John Critchett

Professor of Accounting and Finance
School of Business, Madonna University
Livonia, MI

This work is a cellular automata design employing equilateral triangles in an isometric grid. The design grew "organically" from a single hexagon composed of unit triangles. For each successive generation, triangles were coded as being either "on" or "off" based on a simple rule regarding the status of neighboring triangles. A triangle was turned on if it shared exactly one side with a triangle that was turned on in the previous generation; otherwise, it was left off. The process was terminated when the outline of a hexagon was produced. As such, this work represents a type of algorithmic (generative) art. TurboCAD was used to create the design. The final artwork is a framed, archival digital print that measures 16" x 16".

Hexagon Tree
Hexagon Tree
16" x 16"
archival digital print
2012

This work is a cellular automata design employing equilateral triangles in an isometric grid. The piece was inspired by the work of Stephen Wolfram and J. H. Conway. Most CA designs use a square grid, rather than an isometric grid, and the outline of the final shape represents a convex regular polygon (hexagon). I have not seen a CA design that shares these features.