Convergence of Art and Science

Maj · Post by **Maj** » Sun Nov 08, 2009 10:24 pm

So my family really only has one holiday: Christmas. And in the last few years, we've started having themed Christmases to mark special occasions in the family. This year, my sister's getting her Master's in Art Crime, so the theme of Christmas is art.

My brother's not so much into the art thing, though. He's way more the math/science guy. So I'd like to get him something that's a little of both. I'm having a difficult time finding something that's a hard copy, so to speak - there are some great websites out there, but I want to actually give him a thing, not a URL.

In a slightly different direction, I was thinking something like art from a video game (his favorite game in the universe is Halo 2), but I don't really know where to start.

Does anyone have any ideas or places to look?

ubernoob · Post by **ubernoob** » Sun Nov 08, 2009 10:40 pm

Get him a whole bunch of play dough or legos? Most of the scientists I know have much more fun than they should just building stuff. Yes, it's cheap and a child's toy. It could totally be given in addition to something else if you want to appear to spend a certain amount of money.

Crissa · Post by **Crissa** » Sun Nov 08, 2009 10:42 pm

We always start in google images. You might look at forums or the google blog search, usually they're cesspools, but they tend to have lots of old memes - and art - from prior years stocked up.

-Crissa

Username17 · Post by **Username17** » Sun Nov 08, 2009 11:15 pm

Your sister is becoming an art criminal?

-Username17

Maj · Post by **Maj** » Sun Nov 08, 2009 11:58 pm

ubernoob wrote:Get him a whole bunch of play dough or legos? Most of the scientists I know have much more fun than they should just building stuff. Yes, it's cheap and a child's toy. It could totally be given in addition to something else if you want to appear to spend a certain amount of money.

I'm the Lego person in the house - not that my brother isn't, but he doesn't have the space or time. But that's a good idea. I hadn't gone there yet. Is there some similar type of small building toy that would be something he could put on his desk or something?

Frank wrote:Your sister is becoming an art criminal?

Well, that wasn't her original intention. Her first idea was to catch the art criminals, but given how much money there is to be made in the field, and how lousy the job market is...

shadzar · Post by **shadzar** » Mon Nov 09, 2009 12:01 am

Give your brother some ASCII art.

See if you can buy some somewhere, or get something printed into poster form.

How about the Mandelbrot set as ASCII art, or some other fractal?

Crab nebula as ASCII art?

...

ubernoob · Post by **ubernoob** » Mon Nov 09, 2009 12:21 am

Maj wrote:
ubernoob wrote:Get him a whole bunch of play dough or legos? Most of the scientists I know have much more fun than they should just building stuff. Yes, it's cheap and a child's toy. It could totally be given in addition to something else if you want to appear to spend a certain amount of money.
I'm the Lego person in the house - not that my brother isn't, but he doesn't have the space or time. But that's a good idea. I hadn't gone there yet. Is there some similar type of small building toy that would be something he could put on his desk or something?

Some neat ideas on this page include:
Roger's Connection/Geomag/Supermag
Joe Bender (everyone in my family has at least one of the Benders)

Ok, I was really just searching to remember what the Bender line was called and to try and remember what the Geomag etc are called.

Seriously, magnets are fun for all ages.

Cynic · Post by **Cynic** » Mon Nov 09, 2009 12:55 am

Hmm... I hit up thinkgeek for intriguing stuff.

http://www.thinkgeek.com/tshirts-appare ... tive/c498/

Crissa · Post by **Crissa** » Mon Nov 09, 2009 1:17 am

The Benders were, well, popular to sell.

But the mag sets I loved to sell, the more demo kits the bigger demos I could build, using various crystalline core shapes to make cranes and bridges and such. My favorite was the lowest-number of connections to make a tower that would then free-hang spinning geometric.

-Crissa

Manxome · Post by **Manxome** » Mon Nov 09, 2009 2:07 am

Plasma globes might be worth considering--they're interesting to look at, they're interactive, and they have the whole "mad scientist" vibe. I know that I have a tendency to ogle them whenever I see them on display.

Also, various optical toys would probably qualify. Lasers, holograms, etc.

shadzar · Post by **shadzar** » Mon Nov 09, 2009 2:14 am

Manxome wrote:Also, various optical toys would probably qualify. Lasers, holograms, etc.

Lava lamps....

tzor · Post by **tzor** » Mon Nov 09, 2009 3:20 pm

Renaissance art always "looks" religious even when it isn't. It is also the point in history when math started to be applied to art and perspective was considered cool. A copy of Jan van Eyck's The Arnolfini Portrait (1434) looks ordinary to someone used to viewing paintings with perspective (it even includes a concave mirror with reflections) but anyone with an understanding of the mathematics of perspective will relaize how radical that painting was.

Yes, I saw it once (It is in the Metropolitan Meuseum of Art) and it's really cool, if you know what you are looking at.

Cynic · Post by **Cynic** » Tue Nov 10, 2009 8:35 am

MC escher wood cuts are also in the same vein as what Tzor is talking about.

reading a book on him is mighty itneresting.