Maths and Art

Mathematics and art intersect in our world in beautiful ways. Many mathematicians draw upon art and many artists draw upon mathematics. When mathematics and art come together, students are often inspired and they can start to see mathematics as a beautiful and creative subject. Poetry is also very mathematical and filled with rich patterns. This page shares some tasks that show mathematics through art.

 

This series of lessons was created by Diarra Bousso Gueye, a high school mathematics teacher and clothing designer (Diarrablu.com) to introduce functions and their transformations. Diarra, from Senegal, uses mathematical equations and their transformations to design beautiful textiles and brings this work back to her classroom to share with students the beauty of mathematics. Diarra’s amazing work and life journey have been featured in magazine articles such as the two below:

How Fashion Saved This High School Math Teacher’s Life (Forbes)

How Diarra Bousso Turned Her Love of Math Into a Formula-Driven Fashion Brand (Fashionista)

 

 

These lessons invite students to explore the art that can be created from mathematics. Students explore the shapes of functions and the beautiful designs that can be created from their translations. This series of lessons introduces functions and their transformations and includes a culminating activity where students use Desmos to create their own coloring page, textiles or artwork. In a recent blog post on her website, Diarra wrote about teaching creative mathematics at Stanford, you can read it here.

 

Additional Tasks