Algorithms in Visual Arts

 Art from Ideas

A geometry teacher asks you to make a drawing using "arcs and bands in color." What would this look like? Do you think the person sitting next to you would interpret the phrase the same way?

Abstract artists like Sol Lewitt combines seemingly simple lines and shapes into eye-catching geometric designs. His famous works are larger-than-life drawings and paintings executed directly on museum and gallery walls.

This is a type of artistic algorithm created by Sol Lewitt.

Algorithmic art or algorithm art is art, mostly visual art, in which the design is generated by an algorithm. Algorithmic artists are sometimes called algorists.

Most of the time algorithms are computer generated and based on simple calculations.

For this lesson we will be making an artistic algorithm that follows 2 simple instructions.

Rules:

Color the inside of the line and use black and white contrast on the outside of the line.

Procedures: Start by having a conversation with students on the different types of lines for line drawing. Commonly these lines are:

straight

curved 

dotted

loopy

zig zag

wavy

castle

dashed

bouncy

spiral

Then assign a different line to all students. 

The first student starts off by drawing a line across the page. Then that student must make their line parallel in order to be able to color inside of. The next student can not start drawing until the previous student finishes. This will direct the next student where to start their line and continues until until all students have drawn their lines. 

After the lines have been drawn, the students must use a black marker to trace their work. 

I choose to have the students use markers to color inside of their lines and we use black paint or ink on the outside only.

The results are phenomenal! The contrast pops and leaves a design that shows how students collaborated mathematically to create a line design all together.