Richard Ahrens
"Bacteriophage"
Plastic strapping, 24cm x 24cm x 18cm, 2004.
"Genus 1 doughnut "
Plastic strapping tape , 25cm x 25cm x 15cm, 2004.
"Genus 2 doughnut"
Plastic strapping tape, 40cm x 35cm x 10cm, 2003.
Richard Ahrens
"Piece 1 is an example of 'open hexagonal plaiting'. Basketmakers in many parts of the world employ this weave - notably Africa and the Far East. The weave is suited to very regular material - commonly split bamboo. Here plastic strapping has been employed.
Both pieces 2 and 3 are woven using a complex weave employed in Malaysia and the Philippines known sometimes as 'mad weave' or the 'anyam gila'. This weave can be constructed as an elaboration of the 'open hexagonal weave' of piece 1. In constructing pieces like these it is helpful to be aware of the Euler Characteristic of the surface. This property of the surface demands certain variations in the weave.
The basic hexagonal weave produces a flat piece of mesh. To make more complex shapes hexagonal holes are modified t o produce corners. In this piece hexagons are modified to pentagons and one quadrilateral making 2 types of positively (like a ball) curved corner. To make the 'neck' extra threads were introduced turning 4 hexagons into heptagons and creating a negatively (like a saddle) curved surface.
Piece 2 has employed 12 pentagonal points and 24 heptagonal points (on the negatively curved regions). Piece 3 manages with 6 heptagonal and 6 pentagonal points as the Euler Characteristic of this piece is 0. "
richardah@ukgateway.net