Kate Jones

Statement

I have been designing and making combinatorial/mathematical tilings and puzzles for 41 years. Each is an original concept that can form countless artistic/geometrical patterns--pure math as art. I make them in lasercut acrylic and handcrafted wood. They are very challenging and enjoyable to play, and educational even for kids. One of my special interests is to turn each of the 17 classic symmetry groups into polyform puzzles. My flagship is pentominoes and other polyomino/polycube sets. They have inspired development of my many other polyform sets, such as polyhexes, polyiamonds, polyhops, polytans, polyrhombs, polyocts, polyrounds, polybends--all open-ended to allow ever new discoveries. I also make golden ratio and edgematching sets.

Artworks

Ochominoes are an original set of reversible polyform tiles: polyocts, specifically its subset of diocts. Diocts consist of pairs of octagons edge-joined to form a kind of domino, with from 0 to 6 squares attached on their diagonal edges in all possible combinations. This award-winning set was created by Dan Klarskov of Denmark, developed with Kate Jones in 2016-2017, and produced in 2018 by Kadon Enterprises, Inc. Further research has continued to the present (2020), with constantly new and surprising discoveries of symmetries, color patterns, and combinatorial interactions. This presentation focuses on original symmetry aspects. Please see www.gamepuzzles.com/tiling.htm#Och and www.gamepuzzles.com/ochom.htm for more descriptions.

The mathematical concept for Dezign-8 was created in 1959 by architect William A. Briggs, and fully developed by Kate Jones in 1997. Kadon Enterprises, Inc., produced and released Dezign-8 in 2000 as part of its math-as-art collection. Games Mag. chose Dezign-8 for the "100 best games" list, 2001. The 64 tiles represent all combinations of 1, 2, 3, and 4 path exits on a square. The paths form loops and groups whose numbers always equal in an 8x8 design. New research and discoveries thrive to the present day. This art poster celebrates new concepts found from 2017-2020 by Alex Streif and Kate Jones: each of the 12 pentominoes is embedded in an 8x8 array. More here: www.gamepuzzles.com/d8til2.htm and www.gamepuzzles.com/tiling2.htm#D8