Senior Project Advisor

Dr. Jeanine Amacher

Document Type

Project

Publication Date

Winter 2021

Keywords

Biological art, mathematical art, interdisciplinarity, graph art, graphed animals

Abstract

This project explores interdisciplinarity with a focus on how math and biology can interact with art. My main objective was to create art by graphing the silhouettes of animals. I selected ten animals from a variety of classes and habitats and used a collection of equation types such as linear, quadratic, trigonometric, and circular to draw an outline of each animal. I performed stretches, compressions, and shifts to control the size and position of each equation and set domains and ranges to determine how much of each line was visible on the graph. In the first section of this paper, I present my methods and collection of these graphs. To supplement this, in the second section I examine a range of artists with ties to biology and math. This includes historical examples such as Leonardo da Vinci and modern examples such as David Goodsell. This exploration shows that there is a variety of ways for art, biology, and math to interact and there are many meaningful outcomes of this interdisciplinarity. In addition, art can be made accessible to anyone by approaching it through their interests.

Department

Biology

Subjects - Topical (LCSH)

Biological illustration; Charts, diagrams, etc.; Algebra--Graphic methods

Genre/Form

essays; scientific illustrations (images)

Type

Text

Rights

Copying of this document in whole or in part is allowable only for scholarly purposes. It is understood, however, that any copying or publication of this document for commercial purposes, or for financial gain, shall not be allowed without the author’s written permission.

Language

English

Format

application/pdf

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