Dick Termes is an innovative American artist who uses a six point perspective

Perspective (graphical)

Perspective in the graphic arts, such as drawing, is an approximate representation, on a flat surface , of an image as it is seen by the eye...

 system that he devised to create unique paintings on large spheres called Termespheres.

Termespheres

Termespheres are paintings on spherical canvases that capture an entire environment (Up, Down, Left, Right, Front & Back). Termespheres are typically hung by small chains and rotated with electric ceiling motors to reveal a complete world as the spheres slowly rotate. Optical illusions tend to appear as the spheres rotate. Although the image is painted on the outside of the convex sphere, the vantage point continuously changes. The rotation also may appear to reverse direction, giving the sensation that the viewer is inside the painting viewing the concave surface of the inside of the rotating sphere. Although the six point perspective appears very non-linear and distorted when viewed on a two-dimensional plane, when the design is superimposed on the sphere, the perspective appears corrected. Termes acknowledges strong influences from M.C. Escher and Buckminster Fuller

Buckminster Fuller

Richard Buckminster “Bucky” Fuller was an American systems theorist, author, designer, inventor, futurist and second president of Mensa International, the high IQ society....

 in developing his technique.

Workshops & Lectures

Dick Termes conducts lectures and workshops for schools, education professionals, mathematicians and the general public, revealing the connections between art and math/science in his work. He performs workshops and lectures covering topics including:

• slides/exhibits of Termespheres
• one to six point perspective
• creating polyhedra models
• three dimensional structures
• making geodesic domes

Education

Dick Termes received a B.S. with an art major from Black Hills State University

Black Hills State University

Black Hills State University, South Dakota's third largest comprehensive public university, offering both undergraduate and graduate programs. The campus is located in Spearfish, South Dakota. Close to 5,000 students attend classes at the Spearfish campus, at sites in Rapid City, Pierre, Yankton,...

 in 1964, a Masters Degree in Art in 1969 from the University of Wyoming

University of Wyoming

The University of Wyoming is a land-grant university located in Laramie, Wyoming, situated on Wyoming's high Laramie Plains, at an elevation of 7,200 feet , between the Laramie and Snowy Range mountains. It is known as UW to people close to the university...

, and Masters of Fine Arts at Otis Art Institute of Los Angeles County, 1971.

Awards

• Rushmore Honors Award, Rapid City SD. 2006
• Breckenridge Festival of Film, Documentary TERMESPHERES: TOTAL WORLDS 2001
• Governor's Award for Distinction in Creative Achievement 1999
• S.D. Museum of Art- Artistic Achievement Citation, 1986
• Four South Dakota Arts Council Fellowship Grants, 1976-80-84-94
• Three Semesters paid by Otis Art Institute, Los Angeles Ca.1969-71 for MFA

External links

• http://www.termespheres.com This is the personal web site for Dick Termes.
• http://www.practicalpainting.com/Articles/Interviews/DickTermes.htm An interview with Dick Termes for Practical Painting in which he describes his influences in painting and explains what six point perspective is. Termespheres such as The Pantheon, Food for Thought, and The Stairway of Life are featured.
• http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20041218/mathtrek.asp A column entry by Ivars Peterson entitled “Sphere Worlds” for ScienceNews.
• http://illusionworks.com/mod/termes.htm A link to purchase the book, Masters of Deception: Escher, Dalí & the Artists of Optical Illusion, which includes a chapter on Dick Termes.
• http://www.maa.org/mathland/mathtrek_12_20_04.html An installment of Ivars Peterson’s MathTreck for the Mathematical Association of America that features Dick Termes’ spherical worlds.
• http://www.boingboing.net/2004/12/27/spherical-paintings.html A post on BoingBoing by David Pescovitz which describes Termespheres and provides a link to the Termespheres website.
• http://mathpaint.blogspot.com/2007/01/spherical-artworks-by-dick-termes.html Mathematical Paintings and Sculptures blog post on Dick Termes.
• http://arpam.free.fr/termes.html An article entitled “Getting Out of the Box and Into the Sphere” by Dick Termes which describes concepts and the geometry behind Termespheres.
• http://www.mmi.unimaas.nl/people/Veltman/articles/perspectives/art35.htm A paper by Dr. Kim H. Veltman entitled “Perception, Perspective and Representation in North America” in which Dick Termes and his work is discussed.
• http://www.scottkim.com/inversions/gallery/termes.html An Inversions Gallery optical illusion by Scott Kim that was inspired by Dick Termes.
• http://www.sciencenewsforkids.org/pages/puzzlezone/muse/muse0902.asp An article for Science News for Kids by Ivars Peterson entitled “Global Views”.
• http://www.termespheres.com/math-horizons.html A link to the Math Horizons September 2001 issue which features Dick Termes on the front and back cover. The magazine also has a lengthy article on him and his work.
• http://hermay.org/ARPAM/text/termen.html The article “Getting Out of the Box and Into the Sphere” by Dick Termes in the September 2000 issue of Arts et Mathématiques.
• http://www.youtube.com/results?search_type=&search_query=termespheres&aq=f This is a set of 30 youtubes that show individual Termespheres in motion and Termesphere shows as well as how to do four point perspective and lots of other information.
• http://www.rudyrucker.com/blog/2008/06/26/dick-termes-paints-on-spheres/ Rudy’s Blob has a wonderful explanation of Dick Termes Termespheres and shows the environment of the domes Termes works in. This came from a visit Rudy made to the Black Hills.
• http://www.make-digital.com/make/vol17/?pg=26 This is an article in MAKE magazine where it shows the four foot sphere done for Sioux Falls and explains it.
• http://www.bhsu.edu/AboutBHSU/TransformingLives/tabid/5901/Default.aspx
• http://www.termespheres.com/math-horizons.html This is a great article that was in Math Horizons magazine and later put into a book called THE EDGE OF THE UNIVERSE which celebrated ten years of Math Horizons.
• http://agsci.oregonstate.edu/orb/sites/default/files/TomorrowsTableReview.pdf This is a great article by SCIENCE on Termes’ work.
• http://www.hopsd.org/exhibits/termespheres/ This shows a video of Termes” HANDS ON PARTNERSHIP showing that is touring the state of South Dakota which shows the connection of math and art.
• http://www.bridgesmathart.org/art-exhibits/bridges2005/DickTermes.html This shows lots of spheres which tie to the Math/Art connection put together by a group called Bridges which meet in a different country every years.
• http://www.jstor.org/pss/1575568 This is an article by the Leonardo Magazine Termes wrote on 1-6 point perspective.
• http://books.google.com/books?id=6c0qxylJdH8C&pg=RA1-PA279&lpg=RA1-PA279&dq=termesphere&source=bl&ots=1Z385aw1Vw&sig=EhrARW7GHMa2n_n0NVTInYddoS8&hl=en&ei=LX5FSs78DpSuNoTJtZ8B&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2http://books.google.com/books?id=6c0qxylJdH8C&pg=RA1-PA279&lpg=RA1-PA279&dq=termesphere&source=bl&ots=1Z385aw1Vw&sig=EhrARW7GHMa2n_n0NVTInYddoS8&hl=en&ei=LX5FSs78DpSuNoTJtZ8B&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2] This is an article on Termespheres which gets into some wonderful details on Termes’s work.