Bob Rollings
My interest in geometry stems from a lifetime spent in the cabinet
making industry. Initially I worked as a hands on craftsman and later
in a supervisory position which comprised of interpreting
designer/architectural concepts and turning them into practical and
beautiful pieces. After my retirement, I turned my interest in
geometry into a obsession using wood as a medium. My investigation and
interpretation of the platonic solids has been influenced by Johannes
Kepler, Luca Pacioli, Leonardo Da Vinci, M.C. Escher and later by
Buckminster Fuller and Donald Coxeter. After exhibiting some of my
work at the Fields Institute, I was invited to share space in Donald
Coxeter’s showcase in the Department of Mathematics at the University
of Toronto. Using a lathe as my primary tool gives me a more
individualistic approach to the study and presentation of various
geometric forms.
My models this year shows the vertices & nets of the five platonic
solids on the surface of a Tricontrahedron.
The surprise I received to find out that the vertices of all five Platonic solids could be found on the surface of the 30 faceted Rhombic Tricontrahedron. The vertices of the Octahedron is to be found on the surface of the Insphere and all the other four are found on the surface of the Circumsphere.