter.com/JZgpraspAk

— Desk. (@leanneriding) August 12, 2014

It seems that math-based imagery is is relaxing when it is minimalist, no? Throw in complex forms, and eek! D:

— Desk. (@leanneriding) August 12, 2014

I think we can’t help but try to figure out what’s going on in the picture. But it can’t be figured out— it’s an abstraction.

— Desk. (@leanneriding) August 12, 2014

“Gyroid” by Art Poskanzer. Looks a little alien, but definitely fun to play in! pic.twitter.com/S3AnQVGSlG

— Desk. (@leanneriding) August 12, 2014

More about this gyroid sculpture, by Paul Stepahin of the San Francisco Exploratorium: http://t.co/bhI03YGrpw http://t.co/7r6N1Z91Uz

— Desk. (@leanneriding) August 12, 2014

I think you mean that’s a photo by Poskanzer, not a sculpture. Also, focus!

Got a little distracted by gyroids. Back to tessellations.

— Desk. (@leanneriding) August 12, 2014

Honeycomb structure of “3D2Real” is designed to focus gaze on contents of within. http://t.co/P4Axs6w8gB pic.twitter.com/aOjrfo8fly

— Desk. (@leanneriding) August 12, 2014

That last one is an exhibition stand design by students of ILEK, Stuttgart. Imagine your products inside it, I guess! :-) via @Dezeen.

— Desk. (@leanneriding) August 12, 2014

Here is Tomohiro Tachi in a timelapse video, folding a tessellation out of metal. http://t.co/ncxaLfXgVk

— Desk. (@leanneriding) August 12, 2014

By the way, Tomohiro Tachi says, “everything is foldable.” I like the origami mechanism which folds itself! (2:45) http://t.co/FP36fl2798

— Desk. (@leanneriding) August 12, 2014

Here’s a brief history of Origami Tessellations, by Ilan Garibi, OrigamiUSA: https://t.co/62balo4rUY Origami: Garibi pic.twitter.com/PZN9q3Ln7k

— Desk. (@leanneriding) August 12, 2014

“Definitions, which, by definition, try to draw definite border lines, can only do injustice to this field.” —Garibi

— Desk. (@leanneriding) August 12, 2014

Infinity! Also kind of scary :-° #tessellations

— Desk. (@leanneriding) August 12, 2014

Not even going to try to figure out this one. Will go look at flowers instead. This is a Tesseract, or cubic prism. http://t.co/ynR2ALC1Td

— Desk. (@leanneriding) August 12, 2014

If the word Tesseract sounds familiar (& you’re not a physicist) there’s a good chance you’ve read Madeleine D’Engle’s “A Wrinkle In Time.”

— Desk. (@leanneriding) August 12, 2014

There seems to be some interest in A Wrinkle In Time lately. Hearing stuff about a movie? Graphic novelization?

— Desk. (@leanneriding) August 12, 2014

@ChristineHaas6 it has been so long since I read the book that no matter what, it will be new to me! :-)

— Desk. (@leanneriding) August 12, 2014

Was not born then, but I have heard, that the 60s (when A Wrinkle In Time was written) experienced a revival in exploration of metaphysics.

— Desk. (@leanneriding) August 12, 2014

That is, a revival in the philosophical exploration of what it means to Be.

— Desk. (@leanneriding) August 12, 2014

Some of the things that people came up with in those years can sound a little strange to today’s ears, but not necessarily in that context.

— Desk. (@leanneriding) August 12, 2014

Another pinterest-style topic-marking quote coming up! :)

— Desk. (@leanneriding) August 12, 2014

pic.twitter.com/e8SRPwhfLF

— Desk. (@leanneriding) August 12, 2014

Circle Limits of the master of planes.

“One is always concerned with the mysterious, incalculable, dark, hidden aspects for which there is no easy formula, but which form essentially the same human element as that which inspires the poet.” —Escher.

“Circle Limit III” by M.C.Escher, 1959. One of a series of four. pic.twitter.com/ZwyVOQzitU

— Desk. (@leanneriding) August 12, 2014

This, by the way, is Escher’s Circle Limit IV, 1960. Goodness! Quite a bit scarier. Full range, this guy. pic.twitter.com/ecfKS9s0QC

— Desk. (@leanneriding) August 12, 2014

Circle Limit with Butterflies by Escher, 1950. pic.twitter.com/5Hpn8aSgGq

— Desk. (@leanneriding) August 12, 2014

Escher said: “At moments of great enthusiasm it seems to me that no one in the world has ever made something this beautiful and important.”

— Desk. (@leanneriding) August 12, 2014

Here’s Escher ♥ Self-portrait In A Spherical Mirror, 1935. Via @theretronaut http://t.co/6kLfxZSfhP pic.twitter.com/Ndmx6Jwztn

— Desk. (@leanneriding) August 12, 2014

At this point, on pinterest over here >> http://t.co/ugtdFzLSgw << I’d add in a title-quote box so you’d know I was done pinning a topic ;)

— Desk. (@leanneriding) August 12, 2014

But this one was all twitter. Laters!

— Desk. (@leanneriding) August 12, 2014

Escher and the geometers.

M.C. Escher was strongly influenced by geometer Harold Scott MacDonald “Donald” Coxeter, who lived in Toronto and eventually became, among other honours, a Companion of the Order of Canada.