Tessellations are patterns that tile a surface without gaps or overlaps using repeating shapes. M.C. Escher used tessellations in his artworks. Regular tessellations only use one regular polygon like squares, while semi-regular tessellations mix polygon shapes. Nature also exhibits tessellations in structures like beehives and snake scales. For a tessellation to work, the interior angles of the component shapes must sum to 360 degrees when arranged around a point.