A Short Introduction to the Page

Making Complex Geometry Approachable

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There is a body of art instantly recognizable as belonging to the tradition of Islamic Geometric Ornament.**

It is surprisingly difficult to define. Geometric art is not unique to the Muslim world and many isolated parts of what would become this separate tradition were already used by the Romans in similar contexts. The Muslim world of the eighth century CE and later expanded and made a part of this art uniquely their own.

That art is infinite. One could easily collect several thousand examples of historic patterns. No single discussion can hope to cover the vast subject completely. These notes concern only one part of this tradition, the strictest geometric area of this art, tiled repeating patterns, their structure and approaches to drawing them.

Patterns remain but methods of construction are generally lost. There is even surprisingly little information about how the nineteenth century European researchers drew geometric patterns.

These notes are almost exclusively a discussion of the practical problem of developing and drawing these patterns. I will aim at showing the logic and structure of the art. I will only touch on the art history aspects in passing when it is informative.

There are already several books and articles which describe how to draw Islamic Geometric Design. They use a surprising number of different approaches and have very different coverage. I did not find that any of them answered all of my questions in getting started.

This will be an attempt to begin at the beginning, the instruments of the art, their nature and use, and proceed to show one possible underlying logic and method of construction.

I will eventually include details of adventures in patterns executed as wooden lattices and panels.

This particular approach comes from 30 years of studying and drawing patterns for my projects in wood, rather than a formal education in the subject. It was shaped by the need to construct patterns in unforgiving solid wood. It will have as a result a slightly different emphasis compared to some treatments. It will put an emphasis on strict symmetry and repeating tilings; wood construction does not tolerate approximations. This is useful since these two, strict symmetry and tiling, are the foundation of understanding much of the Islamic Geometric Art subject.

** I fully appreciate the problem with this name. For a long 32 page discussion, see Sheila S. Blair; Jonathan M. Bloom, The Mirage of Islamic Art: Reflections on the Study of an Unwieldy Field The Art Bulletin, Vol. 85, No. 1. (Mar., 2003), pp. 152-184.