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Skidmore College
First-Year Experience

Scribner Seminar Program

Course Description

Making Mathematics

Instructor(s): Csilla Szabo, Math

Can math be art and art be math? In this course students will investigate mathematical and paradoxical ideas through hands-on activities, making and play. In addition to students creating their own art pieces, we will examine how artists, film-makers and science fiction authors depict mathematical ideas in their creative works. The work of artist M.C. Escher will guide many of our explorations into tilings (tessellations), fractals, infinity, perspective, space and dimension. Students will explore art, architecture and the natural world to identify pattern and structures that exist all around us. We also consider questions such as: What is mathematics and art? Who is mathematics and art for? What does it mean to me a mathematician or artist? What intersections exist in these fields?

Course Offered: