Try our Paul Klee inspired activity and discover the link between maths, art and the buildings around you.
With this activity you will be:
- Exploring shape properties (sides, corners and vertices)
- Interpreting and recording data when you create your graph
- Investigating fractions in a creative way
Art is everywhere!
From paintings and sculptures in museums to buildings on our street, art is everywhere we look but we often don’t realise it.
Art is something that has form and beauty – it can also link to maths. Did you know that a house is three dimensional art? Its beauty lies in its line, space and shape! Sometimes houses on a street look similar, you may notice that they form a repeating pattern. Other houses and buildings such as schools and libraries may be irregular in shape and are often unique in style and colour.
So how does recognising buildings as art have anything to do with maths?
We mentioned pattern – both art and maths require the ability to recognise pattern. We also mentioned space and shape – geometry is the mathematical study of shapes in space and both artists and mathematicians use geometry in their work.
Architects consider shape, pattern, symmetry, measurement and proportion when designing a house just as a painter would do when creating an image on canvas and as a mathematician (or you and I) would when solving a maths problem. Maths can be creative!
The artist Paul Klee used geometric shapes of various sizes and colour to create a city skyline in his abstract painting Castle and Sun.
We can use this painting to talk about shapes and their properties, fractions and ratios.
Create your own Paul Klee inspired artwork
Download our Paul Klee inspired activity below. Think about how you can fit triangles, rectangles, squares and circles to make your own castle or city scene. You may choose to draw your own shapes using a pencil and ruler or perhaps you have objects at home you could draw around.
Don’t forget to share a picture of your artwork with us on social media @mathsontoast
