It is wonderful to see the creative ways people use math in the world around us.
Every single day, Hillel Smith uses math to create art. It’s not “fractal art” or computer-driven design. He simply needs math to produce the art itself—everything from huge outdoor murals to inflatable sculptures.
“At a basic level, having an understanding of geometry is practical, making things at a size that can be framed, or knowing how far a can of paint will go,” he said. “The challenge is working with projects that require a higher level of art thinking, such as my pixelated pieces and some of the mural projects. I do a lot of ‘solving for X,’ dimension analysis, ratios and proportions, fractions, and unit conversions.”
As a child, Hillel was a strong math student. Obsessed with space and airplanes, he used Lego®, TinkerToy®, Marbleworks®, 3D puzzles, and origami paper to build his structures. He loved the experience of problem solving, and when he got to high school, he took both A.P. Calculus and A.P. Physics.
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