Theo Schaad

Statement

This art piece reflects the many influences that have shaped my work. Creating tessellations by hand (vs. computer) provides insights into the underlying structures and symmetries. I am indebted to my teacher Ruth von Fischer (Swiss artist) who taught me about block prints that are perfect for illustrating tessellations. She is also my link to Paul Klee, whose color schemes and geometric forms are masterful. My first physics teacher at the University of Washington was Prof. Robert Ingalls who introduced me to Hermann Weyl’s book Symmetry. The art of tiling is ancient but was highly advanced in Islamic art which then links to MC Escher’s tessellations of animals.

Artworks

Roosters is a collage of two-colored block prints. I made the original design of the rooster for an illustration of Grimm’s fairy tale Bremer Stadtmusikanten that we performed in a play with school children in the 1970s. I later cut it into a two-colored linoleum print. Years later I discovered that it would fit into a tessellation with minor modifications. Colors aside, the tessellation is one of 17 wallpaper symmetry groups, specifically the p4 (442) pattern. I used the same linoleum block to reprint the work in many colors. The interesting effect is that it now looks like an abstract painting from a distance.