Windmill Hill, nr Avebury, Wiltshire. Reported 18th June.

CROP CIRCLES IN 2000

Windmill Hill, nr Avebury, Wiltshire. Reported 18th June.

GPS Reference SU08027134

Updated Wednesday 28th June 2000

Crop Circle Week-End Event

Saturday and Sunday 15th/16th July 2000

FIELD REPORT

A formation @ Windmill Hill nr Avebury, Reported 18/6/00 (Wheat)

by Charles Mallett (Signs Of The Times C & F Phenomenon Research)

Painting by Hungarian artist Victor Vasarely.

(Credit to Peter Sorensen for his 1960s Op Art suggestion)

Vega-Nor is an excellent example of Op art, a movement that developed in the 1960s. Op artists, interested in the scientific properties of color and line, studied how the eye’s retina processes information and how that information is translated in the brain. They found that through the manipulation of color and line, our perception can be fooled. Thus the name Op art, which refers to optics and optical illusions.

Vega-Nor creates the optical illusion of a sphere on a flat surface. The illusion is successful due to the ways in which Vasarely used color, shape, and line. Warm colors such as orange and yellow tend to advance in space, and were chosen to surround the central squares, thus making them seem to pop out. The largest and least distorted shapes are in the center as well. Shapes become progressively thinner and smaller as they get farther away from the center, which makes them seem to recede into space. The lines also reinforce the illusion. The center horizontal and vertical lines are straight, even though they may not at first appear to be so, while the others curve at carefully calculated angles. The small squares in each corner are the same size and painted with straight lines, creating a convincing background for the illusionistic sphere.

There is more to Vasarely’s art than the science of colors and optics, however. He was also very interested in a democratic form of art that everyone could understand, not just those with certain types of educational backgrounds and experiences. Op Art serves that goal well. There is no story to tell, history to know, or symbolism essential to the work’s comprehension. Vasarely was also inspired by nature, and it is here that meaning beyond the optical illusion can be found if desired. He said: "VEGA is a distant star well-known by everyone….This composition expresses the extension, the expansion of the Universe: the extreme of the great infinities of Nature.

Article sent to us by Nicola Latham Source Albrightknox Art Gallery

GRIDLOCKED

by GRAHAM TUCKER

This latest article from Graham Tucker, explains the relationship which is now apparent within the formations we see today with regard to their size, layout, and overall design. The formation at Windmill Hill was a example of how the Circlemakers want us to experience them, from an aerial viewpoint.

Return to the Crop Circles of 2000

Mark Fussell & Stuart Dike

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