Beauty of Math: Math in Art and Architecture

Struggle to get your students excited about math? Why not use the beauty of classical art, nature, and visualization to teach math! We have three lovely workshops, the first on the golden ratio in sunflowers and plants, this second on the golden spiral in classical art and architecture, and a third on graphing your own art based on simple shapes/lines.

What does the Mona Lisa have in common with the Pyramids of Giza? Is it its age? Its color? What if the answer was… math???? Come learn about how math ties together our favorite pieces of art and architecture (including the Mona Lisa and the Pyramids)! We’ll dive into the mysteries of how artists, architects, and designers across time and place have used math in their works, and we’ll explore how we might use math to inform our creativity by making some art of our own. Anyone interested in art, history, design, or anything in between is encouraged to participate!

This is the second workshop in the Math and Beauty series-- the relationship between math, art, and architecture. Instructors are encouraged to run the first workshop in the series (Math and Plants) before introducing this workshop to help students build foundational knowledge of the golden ratio and the Fibonacci sequence, but this workshop can also be delivered as a free-standing session.

Math, Fibonacci Numbers, Golden Ratio, Middle School, High School