When I was a little kid I loved to read books about nature and elephants, but I also loved to paint and make crafts. When I was injured in middle school and was benched from the soccer team, I spent my extra time studying and reading non-fiction, but I also learned to sew and got my first set of watercolor paints. In high school I focused my studies on the sciences, I would joke with my friends that I lived in the science wing of the building, but I also always squeezed one art elective in my schedule. I thought that my loves of arts and science were polar opposites, and that eventually I would have to drop art to focus on a career in science. That was until a pencil drawing project my junior year.
It was the first day of class, and I couldn’t wait to get started. I had spent the last year oil painting, and couldn’t wait to continue working on that skill. Then our teacher told us he wanted us to do a graphite drawing and the theme was family. I hated graphite so I wasn’t thrilled by the assignment but I went home, shifted through old photos, and found a gorgeous photo of my grandmother as a baby. I brought it to class, my teacher agreed that it was a perfect starting point, and gave me my paper to begin. Honestly for the first day I just sat there and pretended to do work, I was so worried I wouldn’t do this photo justice. The next day my teacher came up to me and asked me how it was going. I’m so thankful he made me start that day, because it taught me a valuable lesson. There are multiple ways to start the problem, and yes some ways will not work, but the only way to succeed is to start somewhere and do the process of trial and error. For months I worked on that picture of a baby. I grew to hate knit sweater, because they are impossible to draw, and I went through multiple erasers, but in the end I was so proud of my final product. The bonus was I had a greater appreciation for the scientific method, and the endless trial and error that come with research.
I’m not going to lie it was great when my baby grandma was selected for the Congressional Art Competition. I was incredibly proud of what I had done, but I think it was more rewarding to realize that my love of science and art were connected by a process. I do not want to be an artist, but I will never have to leave my love of art behind. The process I went through for that piece will continue with me as I pursue a career in research.
Me at the Congresssional Art Competition in 2015 with my graphite drawing