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Nicole Taikeff Gabela

January 20th, 2014
Period 6
Final Draft
Extra Credit Comparative Essay

Science is Art
People tend to think they are either left-brain thinkers or right-brain thinkers. I
consider myself apart from this division. While the left side of the brain is said to
emphasize logical and objective purposes, and the right one is said to intensify
abstractness and intuitiveness, I equally like to use both. On a daily basis, regardless of
the differences between sides, I use my artistic-right side to guide my scientific-left side
(Kendra, n.d.).
Imagination, in both artistic and scientific fields, has been my source of creation.
I remember when I was younger, my mother and father would give me a neat, white
canvass to paint on. The hardest part was to start. After struggling for a couple of
minutes, my parents simply said: Draw. Such a minuscule word had enough power to
restrain me from beginning. I felt completely puzzled and pressured. Once the hymn of
imagination started to sing in my mind, creation started. In past experiences, when I was
given a procedure for a scientific experiment, the hardest part was also to start. Even
though scientific activities require rigid procedures, imagination is needed. The wide
scope of freedom I had developed in past artistic activities, aided me to be creative
within the boundaries of science. I have used my imagination during experiments to
takes risks and find solutions. This is the reason why I consider science a piece of art. It
is an opened box composed of strict guidelines, but at the same time abstract
components, such as imagination. The byproducts at the end of this imaginative
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thinking process turn to be creations that would have not been possible if another aspect
was not taken into account, which is repetition.
Repetition, in both art and science, has shaped my natural strengths. Many
times I have been told to draw, but dissatisfaction has made me cover my canvass with
white paint only to start all over again. Perhaps, this feeling has also driven me to repeat
scientific experiments. Until this point in my life, I have performed experiments with
outcomes that have been predisposed. Many times I had painted my experiment with
white in order to start all over again. However, the perseverance developed in me as a
natural strength from the field of art, gave me the patience to perform scientific
activities. During my Biology course, I remember I repeated a photosynthesis
experiment for five times in order to obtain accurate results. I did not understand how I
had endured it for so long, until finally, I concluded that it had been the energy and
desire to continue, as I do with art. I remember thinking of this experiment as a work of
art that would remain unfinished if accuracy was not obtained, and if finality was not
evoked.
Feeling, in both artistic and scientific areas, is a product of observation. Since
childhood, I have been exposed to the tangible and intangible parts of art. Throughout
my growth, I have developed a sensitive side that would have not been attainable if I
was not exposed to the touch of protrude, dried oil lines or toxic, burning smells. Even,
if I was not asked to think beyond on a piece of art. These types of observations, tactile
or visual, have provoked new feelings in me. I have transferred them to my scientific
practices. When I was older, I started to search for esthetic in science. Watching my
mother paint thin veins of leafs or shiny beetle exoskeleton I widened my appreciative
feeling towards nature. I learned that science was not only about experimenting and
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creating, but also about loving what it is composed of. A scientist, for example cannot
enhance his or her studies in natural sciences, if natural resources were used excessively
for research. Even though it can happen, I personally feel that observation in the arts
and the search for a pure and natural esthetic, has limited me from doing so. Science, in
terms of feelings, is a form of art because it exposes me to a broader understanding of
its inner core by creating affection, compassion, and love for it.
Reference
Cherry, Kendra (n.d.). Left Brain vs Right Brain Retrieved on January 18, 2014
from: http://psychology.about.com/od/cognitivepsychology/a/left-brain-right-brain.htm