These three brief videos introduce and examine “aniconic” art or abstract design

These three brief videos introduce and examine “aniconic” art or abstract design in Islamic art.
The first provides an overview with wonderful video footage of what we in the Western world designate as “craft. However in Islamic art, it would be more appropriate to recognize this art as art, not craft, but art that is “ANICONIC”, which means art that expresses through abstract metaphors, rather than symbolically with recognizable images. Because “aniconic” art is not frequently seen in Western art, Westerners and Western Art Historians seem to have a “blind spot” in grasping the differences between craft or design as understood in the Western World, and the aniconic art or designs in Islamic art that express more like abstract art does. However, a further distinction should be made that in Islamic art, rather than aiming to express “personal” content we see in Western abstract art, aniconic (abstract) Islamic art aims to express “revelatory” (divinely sourced) content.
The second video examines the mathematical design or organization of the Alhambra palace in Grenada, Spain, which illustrates mathematical principles that we, the ones who experience the Allhambra, “read” only on a subconsious level when we feel the harmony of the plan.
The third illustrates how we can create the abstraction of Islamic geometric pattern, with its complex geometry, using only a simple compass, pencil, and paper.
I hope that these videos add both visual illustration and some conceptual depth about the designs you see on the architecture we’re studying, so you can appreciate the designs with a little more depth of understanding.
For your discussion post, you may choose one of the three options below.
1.) You may try your own hand at creating a geometric star pattern such as we see in Islamic art, using the simple techniques illustrated by Erig Broug, and post what you created. It doesn’t have to be perfect! But it can be exciting to make something of a nature that one has never tried before. If you do this, I recommend using a copier to make several copies on thick paper like stock paper if you have it, so you can experiment with filling in the color blocks with different colors. Have fun if you try this!
Making art the old-fashioned way (by hand, figuring things out as you go!) is particularly rewarding, as you really “own” what you figure out and make.
But if you love technology and want to have some fun, here are two programs that can take you down rabbit holes of figuring things out that I find to be mind-boggling interesting, in the aspect of bringing the incredibly rich world of math into two and three dimensions in ways that are super fun. For sure, I recommend at least clicking on the first link below to bring to life in your mind the various types of math and symmetry behind all the amazing patterns in the art we’re looking at.
http://math.hws.edu/eck/js/symmetry/wallpaper.html This one lets you create patterns in all 17 “wallpaper groups” (all mathematically possible planar symmetries) (all of which, remarkably, exist in the Alhambra!) Be sure to click on FREEHAND to be able to create your shapes. I enjoyed figuring out how to recreate my favorite patterns from the Allhambra. This is a super-fun program! Here’s an explanation about planar symmetry groups http://math.hws.edu/eck/js/symmetry/symmetry-info.html
This one lets you make much simpler but fun tessellations. http://www.shodor.org/interactivate/activities/Tessellate/ Be sure to click on TESSELATE to see the results.
2.) You may write about any aspect of these films of interest to you.
3.) If you have your own experience with “aniconic” Islamic art, what in the West is imprecisely called “craft”, please feel free to write about it and hopefully post a few photos.
These videos are short, and this can be a short post; a paragraph would be fine.
This is your thinking space to explore what is of interest to you, in response to these videos.
I look forward to reading or seeing what you post!
Laura
12 minute video: Islamic Art, produced for the Sharjah Islamic Museum in the United Arab Emirates

8 minute video: Islamic Spain: When the Moors Ruled Europe (Allhambra, Grenada)

6 minute video: The Complex Geometry of Islamic Design – Eric Broug