Steve Pomerantz
Geometry is at the heart of a thousand years of art and architecture as represented in mosques, temples and cathedrals around the world. In its search of perfection and countless symmetries such architecture achieves a beauty inspired by divine motivation. Sacred art represents an application of these basic principles of geometry. Constructions discovered by the ancient Greek mathematicians are merged with craftsmanship to produce paintings and mosaics of infinite variety. I explore and teach about the intersection of this art form with classical geometry by allowing the art to motivate a discussion of geometric fundamentals while using the math to enhance an appreciation of the art and suggest generalizations.
Cosmatesque Mosaics created in the 12th Century adorn many Italian churches. In this version, a traditional tiling of hexagons, triangles and rhombi is conformally mapped onto progressively larger annuli. The rhombi are filled with a traditional triangular grid which foreshadows Sierpinski.