Week 2 : Math + Art

Before watching this weeks lectures, I had actually never considered the fact that math is such an integral part of art, especially in architecture. Throughout history, artists and mathematicians have constantly learned from each other in order to improve their own theories and creations. There are so many measurements and mathematical procedures, such as the golden ratio, to create proportions and dimensions for each piece of art that take into consideration the way that viewers see the objects as well, with the vanishing point theory. 
From the links on the website, the one that caught my attention was “The Mathematical Art of M.C. Escher” because I remember seeing so many pieces of his artwork hung in my math classrooms all throughout middle and high school. I remember how intriguing they were, but it had never occurred to me that they had anything to do with math. Escher used basic patterns of simple polygons to create tessellations, “applying what is called reflections, glide reflections, translations, and rotations to obtain a greater variety of patterns” (CITE). Personally, my favorite thing about his pieces is the way that many of them have patterns that start as basic shapes, such as squares, but he slowly distorts them into animal figures throughout the pieces. He proves a connection between math and art through the way that he uses mathematical shapes and structures in order to create some of the most unique art pieces that I’ve seen. 

Cycle by MC Escher
http://platonicrealms.com/minitexts/Mathematical-Art-Of-M-C-Escher/

MC Escher
http://mycolormusic.com/the-mind-bending-mathematics-of-colormusic/

Development 1 by MC Escher
http://platonicrealms.com/minitexts/Mathematical-Art-Of-M-C-Escher/

Sources: 

"Mathematical art of M.C. Escher." Mathematical art of M.C. Escher - Impossible world. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Apr. 2017. <http://im-possible.info/english/articles/escher_math/escher_math.html>

Sonia Landy Sheridan - Home Page. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Apr. 2017. <http://www.sonart.org/>.

Smith, B. Sidney. "The Mathematical Art of M.C. Escher." Platonic Realms Minitexts. Platonic Realms, 13 Mar 2014. Web. 13 Mar 2014. <http://platonicrealms.com/>

Stix, Andi. "The Link Between Art and Mathematics." Stix Picks for the Interactive Classroom. N.p., 29 Apr. 2012. Web. 11 Apr. 2017. <http://www.andistix.com/link_art_and_math>.


"2017." MAEDASTUDIO. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Apr. 2017. <https://maedastudio.com/>.

Comments

  1. SZTApril 18, 2017 at 6:23 PM

    Similar to Ms. Kish, I was also intrigued by Mr. Escher's art work at a young age. Mr. Escher's art work is also referenced multiple times in the Scooby Doo franchise, a franchise which took up a huge portion of my childhood. However, unlike Ms. Kish, I was more inspired by Mr. Escher's art pieces dealing with geometry. A famous example would be the painting entitled Relativity, which features stairs connected in seemingly impossible ways. His perception and depiction of geometry is what made me interested in optical illusions and subsequently the science behind them.

    ReplyDelete
  2. UnknownApril 19, 2017 at 10:26 PM

    Hey Mary,

    Really enjoyed your blog post - it was well written! To your point about how the math is utilized in art, it is interesting the math that we learn in class isn't just "equations on a page." As you write about, Escher's utilization of geometry is abundant in his pieces and many famous artists have similarly incorporated mathematical concepts into their artwork, most notably Jackson Pollock, among others.

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