New date! Practical Geometry: Construction Before the Industrial Revolution

25 East Main Street,Cambridge NY 12816

17 March, 2023

Description

**This class replaces the Part 1 class that was cancelled due to weather, and will include elements originally covered in Part 2.** Can you draw a square with a compass and a straight edge (a ruler with no numbers on it)? Your ancestors could. They used Geometry to work out the designs of quilts, furniture, machine parts, and buildings. This 'Practical Geometry' was taught in school as an art and a technical skill until at least 1930. Even as machines made many things, people who worked with their hands, who designed and built, used geometry. They who built the pyramids and they who built the houses and barns in Cambridge used compasses, twine, lines, straight edges and pegs for layout and design. In this class, I will share this history with a power point presentation. We will practice drawing a square beginning with a circle, then move on to more complex patterns for craft work or a house design using a compass, straight edge, and a pencil. Taught by architect and historian Jane Griswold Radocchia. This class will meet in the Board room of the Beacon Feed Studio, Hubbard Hall campus.