Currently, my students are working on painting their tessellations that were inspired by famous artist, M.C. Escher. Each of my art classes were lectured on Escher, his famous works, and how mathematics and the fine arts are tied together by creating original tessellations.
A tessellation is very simply understood as "a pattern of inter-locking shapes."
The artist we have been studying, M.C. Escher, is a Dutch-born artist who passed away from cancer in the 1970s. Many of you know M.C. Escher only for his mathematical prints, but in fact he made much more wonderful art during his lifetime.
Students viewed a Powerpoint presentation on Escher and saw a short video clip describing some of his mathematical work. From here, they were asked to read an article from Scholastic Art's February 2010 issue and complete a worksheet. Luckily, I'm able to bring in mathematics AND language arts standards into my classroom through the use of reading about, writing about, responding to and creating art!
It seems as though the students are enjoying these projects, as many are taking them further than what I've expected. It's almost eerie how quiet an art classroom can be when high school students are busy creating!
A tessellation is very simply understood as "a pattern of inter-locking shapes."
The artist we have been studying, M.C. Escher, is a Dutch-born artist who passed away from cancer in the 1970s. Many of you know M.C. Escher only for his mathematical prints, but in fact he made much more wonderful art during his lifetime.
Students viewed a Powerpoint presentation on Escher and saw a short video clip describing some of his mathematical work. From here, they were asked to read an article from Scholastic Art's February 2010 issue and complete a worksheet. Luckily, I'm able to bring in mathematics AND language arts standards into my classroom through the use of reading about, writing about, responding to and creating art!
It seems as though the students are enjoying these projects, as many are taking them further than what I've expected. It's almost eerie how quiet an art classroom can be when high school students are busy creating!