The Platonic Solids, a five-part sculpture series created by   Snohomish County artist, Paul Vexler, is on temporary exhibit in the lobby of the Robert J. Drewel Building. Vexler's applications of design, art, mechanical engineering and craftsmanship symbolize the nexus between art and science. 

 
Using hundreds of pieces of recycled mahogany and fir, Vexler constructs intricate and dynamic mathematical patterns of infinite possibilities.  "Although they are named after the famous Greek philosopher, they were studied and admired by many cultures in the ancient world." Vexler said. 
 
A platonic solid is a polyhedron all of whose faces are congruent regular polygons, and where the same number of faces meet at every vertex. The best known example is a cube, whose faces are six congruent squares.  The key observation is that the interior angles of the polygons meeting at a vertex of a polyhedron add to less than 360 degrees.
 
The exhibit includes the five unique shapes of convex polyhedra: the Tetrahedron, the Hexahedron (cube), the Octahedron, the Icosahedron and the Dodecahedron.

"Through the ages, the polyhedra have been studied by philosophers, mathematicians, artists, astronomers and scientists," Vexler said. "They have been associated with various mystical and cosmological schools of thought. Their natural beauty is undeniable."
  
The Platonic Solids will be on view through Dec. 31, 2010. For more information, contact Wendy Becker at (425) 388-3186

To view the artists other sculptures:www.paulvexler.com.