Monday, September 05, 2011
Do Artists Need Math?
Wired.com: Perhaps that isn’t the best title, but it will do. Really the question is about art students that have to take remedial math. First, let it be known that I like to try and keep up with news about Louisiana and higher education. Why? Because I want to be the first to know if they are going to cancel our physics program. You have to stay alert.
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Studying other subjects, like math, provides a context for creating and understanding art. Whether advanced education in math is essential or not is arguable. Studying math can't detract from anyone's artistic ability or creativity, however it can be incredibly frustrating and boring. For art students to best reap the benefits of college math classes, it would be significantly more useful to present critical material in a way that is directly related to their main area of study.
This brings up an interesting point and something that I feel is very important. I agree with the article, any sort of math educations is very important even for Art students, lacking basic math skills can drastically lower people's opinions of you. Everyone should be able to have the building blocks of math because they will encounter uses for them in everyday life.
I think that this article brings up many good points. We are not a collection of one study, we are a collection of everything we see and hear. Creativity, in any field or situation, can be drawn from anything. That's the point of creativity: it is nearly limitless and can come from anywhere. Not only does this apply to the arts, but to sciences and other fields as well. Taking mathematics is not only useful to the arts because it is a source of creativity, but because it can help with real life situations as well. The argument that artists shouldn't study anything except what will get them a degree is pointless. Our creativity comes from everything we've ever seen. If we don't study anything except what will get us our degree, than our education is useless. We are in school to learn as much as we can about everything. That's what life is for. To do otherwise would only cheat ourselves out of knowledge, and what's the point in that? What happens when we stop creating art and decide we want to cook a meal? Won't we need math then?
artists should know some math, i don't think anyone would disagree i think its different when you force them to take it. math certainly can be an inspiration but so can physics, underwater basket weaving or anything else. the question is what basic skills should every student have regardless of there degree leaving college?
As the saying goes, math is everywhere, whether the subject is art, theater, music, etc. There has been a connection between music & math for a while now, and that if you do well in one, you'll do well in the other. In building sets, you use math to figure out how measurements for building various objects and parts of the set, and using it to make sure everything will fit out the door is probably a good idea too. Lights and Sound is governed by the laws of physics, which (Surprise!) has it's foundations in mathematics. Math is found in most places, and as artists, we are not exempt from that. To not use math or take inspiration from it is to close yourself off from a very different way of thinking about the world works.
Math is too important a life skill to allow art majors to not take a math class. I am not going to try and claim that anything beyond the trigonometry realm of math is need for normal human life, but whether artists want to admit it or not a lot of what they do has math in some way ingrained in it. Maybe instead of placing a general math class on an art major, a "practical" or some kind of generally applicable math class would be more useful.
Great god I wish this author had taken this article further. I AGREE with him but I don't feel he even scratched the surface in trying to effectively make his point. Every good visual artist can think & talk about the LAYOUT of their medium [canvas, sculpture, etc]. Good layout & composition is GEOMETRY.
The writer should have called out Leonardo Di Vinci as his example. The man INVENTED [or at least, simplified the study of...] mathemeatics and produced some of the greatest visual works of art to come out of the Renaissance. To suggest the two are not connected is beyond ignorance; it's just plain wrong.
But we're not even really talking about Does Art Need Math? here so much as Should Students Take Subjects Which Do Not Directly Correspond To Their Degree? I'm tempted to shout, "YES!" from the tops of buildings [anyone who has ever changed careers would probably agree with me] but honestly, I think we should leave it up to the students. If they think they'll never need something like math in their lives, let them go through college without it. Later on, the college or university can charge them per credit when they come back years later, desperately trying to flesh out their knowledge.
art should never be an excuse for not knowing any subject. yes it is true that some people especially artists are not good at mat. but it will always in some ways be necessary to the continuance and success of our art. the most interesting thing i feel about this subject is how it is actually something being discussed now at a regular basis. yes you will need math. no you will not need to no trig or imaginary numbers. lets be real here. you better be able to add and subtract. don't be your laziness be your hindrance.
This article brings up a good point. A lot of students tend to think they're never going to need math in life. Let's see those students successfully balance their check books when the bills start to pile up. People in all fields of life, and especially people in the arts, need to be well-rounded in order to have a thorough understanding of the world around you. It doesn't matter if you're an engineer or an actor, the more you informed you are, the better you are able to make connections in the world around you. This leads to the author's comments about art and math being related. While calculus doesn't seem like something a painter would need to know, that painter will inevitably use the mathematical theory of the golden ratio when they create a portrait or a person. They will use mathematical theory when painting that seashell, those rose petals, or those sunflowers. These things that are found in nature and are so often replicated in art are formed and created using a mathematical ratio. Even the human body is nothing but ratios, from the size of the skull to how far apart your eyes are set. The earlier you learn how much things are inter-related, the sooner you can enjoy the beauty of that fact.
I really like Allain's assertion that universities are "human factories," as opposed to worker factories. Studying math isn't just about learning to solve specific equations; it's also about using a part of your brain that would go unused if you focused exclusively on art. Even if you are not going into a math-centric field after graduation, you still need math and logic skills for other aspects of life.
One of my favorite things about university is that it teaches you many life skills, not just what is in your major. Even your major teaches you many life skills that are not necessarily just what you are there to do. I feel that everyone that goes to college needs knowledge in various topics in order to earn their degree. If you don't want to take varied classes there are certain trade schools and such that only teach you one subject, but I feel that having a university education better prepares you for what you might encounter in life than not having those additional classes.
I know all through high school I asked the question "why do I need to know this? I'm not going into accounting or economics or want to be a mathematician." But the truth is most of the things I have learned in math classes have proven useful. No, I don't use integrals on a daily basis, but geometry and algebra sometimes come into play. And even if they don't, I like having that skill set just in case. Not to mention that I actually need physics for lighting. But even if one isn't going into lighting, it's still good to understand math because it does come up now and again.
Well there's the obvious answer that scenic designers and TD's need math... In seriousness though, Abigail brings up a great point. Math and science don't hinder creativity by any means. depending on how your brain works, more technical subjects might even be easier for an artist who is able to approach problems from a more "outside the box" perspective. Furthermore, the integration of these supposedly contrasting fields can become wildly interesting. The play Proof, overdone as it is, is a great example. Then you have science fiction novels to account for, where an understanding of less creativity based subjects becomes integral in the creative process. Not to mention the geometry that goes into graphic design without the artist even knowing. Paintings that adhere to a very strict geometric pattern, for example, or company logos that are designed with trigonometric equations tend to have a rather strong impact on the viewer. Just some thoughts.
This article brings up some interesting ideas, especially here at a conservatory program. I absolutely agree that all students, regardless of major or concentration, should not only be required to, but should want to, take classes outside of their discipline. As the author suggests, maybe knowing math can influence an artist's painting. Maybe something that an actor learns in a biology class or a physics class can make him or her look at the world in a slightly different way, and so change his or her craft. Saying that an artist should not take math is looking at the world with tunnel vision and saying that some things are so opposite and contrary that they cannot possibly interact. If there is one thing that I learned in my undergrad career, it's that everything that you learn, whether or not it is directly and obviously relatable to your major, can alter how you see the world and can influence your opinions and ideas. This is what drives innovation and creativity in our world.
While math is helpful as a tool for many kinds of work, the point stands that many kinds of art do not depend on math, and many artists can be very successful with less formal training. As important as it is that people have the opportunity for a well-rounded education, they also have a right to focus on what is important to them.
Everyone, including the artists, need a solid foundation mathematics. I'm not saying you need to incorporate calculus into your sculpture, logarithm into set design, or hardcore proofs into theater. BUT I think art that incorporates elements of other disciplines seemingly unrelated to art give those pieces more depth and complexity, and could make the difference between what is good art and what become a groundbreaking new way of creating art.
It is important for anyone who considers themselves an artist to have a range of skills and to be knowledgeable in fields other than solely art. Math, for example, is something that is necessary for both daily activities as well as boosting cognitive abilities in an academic setting. Math is also a part of art. As mentioned in the article, Picasso's cubist paintings draw from mathematical concepts at their core. As much as it may not seem it at first glance, the two blend together quite nicely. Many artists double as talented mathematicians, and vice versa. No talents are mutually exclusive. While honing what you consider to be your most valuable or well liked talent is certainly important, it is also important to explore and to make sue you are not closing yourself off completely to only that one subject area.
This is a great question. I feel that math is very important in everyday life. The better understanding that people have of math and the way in which things work could cause someone to become inspired and do good art. If you are a math major and you do not take any art class could cause you to be a better problem solver and able to look at things at a different angle. The video that they had on this article had a lot of things that tied art and math together and made you think about each side in a different way. I believe that they should still require you to take class in all departments just so you know what else is going on in the world with a well rounded approach to any issue.
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