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Windows to Enlightenment
May 2009
Year 7 Tesselmania Project with artist Emily Allchurch
Involving over 140 year 7 students the aim of this project was to combine aspects of geometry and art in a fun and colourful way, creating window designs for the Heritage Building at school. After introducing students to the traditions of Christian stained glass and geometric patterns in Islamic art, Emily Allchurch worked with the students to create their own designs. Using scaled drawings of each window space they dissected the grid to create their own shapes and patterns incorporating ideas of repetition, symmetry, colour and balance.
Once the winning designs were selected the challenge was to scale them up and make the real thing. Using templates and rolls of coloured vinyl, each group worked in small teams to cut out their part of the design and stick it onto the perspex sheet ready for installation into the window space. Pupils enjoyed working with the sticky backed vinyl especially sticking it down and getting rid of any air bubbles. The window designs have been a welcome bright addition to the corridors of the Heritage Building.
One group worked with Emily on an additional project creating their own tessellation designs for display as a vivid light box in the main reception area. This tested their mathematical and artistic abilities further requiring them to design a new complex shape that had the ability to tessellate. The intricate designs they came up with are quite amazing and their tracing, cutting and sticking skills are evident in the quality of the final light box artwork.
Ms S McEvoy
