Week 2: Math + Art

Golden Ratio Example

 This week's materials have allowed me to see how math and art are so intimately connected, as well as the profound impact that math has had on art throughout history. I enjoyed learning about the Golden Ratio, a proportional practice that has influenced great works of art and architecture such as the Parthenon and DaVinci's Mona Lisa. Another area I saw this connection was in the discussion of Brunelleschi's discovery of the Vanishing Point. I had learned about this in a previous art class, but I did not realize that it was also a mathematical principle! In Marc Frantz's piece on the Vanishing Point in relation to perspective, he notes that: "If we view art from the wrong viewpoint, it can appear distorted—a cube can look like a dumpster" (2000). This illustrates just how vital perspective is for art composition, and how mathematical principles such as the vanishing point help create these standards. 

Vanishing Point Example

One resource I found particularly fascinating this week was the crochet coral reef project. The project raises awareness about climate change through environmental science and applied mathematics. The reef is crocheted using hyperbolic geometry, mimicking real coral's natural geometric structures. These structures are created through natural processes that help the coral to be more successful, and the crocheted version shows just how complex they are! Not only was this mathematical principle revealing of scientific processes, but it also made the art piece more realistic and beautiful, which I think is a perfect example of math influencing art and science! 

I also loved how something as beautiful as the Mandelbrot set (a fractal) was created by a quadratic equation. (Seen below) This is further proof that math creates beautiful art.

Mandelbrot Set

This week I learned just how heavily art is influenced by math, and I think it is safe to say that all artists (whether beginner or advanced) take advantage of certain mathematical principles when creating their work. Even a simple sketch using guiding lines for proportion or perspective harnesses the power of geometry.  

References:

1. (2024, March 20). Athens Parthenon and the golden ratio :hands on!. The Acropolis of Athens. https://acropolis-greece.com/2023/07/22/parthenon-the-golden-ratio-and-the-timeless-legacy-in-mathematics/#:~:text=The%20Parthenon’s%20Dimensions%20and%20Proportions,-The%20Parthenon’s%20layout&text=The%20columns%20of%20the%20temple,nod%20to%20the%20Golden%20Ratio.

2. Crochet Coral Reef: About the Project. Crochet Coral Reef. (n.d.). https://crochetcoralreef.org/about/theproject/

3. Lesson 3: Vanishing points and looking at art. (n.d.-a). http://www.cs.ucf.edu/courses/cap6938-02/refs/VanishingPoints.pdf

4. Mandelbrot set. from Wolfram MathWorld. (n.d.). https://mathworld.wolfram.com/MandelbrotSet.html

5. Vesna, V. (2012, April 9). Mathematics-PT1-ZeroPerspectiveGoldenMean.mov. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMmq5B1LKDg

Images: 

1.  Culotta, A. (2023, November 22). The magic of math: Artists and the Golden Ratio. Invaluable. https://www.invaluable.com/blog/the-magic-of-math-artists-and-the-golden-ratio/

2. (2022, September 4). Perspective in art. Widewalls. https://www.widewalls.ch/magazine/perspective-in-art

3. Mandelbrot set. from Wolfram MathWorld. (n.d.). https://mathworld.wolfram.com/MandelbrotSet.html