Simon Beck's Snow Art

I actually did this little write up below for my Geometry For Design class, but thought I would share on the blog too, since it is definitely art related. Funny, I had seen his work a few years ago, and thought "cool", and then went on with my life. Now that I saw it again while I am taking the Geometry class, it resonates so much more, since now I know how to draft some of the designs he uses!  Pretty cool when things happen in the right place at the right time.

The other night, while watching the Science Channel, I saw a short blurb about a man named Simon Beck, who makes giant “snow art” by making footprints artfully arranged in the snow.  An engineer, turned cartographer, Simon creates huge pictures in the snow, often very geometric (rather than free form) designs, and executes them with mind blowing precision. How does he do this on such a grand scale, using only his feet as the drawing tools? 

With Geometry of course…. and a compass. 

He figures out his designs based on a circle (360 degrees) and then uses a compass (360 degrees) to keep himself on track as to which direction on the circle to walk. He paces out the steps to determine the length of a given line, and repeats the same pace in multiple directions according to his design.

This example features the isosceles 60-degree triangles.  The triangles are resized and repeated, and filled in with more footprints to create the "shading".  His designs can take up to 12 hours to complete, and he can walk as much as 25 miles to make one drawing.  Pretty amazing application for Geometry!