The Art of Mathematics: Kolams

Kolams are a type of local art from South India. Read about them at the Wikipedia site for Kolams (it is a quick read, but a very interesting one).

What interests me about this kind of art is the symmetry. Below is a slide show demonstrating more Kolams. What kind of symmetry to they have? Are there examples that you can find that have more than one kind of symmetry? (Don’t be afraid to do some hunting around on the web to find some goodies.)

Let’s have a conversation in the comments about the different types of symmetry that exists in different Kolams.

Here is a slide show of different Kolams from Slide.com user Sravani. (If you like the slideshow, drop her a comment and a 5-star rating.)

Oh, and yes… it goes completely without saying that if you make one of these (especially if you use the rice powder or colored sand), I want to see a serious photo of it. Link your Facebook, put it on Flickr, no me importa, just get it to me.