Thursday, November 13, 2008

A Report by T1

Ok, so Project Day kinda snuck up on us this month. Not really snuck up on us so much as I have been oober busy and hasn't had time to do any extra cool stuff with the kids. I mean, we're getting in the basics but nothing they can show off. So T1 threw together a quicky report tonight.


Maurtis Cornelis Escher was one of the most famous artists of the 20th century. He is one of my favorite artists because I like his creative three dimensional drawings. They look really cool.

M.C.Escher was an illustrator as well as an accomplished artist. Like Michaelanglo and DaVinci he was left handed. Over his lifetime he created over 2500 original works of art.

Escher was born in 1898 in Leeuwarden, The Netherlands. He was the youngest of four sons born to George Arnold Escher and Sara Gleichman. “Mauk”, as he came to be nicknamed, was a sickly child and a very poor student. He actually failed the 2nd grade. He eventually left school in 1922, having gained experience in drawing and making woodcuts. Woodcuts are carvings that are used to reproduce artwork by inking the block and pressing it to a piece of paper.

Escher met and married Jetta Umiker. Together they had a son named Giorgio Arnaldo Escher, after his grandfather. 1937, the Escher family moved to Ukked, a small town near Brussels, Belgium. WW2 forced them to move again in January of 1941, this time to Baarn, The Netherlands. They lived there until 1970.

One of my favorite of his works is called Waterfall. His most famous work is called Metamorphosis III. It is large enough to cover an entire wall! Metamorphosis III uses a type of mathematical art called tessellation. Tessellation is using a shape over and over again to cover an area without any gaps.
Escher's works remain as popular today as they were during his life. Chances are that everyone of us has seen a piece of his art at one time or another. Mr. Escher died in March of 1972. He was 74 years old.
After he was done with his report we gave Tessellation a try. This was fun and easy too!

T2 is going to show off some of his Lego Stop Motion videos.

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