Thinking back to grade school the combination of art and math was personal because it combined my two favorite subjects. I first learned about the Fibonacci sequence and its bond with nature's growth and connection to everything, back in 7th grade and it blew my little mind. One activity though that seemed to have followed me through grade levels was “simply” plotting points on a graph to make a drawing.
It started in lower grades with just plotting basic points that were given and seeing the character you created, but then in 8th grade, the doors opened to Desmos (a graphing calculator computer application) to create our own drawings using whatever algebra we were learning at the time. I ended up graphing enough lines to create the red Teletubby Po. From there it got even more advanced in my junior year math class where I created about 198 calculus equations to create a melting Rubix cube! Yes, these projects took immense trial and error and time but they were a ton of fun, and the fact they were created by something more than an artistic eye. There is beauty to the challenge and pages of equations in the end.
Po the teletubie “Po (Teletubbies).” Joke Battles Wikia, https://joke-battles.fandom.com/wiki/Po_(Teletubbies).
(an example of some of the complex art you can create on desmos) “Announcing the DESMOS Global Math Art Contest.” Des, https://blog.desmos.com/articles/art-contest-launch/.
My own two art pieces concerning Piero de la Francescas 3 principles of a painting (proportion/perspective, drawing, color)
What this week's topic showed me is that yes math can be applied to art intentionally, with ancient perspective techniques and using the perfect spiral, but also used unintentionally, like the professor mentioned, whether we as artists like to admit it or not.
I think of perspective and proportions as an unintentional connection between math and art. Math is being used but as a small tool to guide your work. When drawing or painting two-dimensionally you need to change your perspective from our 3D world and separate what you’re seeing into the shapes and shadows that will make your painting transform. When Leonardo Davinci said “perspective is a rational demonstration by which experience confirms that the images of all things are transmitted to the eye by pyramidal lines” he was referring to the vanishing point. This is used to help the audience change their perspective from 2D to 3D in an image.
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Sources
Vesna, Victoria. Mathematics-pt1-ZeroPerspectiveGoldenMean.mov. YouTube, YouTube, 9 Apr. 2012, www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMmq5B1LKDg&ab_channel=UCOnline.
Lang, Robert. “Transcript of ‘The Math and Magic of Origami.’” TED, www.ted.com/talks/robert_lang_the_math_and_magic_of_origami/transcript.
Fibonacci, Fractals and Financial Markets - Youtube. 31 May 2007, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RE2Lu65XxTU.
Portrait Proportions an Art&Mathdiscoverylesson. Santa Barbra Museum of Art, https://content.sbma.net/education/lessonPlans/pdf/38%20Portrait%20Proportions.pdf.
Abbott, Edwin Abbott. Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions. 1884.
I think that drawing on Desmos is such a fun and creative idea! I also loved the way Desmos would create such pretty patterns when multiple equations were put in, with multiple colors, and I love that math has such a fun use. It goes to show that so much of art can be written in a different, technical format, and still be so beautiful.
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