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This project from chapter 2 of Coding and the Arts is all about finding inspiration in the art of others. This general idea can go in a million different directions
Research Resources
The pattern recognition process of this activity requires that students look at lots of works by the same artist to identify patterns that they want to bring out in their own programs. You can have the class do this research entirely on their own, but if you’d like to scaffold the process a bit I recommend sharing the following sites as a starting point.
- Piet Mondrian - There are a lot of Mondrian works available here, just make sure to direct students to the more geometric examples.
- Vera Molnár - While she’s worked (and continues to work) in a wide range of mediums, this paper covers many of Vera Molnár’s early computer generated creations. In addition to a great resource to compare her works, the paper covers her creation process and the inspirational role that Mondrian’s work played.
- A. Michael Noll - One of the pioneers of computer art working at Bell Labs, Noll’s art combines simple lines and randomness in a way that really lends itself to turtle graphics.
Exemplar Projects
This exemplar uses nested loops to recreate the colored rectangle features of Mondrian’s art.
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This one still takes inspiration from Mondrian, but through the lens of Molnár.
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And finally an exemplar based on the pioneering works of A. Michael Noll.
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