Skip to main content

Week 2 - Math + Art

Geometry of Greek vases with geometric
proportions of the golden ratio.
(http://en.citizendium.org/wiki/Golden_ratio)
I like to believe that math is a strong subject of mine, but prior to this week, I never made the connection between art and math. When someone mentions math, I immediately think of numbers and equations, but in this week's lecture, Dr. Vesna discusses the concept of golden ratio which isn't simply an equation, instead used shapes, specifically, rectangles in a certain pattern for architectural design and art pieces, like vases, dating back to 440 BC (uconlineprogram).

 From using shapes, which are two dimensional, to develop the golden ratio, which is applied to three-dimensional objects. The inverse was performed as well, such that three-dimensional objects, scenes, and people were painted on a two-dimensional canvas. Paintings by Giotto di Bondone and Leonardo da Vinci were examples of depth on a canvas (D'Arcais). The idea of depth on a canvas is portrayed by the artists and the final product is art. What I noticed was that the process of developing the sense of depth is also called sfumato and requires lots of math such measuring distance of edges and points, transformation, and use of angles (Hulsey & Trusty). Additionally, it seems that artists in the Renaissance era worked together with other intellectuals such as mathematicians to create art. This collaboration seems to be a bridge between the two cultures and makes me wonder if it still occurs in our capitalistic society.
Scrovegni Chapel Frescoes (1303-10) by Giotto, the greatest artist of the trecento, who paved the way for the Italian Renaissance of the 15th century.


Nativity by Giotto, from the Scrovegni Chapel
Taiwan Goldfish, Opus 716 by Robert J. Lang

The final example of art crossing paths with math is the art of origami, transforming a two-dimensional canvas to a three-dimensional object. The activity that pops right in my head is folding the perfect paper airplane that flies the furthest relative to my friends' paper airplanes! Looking back now, I realize that to create the perfect paper airplane, I had to focus on the symmetry of the folds, wide airplane wings for better lift, linear airplane body; all of which can be seen as mathematics and physics! In a similar manner, the origami art by Robert J. Lang is rather precise, as he notes important measurements for every piece of his art (Lang).

Ink/water imprinted crease pattern 
cause self-folding (April, 2012) 
by Industrial Design student, Christophe Guberan, 
from Ecole Cantonale d’art de Lausanne.
Overall in relation to my own career goals, the research I performed for this unit of math and art, helped me understand that art and math are not two separate entity but can work together productively. Personally, the research and artists inspired more project ideas for my science curriculums. Applications include helping students understand the idea of lattice and its mechanics (origami resource center). This is important, primarily because in our education system, the arts are getting less and less funding, and it is important for new teachers to incorporate art into curriculums like math and science so that the next generation of leaders can be well-rounded individuals

Foldable Paper Lithium-Ion Battery, by researchers from Arizona State University.




Sources:

 1. D'Arcais, Francesca Flores. “Giotto Di Bondone.” Art in Tuscany, www.travelingintuscany.com/art/giotto.htm.
2. Hulsey, John, and Ann Trusty. “What's Sfumato with You?” Artists Network, 14 Dec. 2017, www.artistsnetwork.com/art-mediums/oil-painting/whats-sfumato-with-you/.
3. Lang, Robert J. “Robert J. Lang Origami.” Robert J. Lang Origami, www.langorigami.com/.
4. “Origami Science.” Origami-like Techniques Used in Advanced Tecnologies., 
www.origami-resource-center.com/origami-science.html.
5. uconlineprogram. "Mathematics-pt1-ZeroPerspectiveGoldenMean.mov." Online video clip. YouTube. YouTube, 9 April 2012. Web. 13 April 2017.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Event 2 - Tangent Contemporary Art Gallery

I visited the Tangent Contemporary Art Gallery in downtown San Francisco. One of their ‘reverspective’ window pieces caught my eye and inspired me to further explore the type of art in their gallery. From the curator, I learned that stimulus like light, and environment, wall color, may influence greatly how the art is perceived. In my previous psychology class on sensation and perception,   different visual cues can alter the focal image, thus it makes sense that the environment is very important and needs to be considered for a ‘reverspective’ art piece. Additionally, there is research that supports the fact that the absence of specific painted cues can affect how the art piece is perceived (Papathomas 525). This art exhibit inspired me to make lots of connection my major of psychobiology. The concept of binocular cues is important in viewing the art at this gallery. If I closed one eye, the perceived image will lose the aspect of depth. Binocular
Post a Comment
Read more

Event 1 - Acoustical Visions, Bill Fontana

Bill Fontana's artistic vision In this presentation, Bill Fontana proposes his vision of art and how it was during certain state of minds, or moments, when he feels musical, that sounds around him also becomes musical (Fontana 1978). As a science student, I initially imagined that being like my ‘Aha! moment’, but as his presentation went on, it changed. Fort Mason in San Francisco, a presentation slide from Bill Fontana One of Fontana’s early project took place in San Francisco, which is also my home! He recorded the sounds of fog horns at Fort Mason, in San Francisco. In this project, Fontana approaches the sounds of the fog horns as a structure that allows sound to bring together the real time between different spaces. During the presentation, I felt conflicted because I was not sure how real time and different spaces could be connected through sound, since sound travelled at a set speed, 343 meters per second, people at different locations would e
Post a Comment
Read more

Week 7 - Neuroscience + Art

This week we tackled the collaboration between neuroscience and art. As a psychobiology major, Ramon y Cajal is often mentioned in my psychology classes for the technique of staining cells. The idea of neuroscience and art allowed me to develop a better understanding of my presence and renders a reflective aura that makes me see my own life through a more artistic lens.  Consciousness is an idea prefaced by Dr. Vesna, and I believe the idea of brainbow, allowing us to see the neuron in the brain is a step towards "expanding our consciousness" (Vesna). To better the understanding of our body is one that can help us better our lifestyle. I believe this idea that machines might take over the world is similar to the whole issue with guns. It is up to us, based on policy and regulation on how involved we want machines to be for our society. Consciousness can be furthered evaluated through the idea of a "modern man". In the abstract text by Carl Jung, he states
Post a Comment
Read more