Pi Day 2018: Mathart and Islamic Design

This is usually a spot where I hype some cool pi stuff I've found on my Internet meanderings, but truthfully I'm not really excited by a whole lot at the moment. I'd like to broaden the scope to mathart instead.

Mathart, as a hashtag, doesn't seem to have the same draw as sciart (has there ever been a mathart tweetstorm? it doesn't seem like it), but nonetheless you can find some cool stuff in there. One of the more popular artists (and one of my favorites) is Regolo and their abstract geometrical designs:

#fractal #geometry #symmetry #fibonacci #mathart #regolo54 #square #triangle #evolution #progession #fibonacci #goldenratio

A post shared by Regolo Bizzi (@regolo54) on Mar 5, 2018 at 9:17am PST

I love this on so many levels. So. Many.

Another recurring theme throughout the mathart hashtag is islamicdesign. Not surprising, since so much of Islamic art is explicitly geometry-based. There are lots of different people chiming in on this hashtag; the best example is maybe in the Islamic Design workbook from Eric Broug. Here's a math teacher from Michigan working through one of those designs:

Completed approximate version. Will do exact version for comparison soon. #mathart #mtbos #iteachmath #islamicdesign pic.twitter.com/yigpOUnnSg

— Annie Perkins (@Anniekperkins) March 11, 2018

And here's a designer applying the same concepts (with some more...artistic license? finesse?) to fashion design:

Haven't had a chance to continue on with this piece again. I can't decide what colours to do the other flowers. I have a habit of sticking to greens, blues and browns. Can't help it I just love that colour combination. What do you lovely people think? *Strict Copyright* #paintingonsilk #batik #artistic #sacredgeometry #raanazshahid #flowers #islamicpattern #islamicart #mixedmedia #creative #arabiccalligraphy #manchester #derby #iran #persian #awardwinning #coutureart #couture #luxury #geometricdesign #patterns #design #mandala #modern #contemporyart #modernislamicart #illuminations #watercolour #creative #painting

A post shared by Raanaz Shahid (@raanazshahid) on Feb 7, 2018 at 10:38am PST

It's exactly this kind of symmetry and abstract geometrical art that I like best in adult coloring books. That's what I first got into, and then it seemed like the trend tilted towards the magic forest style of representational art with lots of little fiddly doodly bits. That's well and good, but I jut want my shapes to color...! I like that Broug's workbook has you first construct the design before you color it. That extra wrinkle makes it a little more engaging, and it's enough to make me want to order a copy for myself.

Happy pi day!