Category: Geometry In Nature

Connecting children to to their world - the language of shapes

11/7/2018

Numerous times I have had conversations about how worthwhile it would be to teach children the significance of mathematics using examples of geometry around us in Nature. In fact, using examples everything we interact with and the many fun ways in which we use it - as in our games, clothes, music and so many other relevant ways that a child can easily relate to, and understand it.

Sometimes I dabble with the idea of producing a book for children describing the richness of the language of numbers. Maybe I will do one day, but in the meantime I searched around to see if anyone else had already done so.......and discovered.....

This Disney animation, "Donald in Mathmagic Land" was recommended to me. It is an example of how much more interesting, and memorable, mathematics could be made using visual, real examples from around us.

"The Greedy Triangle"....and several books that were already showing how fun the world of geometric shapes can be for the younger audience. In fact there were DOZENS approaching geometry-shapes and colours from different 'angles'!

Books on geometric shapes for young readers

"The I Hate Mathematics! book" by Marilyn Burns - '....a way of looking at the world and that it can be relevant to everyday life (Street maths) and fun'.

"Shapes, Shapes, Shapes" by Tana Hoban - 'Whenever you are - inside or outside - there are shapes to discover.'

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Flowers - alchemical art forms of nature

5/22/2018

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Spring flowers

Where better to see sacred geometry, colour, the Elements and pure creative intent - the components of alchemical art - than in Nature. Spring flowers provide us with a feast for our senses and overtly display the use of sacred geometry and colour to perfection. As living yantras they can be used for meditation and reflection. And it is not surprising that we have given flowers additional symbolic meanings, then presented as gifts to convey these meanings in an intimate and personal way.

Personally I could look at flowers for hours as they are fascinating as well as beautiful - within them we can find all the rules of the geometric blueprint, colour combinations reflecting harmonious musical notes, pattern making, fractals, stimulating scents...and so much more. But mostly because it is such a pleasant experience to be with flowers.

It came to me to do this post while wandering through my garden, enjoying the spring flowers and taking the photographs below. Until using them in a gallery I hadn't realised how all except one (the red one at the end) include the colours purple, yellow and white. Something I will reflect on...

Keith Critchlow's -sacred geometry of flowers

Keith Critchlow's book "The Hidden Geometry of Flowers - Living rhythms, form and number" is a masterpiece of work examining the sacred geometry within flowers and also flowers as the original source of human life. To hear more listen to his presentation on the youtube video below.

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Bio-Architecture - living structures

1/18/2018

The concept of Bio-Architecture emerged from Roger Green's 'International Sacred Geometry and Ecology' conferences. It is a term coined by Dan Winter who inspired many architects to use the geometry seen in nature's creations and integrate it into 'living' architecture. These principles are also incorporated into other environmental designs such as the Bloom the Desert projects.

Beautiful examples of bio-architecture can be found at Michael Rice’s website. Mike is considered to be the leading bio-architect and has completed over 400 projects, including houses, meditation huts and community spaces. He is an award winning architect and member of the Royal Institute of Architects of Ireland. His stunning buildings blend nature, humanity and space. And are constructed using sacred geometry, designs of nature and feng shui. Naturally, ecology and the materials also are an important elements of the structures.

'Dreamfield' by bio-architect Mike Rice

Mike approaches his designs with the intent that everything is alive, interconnected and conscious. In essence a building is a living form! Being within such structures is invigorating, life sustaining, up-lifting....life enhancing.

Bio-Architecture conferences have been held in Budapest (2007) and South America. As a general theme, the merging of nature and man in designs is increasingly significant.

Phyllotaxis - leaf patterns mimicked by man

5/24/2017

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Phyllotaxis is the arrangement of leaves around a stem. When these patterns use one more spirals, as shown, the results are stunning. Yet all leaf growth patterns are incredible as plans have evolved to ensure that every leaf is touched by the sun's rays, minimising shadows and maximising space. Water collection is optimised as it flows down to the plant's roots.

In Costa Rica they have designed an orchard using the principles of sacred geometry. Trees are planted on a spiral formation around a central core, mimicking the plants own growth patterns

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Geometric Art Forms Within Music - the MusicMadeVisible app

1/18/2017

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MusicMadeVisible app Music has always been associated with cymatics, the geometry within sound waves, and there are many examples where cymatic imagery is used as a visual, dynamic art form complementing the originating sounds. It is VERY exciting that John Stuart Reid, inventor of the CymaScope, has launched MusicMadeVisible. It is an app that allows anyone to capture the dynamic geometry of their musical creations, or recorded sounds such nature and even their our own voice! It is a brilliantly accessible way to harness the power of the cymascope and the apps potential for creating art forms is limitless.

Here are examples of the cymatics of two very different types of music - Pink Floyd's 'Welcome to the Machine' and dulcet tones of 'Clair de Lune':

'When Trinity Episcopal Cathedral, in Portland, Oregon, decided to sponsor an art installation they chose a collaborative design by artist, Shelley Socolofsky and John Stuart Reid of CymaScope.com. The theme set by the cathedral was that the piece should connect light and dark and be a "new and experimental art form and media that cannot be hung on walls nor placed on pedestals”. (2015)'

Cymatics, the study of waves in physics, was a term coined by Hans Jenny (1904-1972). Prior to this in 1680 Robert Hook noticed geometric vibrations when running a bow along the edge of glass covered with flour. Early technology used to study the nodal waves was the Chladni Plate, developed by German musician and physicist Ernst Chladni (1756-1827). Now computers facilitate exceptional tools, such as the CymaScope created by John Stuart Reid (see his presentation below).

Sound waves travel from their point origin as a sphere so the images captured by humans are but a thin two-dimensional slice of a three-dimensional 'living' form.

In 'The Hidden Geometry of Life' I cover the nature and purpose of sound as a vehicle for carrying the geometric code. Sound has profound purposes that we are only just starting to understand and apply.

Chladni Plate vibrating to reveal geometric waves

Symmetry in vibrating fluid

Stunningly beautiful geometric patterns lie within the undulating waves of sound emanating from a pinpoint source of origin. Symmetric patterns such as theses are seen in the creations of Nature and are echoed in the sounds we create, such as heartbeat and musical creations. Waves of sound pass through and are absorbed by everything they come into contact with. They impact and travel through our bodies and enter our brains via our ears. All sounds affect us physically, emotionally and psychologically.

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Roundness all around in nature - celebrating a new annual cycle

7/4/2016

Some fun and fascinating examples of the circle and sphere occurring naturally in nature.

The Moon

Bodies of small birds, like the Robin...

...and small owl

Air bubbles

Saturn and its rings

Acorn cup

Microscopic organisms (Kesseler)

Fairy Ring caused by fungi of the class Basidiomycetes

Sycamore seed pod

Citrus fruits

Radial ripples in water

The Fairy Circles, the Namib Desert

A minute diatom

Dahlia flower

Hedgehog curled in protective ball

Punch hole in cirrocumulus clouds

Spherical rocks, Koekohe Beach, New Zealand

Cactus

Bird's nest

Dandelion

Sunflower

Fern leaves

Onion's rings

The Great Blue Hole, Belize

Beetroot

The caldera of Erta Ale, volcano in Ethiopia

The circles of growth in a tree

Inflated puffer fish

Male Japanese puffer fish sand circles

Many types of fungi

Sea Urchin

The Cancha de Bochas

Halo around the Sun

The round body of many spiders

Spider's web and eggs

Planet Earth

Turtle eggs

Many types of berry

Frozen soap bubble

Eyeball

Blue Eye in the African Sahara

In the designs of patterns on animal bodies

Rotating ice discs

Phi Ratio - a colouring book by Raphael Araujo needing funding

4/17/2016

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Oh my goodness! An adult colouring book with a difference by Venezuelan illustrator and architect Rafael Araujo that he hopes will reconnect people who colour in his images with nature. For over 40 years he's been drawing the illustrations by hand at an old drafting table using a pencil, compass, ruler and protractor. Now he is doing a Kickstarter funding campaign to complete this mammoth project.

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Connecting children to to their world - the language of shapes

Books on geometric shapes for young readers

Flowers - alchemical art forms of nature

Spring flowers

Keith Critchlow's -sacred geometry of flowers

Bio-Architecture - living structures

Phyllotaxis - leaf patterns mimicked by man

Geometric Art Forms Within Music - the MusicMadeVisible app

Roundness all around in nature - celebrating a new annual cycle

Phi Ratio - a colouring book by Raphael Araujo needing funding

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