Week 2 - Math + Art

 April 14, 2023

Growing up, I always thought of math and art as opposites. In school art was generally regarded as much easier than math and a voluntary subject rather than a required one. Grading for art was much more subjective, while math always had only one right answer. I never saw the ways that the two disciplines were similar, until high school when I went on a class trip to Paris and visited the Louvre. 

[Figure 1] The Louvre Museum 

While at the Louvre, our tour guide walked us through many pieces and gave us more information on their creation. The tour guide helped me see the intersections of art and math, nearly every sculpture or painting I saw began as structures and shapes. While I’d always viewed art as random and free, after my visit to the Louvre I started to think of art differently. 

This week's lecture brought me back to that time, especially when we explored the golden ratio. Professor Vesna demonstrated how Leonardo Da Vinci used the golden ratio to create one of the most renowned works of all time, the Mona Lisa (Vesna 23:47). Learning about the ratio during this week’s class helped me see all of the other incredible works of art that use it. 

[Figure 2] The Parthenon c. 447 BC. Athens, Greece

After this week, I don’t think that math and art are juxtaposed. I think my biggest takeaway from this week is that the only reason I believe the two subjects are opposite is because we’ve been taught that they are separate from a young age. While reading Flatland, it occurred to me that if we only taught math with the freedom and creativity with which we give to art classes it might lead to better understanding (Abbott). I’ve always thought I wasn’t very good at math, but I’m very good at crafting and creating and this week allowed me to see how much math is involved in those processes. 

[Figure 3] Crocheted Coral 

Citations 

Abbott, Edwin A. Flatland: A Romance in Many Dimensions. Penguin, 1998.

“Crochet Coral Reef Project.” Crochet Coral Reef, https://crochetcoralreef.org/about/theproject/.

Lewis, Susan. “The Glorious Parthenon.” PBS. Published on January 29, 2008.                 www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/ancient/glorious-parthenon.html

Mauney, Anna Claire. “The Golden Ratio Revealed in 7 Masterpieces.” Art & Object, 6 July 2021, https://www.artandobject.com/slideshows/golden-ratio-revealed-7-masterpieces.

Vesna, Victoria. "Mathematics-pt1-ZeroPerspectiveGoldenMean.mov." Youtube, uploaded by UC Online, 9 April 2012, www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMmq5B1LKDg&t=1719s.

Image Citations

[Figure 1] “Musée Du Louvre: Paris, France: Attractions.” Lonely Planet, 2018,                                             https://www.lonelyplanet.com/france/paris/louvre-and-les-halles/attractions/musee-du-louvre/a/poi-sig/372123/1322719.

[Figure 2] Baviere, Guillaume. “Golden Ratio Applied By Art & Object.” Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?search=golden%2Bratio%2Bapplied%2Bto%2Bart%2B%26%2Bobjec&title=Special%3AMediaSearch&go=Go&type=image.

[Figure 3] Barnett, Rebekah. “Gallery: What Happens When You Mix Math, Coral and Crochet? It's Mind-Blowing.” Ideas.ted.com, 31 Jan. 2017, https://ideas.ted.com/gallery-what-happens-when-you-mix-math-coral-and-crochet-its-mind-blowing/.