The painting presented above is one by Georgia O'Keeffe. She was a well known American modernists. Most of her art came from locations around New York. This work of hers is called "Red Barn" (1921). This painting can be found in the Georgia Museum of Art on the University of Georgia's campus. This piece of art could be put in an eighth grade math class with ease. As you can see, there are many triangles and squares in this painting which the squares can be turned into two triangles easily. With these shapes in the painting, the pythagorean theorem could be implemented. When you present the piece of art, you could go ahead and give each triangle two lengths and allow the students to find the missing side using the pythagorean theorem. Another class that this may be used in is a seventh grade math class during the topic of quadrilaterals. This painting could be used in the beginning of a lesson during a front loading activity. You could ask your students what part of the painting is considered a quadrilateral. This piece of art can be used in many different setting in a math classroom because the shapes are easily identified. By using a piece of art work, like the one above, you can show the students that math really is all around them in real life and in art.
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