Islamic Art

I learned a lot about Islamic art from reading these two articles. I didn't know that Islamic art was so closely tied to the religion. I enjoyed the first article because it told how to teach Islamic art in the classroom. It told of the importance of teaching some of the religious background when teaching about their art. I never knew the two worked hand in hand but within the second article it explained why. 

First of all I knew thought of Calligraphy as a style of art. The style of Arabic calligraphy is definitely an art form though. The different styles alone show the major differences in the writing. For example, the square style of calligraphy vs. the drawing of animals style. Both of these styles are very precise and take talent to do. I found it interesting when the article was describing the use of patterns with shapes in their art form as well. I related this to the first article when it described that teachers can use their art to teach math and other subjects. In my math class now at Syracuse University we just finished a unit learning all about shapes. I see now that my teacher could have easily incorporated Islamic art in our classroom to further teach the ideas she was presenting. 

I found these articles very interesting and informational about Islamic art and the religion of Islam as well. I could see myself using this lesson plan in my future classroom when teaching about culture and art but also when teaching math. I like how Islamic art is appreciated on so many different levels.