The work of one artist became the impetus for an integrated curriculum across three grade levels. Students in my eighth grade drawing classes read biographies about the Dutch-born artist. They discovered he made his first linoleum cut prints in high school. They also learned it was a trip that Escher took in 1936 to the Alhambra in Spain that influenced his art until his death in 1972. At the Alhambra, Escher discovered the way Islamic artists repeated geometric shapes in colorful mathematical variations.
Islamic art shows no representations of humans, birds or animals.
Instead, the artistic modes of expression are repeating geometric shapes, flora, images of vegetables, flowers, trees and calligraphy- the most revered art form in Islam because it conveys the word of God. I showed my students slides of Islamic art- objects and buildings covered with complex patterns, all created with a compass and ruler. The students learned that the circle is the foundation of the complex patterns. I told the students that Islamic geometric patterns are created from the center outward and not designed to fit within a frame, as is typical of Western art. Next, the students examined Escher's tessellations which were inspired by the Alhambra.