Math Art Reflection

For our math art project we recreated Stephen M. Campbell's Prime Numbers and Cylinders. The sky of the original and ours was sectioned in to a grid of repeating shapes and was then coloured based on prime numbers. Each prime number was assigned a colour and any subsequent number which was a factor of this prime number was coloured with the same colour. So if a number was composed of two prime numbers then it was coloured a blend of the two prime colours. I remember when I first glanced over this piece of art it didn't mean much to me and that is why I quickly skipped over it. It appeared boring and nothing out of the ordinary, but when Brianna brought the idea to our attention and actually explained its purpose, my eyes were truly opened. One glance and the art piece looks simply abstract and somewhat pretty, but nothing more. However, once you understand the math involved behind the scenes, the project becomes much deeper and complex than it once appeared. This project honestly turned out amazing and it was such a fun experience being able to combine math and art together. Math is part of my background and upbringing and something I adore, while art is something I have always been fond of and enjoyed participating in, so being able to marry two subjects, that I love so deeply, together, was a real learning experience. This project definitely created a bridge where there was not one before. After this, I hope to encourage more cross curricular content, lessons and activities in my future career as a teacher.