Spatial analysis of "crazy quilts", a class of potentially random aesthetic artefacts.
Human artefacts in general are highly structured and often display ordering principles such as translational, reflectional or rotational symmetry. In contrast, human artefacts that are intended to appear random and non symmetrical are very rare. Furthermore, many studies show that humans find it ext...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Public Library of Science (PLoS)
2013-01-01
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| Series: | PLoS ONE |
| Online Access: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmid/24066095/pdf/?tool=EBI |
| _version_ | 1818337824985841664 |
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| author | Gesche Westphal-Fitch W Tecumseh Fitch |
| author_facet | Gesche Westphal-Fitch W Tecumseh Fitch |
| author_sort | Gesche Westphal-Fitch |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Human artefacts in general are highly structured and often display ordering principles such as translational, reflectional or rotational symmetry. In contrast, human artefacts that are intended to appear random and non symmetrical are very rare. Furthermore, many studies show that humans find it extremely difficult to recognize or reproduce truly random patterns or sequences. Here, we attempt to model two-dimensional decorative spatial patterns produced by humans that show no obvious order. "Crazy quilts" represent a historically important style of quilt making that became popular in the 1870s, and lasted about 50 years. Crazy quilts are unusual because unlike most human artefacts, they are specifically intended to appear haphazard and unstructured. We evaluate the degree to which this intention was achieved by using statistical techniques of spatial point pattern analysis to compare crazy quilts with regular quilts from the same region and era and to evaluate the fit of various random distributions to these two quilt classes. We found that the two quilt categories exhibit fundamentally different spatial characteristics: The patch areas of crazy quilts derive from a continuous random distribution, while area distributions of regular quilts consist of Gaussian mixtures. These Gaussian mixtures derive from regular pattern motifs that are repeated and we suggest that such a mixture is a distinctive signature of human-made visual patterns. In contrast, the distribution found in crazy quilts is shared with many other naturally occurring spatial patterns. Centroids of patches in the two quilt classes are spaced differently and in general, crazy quilts but not regular quilts are well-fitted by a random Strauss process. These results indicate that, within the constraints of the quilt format, Victorian quilters indeed achieved their goal of generating random structures. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-13T15:01:22Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-9711a8cdee2244418eb9b50833fc4086 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1932-6203 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-13T15:01:22Z |
| publishDate | 2013-01-01 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | PLoS ONE |
| spelling | doaj.art-9711a8cdee2244418eb9b50833fc40862022-12-21T23:41:07ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032013-01-0189e7405510.1371/journal.pone.0074055Spatial analysis of "crazy quilts", a class of potentially random aesthetic artefacts.Gesche Westphal-FitchW Tecumseh FitchHuman artefacts in general are highly structured and often display ordering principles such as translational, reflectional or rotational symmetry. In contrast, human artefacts that are intended to appear random and non symmetrical are very rare. Furthermore, many studies show that humans find it extremely difficult to recognize or reproduce truly random patterns or sequences. Here, we attempt to model two-dimensional decorative spatial patterns produced by humans that show no obvious order. "Crazy quilts" represent a historically important style of quilt making that became popular in the 1870s, and lasted about 50 years. Crazy quilts are unusual because unlike most human artefacts, they are specifically intended to appear haphazard and unstructured. We evaluate the degree to which this intention was achieved by using statistical techniques of spatial point pattern analysis to compare crazy quilts with regular quilts from the same region and era and to evaluate the fit of various random distributions to these two quilt classes. We found that the two quilt categories exhibit fundamentally different spatial characteristics: The patch areas of crazy quilts derive from a continuous random distribution, while area distributions of regular quilts consist of Gaussian mixtures. These Gaussian mixtures derive from regular pattern motifs that are repeated and we suggest that such a mixture is a distinctive signature of human-made visual patterns. In contrast, the distribution found in crazy quilts is shared with many other naturally occurring spatial patterns. Centroids of patches in the two quilt classes are spaced differently and in general, crazy quilts but not regular quilts are well-fitted by a random Strauss process. These results indicate that, within the constraints of the quilt format, Victorian quilters indeed achieved their goal of generating random structures.https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmid/24066095/pdf/?tool=EBI |
| spellingShingle | Gesche Westphal-Fitch W Tecumseh Fitch Spatial analysis of "crazy quilts", a class of potentially random aesthetic artefacts. PLoS ONE |
| title | Spatial analysis of "crazy quilts", a class of potentially random aesthetic artefacts. |
| title_full | Spatial analysis of "crazy quilts", a class of potentially random aesthetic artefacts. |
| title_fullStr | Spatial analysis of "crazy quilts", a class of potentially random aesthetic artefacts. |
| title_full_unstemmed | Spatial analysis of "crazy quilts", a class of potentially random aesthetic artefacts. |
| title_short | Spatial analysis of "crazy quilts", a class of potentially random aesthetic artefacts. |
| title_sort | spatial analysis of crazy quilts a class of potentially random aesthetic artefacts |
| url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmid/24066095/pdf/?tool=EBI |
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