Middle School Tessellations

Never having delved into the work of MC Escher as a source of inspiration for my art classes, I decided  it was high time. We viewed a video about his life and art over the course of two days. I learned a lot about him that I had never had the opportunity to find out.

Afterward the I gave the students coloring pages I found in this book of Escher's tessellations and the students each got to color one in to try to understand how the back and forth of the tessellations work.

Next they learned three different techniques for making tessellations: reflections, rotations, and …

Once they figured out what tessellations were all about and what made them tick, they made their own tessellations and then had to make them look like something - an object or person or animal, etc.

The kids seemed to struggle but enjoy the challenge. I loved so many of these!