When I was growing up, there was a popular idea that you were either good at math and science or at art and writing. I was definitely good at art and writing, so I couldn’t be good at math. It didn’t help that I skipped the second grade and never learned my times tables.
It never dawned on me that the ability to make my own sewing patterns or sculpt in clay were, in fact, signs of a math brain.
It wasn’t until college that I realized that I could see mathematical relationships. After that, I decided that proofs were just a memorization game, and math became easy-peasy. I took math up to 3D calculus.
Recently, I had the opportunity to speak to a group of artists. “How many of you like to sew? Do carpentry? Cook?” I asked. Many hands went up. “How many of you hate math?” About the same number said yes. But of course, sewing, carpentry and cooking all require the math brain. It’s too bad that for so many of us, math wasn’t mathin’ when we were in school.
What is your math brain?
Like creativity, math isn’t isolated into a single brain region, but rather is done in a network of interconnected brain areas. Here’s the funny thing: math and language share common brain areas (and as I mentioned on Wednesday, the brain is awfully good at compensating when parts don’t work right). However, there are some areas where there is specialization, particularly for speech.
As with creativity, math abilities are not fixed; they can be developed and improved through practice and learning. What blocks most of us from using our math skills is math anxiety. The only way around that is to challenge it head-on, by working with numbers. (When you get old, someone is going to ask you to count backwards by sevens to see if you’re gaga. You may as well practice now.)
Why should an artist care about math?
Whether they know it or not, artists use math all the time. We work in spatial relationships; that’s math. We painters work additively; sculptors work subtractively. People working in more technically-specific forms like intaglio, glassblowing or encaustic make constant adjustments that are based on either formal or off-the-cuff calculations.
Artists routinely simplify and abstract forms; that is a basic form of mathematics. It’s helpful to understand some geometry before you attempt two-point perspective. Symmetry in its different forms (reflection, translation, rotation) is a math concept. And the classical compositional armature, the Golden Ratio, is based on math. Our ancestors, after all, didn’t see a disconnect between the math brain and the art brain.
Just as anyone can exercise his or her creativity and get better at it, anyone can exercise his or her math brain. Math is the language that describes every function in our bodies, our planet and our universe. There’s no reason for an artist to be afraid of it.
Reserve your spot now for a workshop in 2025:
- Advanced Plein Air Painting, Rockport, ME, July 7-11, 2025.
- Sea and Sky at Acadia National Park, August 3-8, 2025.
- Find Your Authentic Voice in Plein Air, Berkshires, MA, August 11-15, 2025.
- Immersive In-Person Fall Workshop, Rockport, ME, October 6-10, 2025.