11/11/2021
MATHEMATICS AND ART: HOW DO THEY RELATE?
Although it may seem unlikely that these two subjects, arts and mathematics are from two different worlds because of their nature. However, it seems as though that these two very opposite subjects as well need each other in their fields! It may sound kind of strange or very much odd. How do you apply mathematics into art?
Art can easily be seen as the expression or application of human creative skill and imagination, typically in a visual form such as painting or sculpture, producing works to be appreciated primarily for their beauty or emotional power while mathematics can be defined as the the study of topics as numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. So, how does a subject that requires more creative and imaginative application need mathematics?
We need to understand the similarities of maths and arts. These two disciplines both require spatial reasoning skills. Spatial ability or spatial reasoning is the capacity to understand, reason, and remember the spatial relations among objects or space. It allows you to understand the location and dimension of objects, and how different objects are related. Spatial reasoning is applied to art in the form of imaginative drawing and being able to understand proportions and perspective in character design while in mathematics, spatial reasoning is applied for one to be able to deal with mental maths. This means, spatial reasoning helps students in visualizing math problems in their head and solving them easily.
They both require the ability to recognize patterns. When dealing with both art and maths, you can also tell that they have a connection to shapes and patterns. Mathematics uses shapes in geometry, a branch of mathematics that deals with the measurement, properties, and relationships of points, lines, angles, surfaces, and solids broadly. Applying a hint of geometry in art would be used in the sense of drawing out perspectives of background and proportions of body types, sizes of body parts in portrait of people while drawing or painting a scenery. This helps in showing various objects in a work of art and their distance from each other, the space and how solid the form is, giving it a more realistic feel. Geometrical shapes can also be applied in art with a style called vector design.
Many great artists consciously use math in the process of making a sculpture or painting. Mathematical understanding is often required to create art, especially in the case of sculptures where balance or symmetry is necessary to create the desired effect, or in a painting where correct perspective is needed. An example of a great artist in history who applied mathematics in his work of art is Leonardo Da Vinci, which can be seen in his works Mona Lisa and The Last Supper. He is also viewed as the Mathematical Art Genius in Art History.
Mathematics can also be easily learnt and understood with the help of art! This is where math coloring books, illustration books with mathematical activities come in. These books can also aid in a student’s mental growth in math. For example, if a child see an illustration of 10 apples in the activity book, it helps them visualize more on how to count, subtract and add each one from the other and so much more, which makes maths even more interesting and fun for them.
Both mathematics and art build creative thinking and logical reasoning together in various ways, which helps in boosting a child’s brain power more when it comes to problem solving in a more creative and calculative way.
