MATHEMATICAL EDUCATION AND EXPLORATION IN THE SHEN GALLERY
Editor's Note: Isobel M. ('17) wrote this piece for The Prism in response to a mathematical exhibit that was displayed in the Shen Gallery.
On September 27, the Shen Gallery opened an exhibition that married two institutions of academic thought: mathematics and art.
Liz Titone, the official Shen educator, and math teachers, Sameer Shah, and Brendan Kinnell curated the exhibition. The three worked together in the hope of creating something that explored mathematics and art as subjects that aren’t mutually exclusive. They wanted to challenge the conventional notion that the two subjects are at opposite ends of the academic spectrum.
“We can find in beauty and purpose and expression in something as academic as math,” said Ms. Titone. “In creating a visual arts piece or pieces, we have to rely on the complexity and the depth and breadth of a structural system like math to help actualise or fabricate the art itself”.
This is not the first time that Packer has been exposed to this type of art, though it has been a few years since students have been able to wrestle with it in such a hands on way. Mr Kinnell lead a math-art symposium a few years ago, and has also been involved in the math-art world himself. In fact, that same year, his work was showcased at a math-art conference in Baltimore.
The team reached out to artists in the math-art community whose work would serve as an interesting prism through which to explore the topic. In some cases, Sameer Shah and Brendan Kinnell knew the artists in either a professional or personal capacity, and in others, they reached out to artists in the hope that they would be interested in being involved and sharing their work.
The gallery showcases the work of George Hart, Veronica Irvine, Paul Solomon, the Oakes Twins, and Edmund Harris.
The Oakes Twins, for example, created matchstick sculptures: one dome shaped and one spiral shaped. The former, was much harder to create from a technical standpoint because the artists had to negotiate the different measurements of the bulbous sulphur end of a match with the long, skinny wooden end. The latter, was a deconstruction of their precision with the dome, an exploration of what art is without form and mathematical focus. Pieces like this, the curators hoped, would jump-start discussion and generate questions.
“How many pieces will it take to put this sculpture together?” Brendan Kinnell posed. “What were the Oakes Twins’ process for putting those match sticks together? Was it organic? Did they follow a particular system?
So far, the exhibition has been used for maths and art classes throughout the school, from lower school classes to advanced upper school maths courses.
“I wrote lessons around thinking about problem solving and thinking in math what part of our brain follows the same steps in art, problem solving, in writing, in science, trying to figure out executive functioning but in a fun way,” explained Ms. Titone.
In upper school math classes, students are exploring the exhibition slightly differently. In Mr. Kinnell’s class, for example, his plan is to work with Paul Solomon’s Sangoku ancient Japanese puzzles.
“My hope is that we will generate some of our own. Whether it is by hand, pencil or paper, plastic measurement tools or using technology to help solve some of those problems,” said Mr. Kinnell.
The exhibition can also be explored without the structure of a class. In fact, students are encouraged to engage with the exhibition on their own. At the back wall of the gallery there is an interactive wall filled with maths related games.
“We’re letting people get their curiosity stoked, that’s why the interactive is back there, so people can just kind of hang out and fiddle with any of those math games just to have fun with it and see where it goes,” said Mr. Kinnell.
Being able to wrestle with art in a new way has been wonderful for students. Students, with strengths in all different academic areas, have been able to explore art and maths in an entirely new way. It has given them the chance to understand and appreciate how what they learn each day in the classroom is connected and can be explored in myriad ways.
Liz Titone, the official Shen educator, and math teachers, Sameer Shah, and Brendan Kinnell curated the exhibition. The three worked together in the hope of creating something that explored mathematics and art as subjects that aren’t mutually exclusive. They wanted to challenge the conventional notion that the two subjects are at opposite ends of the academic spectrum.
“We can find in beauty and purpose and expression in something as academic as math,” said Ms. Titone. “In creating a visual arts piece or pieces, we have to rely on the complexity and the depth and breadth of a structural system like math to help actualise or fabricate the art itself”.
This is not the first time that Packer has been exposed to this type of art, though it has been a few years since students have been able to wrestle with it in such a hands on way. Mr Kinnell lead a math-art symposium a few years ago, and has also been involved in the math-art world himself. In fact, that same year, his work was showcased at a math-art conference in Baltimore.
The team reached out to artists in the math-art community whose work would serve as an interesting prism through which to explore the topic. In some cases, Sameer Shah and Brendan Kinnell knew the artists in either a professional or personal capacity, and in others, they reached out to artists in the hope that they would be interested in being involved and sharing their work.
The gallery showcases the work of George Hart, Veronica Irvine, Paul Solomon, the Oakes Twins, and Edmund Harris.
The Oakes Twins, for example, created matchstick sculptures: one dome shaped and one spiral shaped. The former, was much harder to create from a technical standpoint because the artists had to negotiate the different measurements of the bulbous sulphur end of a match with the long, skinny wooden end. The latter, was a deconstruction of their precision with the dome, an exploration of what art is without form and mathematical focus. Pieces like this, the curators hoped, would jump-start discussion and generate questions.
“How many pieces will it take to put this sculpture together?” Brendan Kinnell posed. “What were the Oakes Twins’ process for putting those match sticks together? Was it organic? Did they follow a particular system?
So far, the exhibition has been used for maths and art classes throughout the school, from lower school classes to advanced upper school maths courses.
“I wrote lessons around thinking about problem solving and thinking in math what part of our brain follows the same steps in art, problem solving, in writing, in science, trying to figure out executive functioning but in a fun way,” explained Ms. Titone.
In upper school math classes, students are exploring the exhibition slightly differently. In Mr. Kinnell’s class, for example, his plan is to work with Paul Solomon’s Sangoku ancient Japanese puzzles.
“My hope is that we will generate some of our own. Whether it is by hand, pencil or paper, plastic measurement tools or using technology to help solve some of those problems,” said Mr. Kinnell.
The exhibition can also be explored without the structure of a class. In fact, students are encouraged to engage with the exhibition on their own. At the back wall of the gallery there is an interactive wall filled with maths related games.
“We’re letting people get their curiosity stoked, that’s why the interactive is back there, so people can just kind of hang out and fiddle with any of those math games just to have fun with it and see where it goes,” said Mr. Kinnell.
Being able to wrestle with art in a new way has been wonderful for students. Students, with strengths in all different academic areas, have been able to explore art and maths in an entirely new way. It has given them the chance to understand and appreciate how what they learn each day in the classroom is connected and can be explored in myriad ways.
