Art is closer to math than you might think

Why did STEM evolve into STEAM over time anyway? Because the arts are closely related to math — closer than anyone thinks. First, let’s start with a few definitions. What is art? It is defined as “the expression or application of human creative skill and imagination, typically in a visual form such as painting or sculpture, producing works to be appreciated primarily for their beauty or emotional power.” Math is defined as “the study of numbers, shapes, and patterns and what they mean.”

But how does one apply logic and rule to beauty and nature? Well, we are surrounded by math. The nautilus is a logarithmic spiral otherwise known as the Bernoulli spiral. The Fibonacci sequence? A beautiful pineapple or sunflower. The golden ratio? Look no further than the velvety red rose. Fractals, or a series of repeating shapes, are all over nature. Ferns, beehives, the most gorgeous coastlines. Hexagons ... honeycombs, snowflakes, the way bubbles come together and bond. The strongest form with shared pressure absorption from all sides is nothing short of mesmerizing. Symmetry, perspective and tone — some of the greatest hallmarks of human-perceived beauty and the foundational principles of art are also mathematical at their core.

Asking a child to take an “idea” they have in their mind and turn that idea into a “thing” they are proud of is often daunting, frustrating and fraught with emotion. Even for adults, this task can trigger similar feelings. I love the process of creating art as it’s almost never “done” in a single sitting. Since 2018, students have watched parent volunteers and me paint murals at Parkside Montessori School that take a few months each to complete (because we all have day jobs). With pride I show students the sketched lines, what I had to do to fix it and what’s next. It’s a mistake, but not really. Rather, it is the creative process.

This process of iteration teaches children that making improvements over time, both small and big, are built into who we are as humans. Perfection the first time is often more luck than skill. Even the most skilled artists will iterate again and again until satisfied. Some people like to call it building resilience or grit, and I think this framework of iteration is also closely related to a few that our friends in STEM use pretty regularly as well — the scientific method and the idea of building a proof-of-concept.

As a parent volunteer, I have taught many art classes over the years. If I am to be completely honest, especially in the lower grades, the experience often looks less like an appreciation and more like a finger painting party where paint, materials and everything else somehow get stuck to the ceiling. But in that chaos I’ve also experienced some pretty incredible things. Watching a child who struggled with attention being so completely focused on mastering a sketch technique. Ideating (hypothesizing) with students about ways to make their clay pieces more structurally sound. Being tapped on the shoulder with a question about large format perspective when students run into me while I’m painting on campus. These have all contributed to the joy in seeing exposure to doing art in school. The ability to transcend this one area helps them flourish as lifelong learners.

An artist may not be running the calculations explicitly, but they are doing this work intuitively. The end result is the application of the same principles to creating the new and inspired. Studies have shown time and time again that the brain is activated in strikingly similar ways when engaging with what seems to be on the polar ends of the academic spectrum. Not so different, after all. There is something quite special about experiencing the human brain as the supercomputer it truly is.

I invite you to join me in celebrating STEAM — Science, Technology, Engineering, ART and Math — this Nov. 8 and every day.

Annie Tsai is chief operating officer at Interact and board president at San Mateo Foster City Education Foundation. She can be reached at president@smfcedfund.org.