Ayliean MacDonald

Statement

As a Maths teacher I look for creative ways to explore, explain and spark interest in Maths. My art often focuses on the use of timelapse drawings of patterns and fractals to show growth and progression of sequences which may not be obvious through still images of the Mathematical objects themselves. Through the near meditative process of longform Mathematical drawings I have often found connections to other areas of Maths. It is true that a computer programme or printer may be able to achieve the same result as me, but hand drawing gives me the time to think and feel out every part of the pattern, getting to know it like a familiar street.

Films

There is undoubted beauty in regularity, but if you stray just off the path and live life a little more irregular there is so much undiscovered fun to be had! This video explores the notion that many students have that pentagons do not tesselate. Throughout school we impart a misleading idea of shapes being regular (and usually a particular orientation too), for pentagons this bypasses some of the most scenic and interesting mathematical routes. Take the path less travelled, paved with pentagonal tilings.