Having gone to engineering school, I know the amount of structure that engineers are put through in classes (be it math, physics, statics, or thermodynamics). There are a lot of basic concepts that you have to be... well, nerdy enough to comprehend in a short amount of time. While we may be trained as left-brained people, do not forget that engineers are especially creative. Where do you think fun stuff like iPods and fiberoptic Christmas trees came from? Thank your nerds for that!
Some of the best musicians, artists, photographers, writers, and chefs I know are engineers. Why? Well, these individuals have the required sense of logic to get through their engineering training as well as the use of their right-brains. Many of my engineering friends are naturally good at photography - they have a keen interest in capturing special moments or scenery, regardless of whether or not they have taken a photography class.
This is not to say that all engineers are good at everything. (Believe me, I know plenty of engineers who AREN'T good at the artsy-fartsy stuff whatsoever!) I am only making the point here that engineers are not limited to being good at math and science - many of them can pursue other artsy interests with great success. You really can't say the same about most artists - how many of them can say they do engineering in addition to their areas of art expertise?
When I was younger, I used to think that my artistic friends were probably really good at baking cookies. That was before I tried their cookies. And then I realized that my artsy-fartsy friends were good at decorating cookies but not baking them. This part takes an engineer, or at least someone who understands an oven's heat transfer, and the fact that you need a good baking sheet that conducts the heat evenly, and the fact that you should clean off the sheet between batches because the excess butter/oil you leave on there will affect the heat transfer, and... I could go on this nerd ramble for hours. The point is, although the artsy-fartsy types will laugh or complain that I'm being anal about this, I have heard no complaints about how my cookies taste. (They're usually too busy scarfing them down.)
I don't know if this ever happens to you, but many of my extended family members that are artsy-fartsy types poke fun at the fact that engineers have no culture or class. I always let it go - I mean, hey, I'm an engineer. I grew up in the Midwest. What do I know about art history, or music, or fine foods? I always figured that these people were the experts simply because they lived in New York and had access to the best art and music and food in the world.However, over the holidays we were eating lunch at some fancy restaurant in New Jersey, and I was shocked that I had to explain what risotto and tapas were to the artsy-fartsy family members. Keep in mind: these are the East Coast, fancy-schmancy, buy-a-pair-of-$300-Puma-shoes types! I thought they knew everything about food and the arts simply because they were exposed to that stuff everyday. And a sloppy-joe-eatin', banjo-pickin' Hoosier has to tell you what risotto is and how it's made?? You know what that means. The tables have turned!!
There was another time that I was at the Indianapolis Museum of Art, and I was approached by a random art student. She wanted to know my opinion of the following exhibit:
This is an exhibit made up of a whole bunch of little PVC figurines on a platform holding up some Plexiglas (first picture is a side-view cross section, second picture is a top-view shot of the figurines). You can actually stand on the glass without breaking anything! So I told the art student that it was probably based on the concept of "with one, there is failure; with many, there is strength". I remembered that the concept was actually an example Confucius once gave, so I said that there was a high chance that this artist had a lot of exposure to Asia. So we decided to check out the exhibit's description, and lo-and-behold, I was dead on! The artist is Korean, and the description said he was trying to display this concept in the form of plastic people. And you had to ask an engineer, huh? Hahaha...
To be honest, it is all about exposure. I was fortunate enough to have a very artistic grandmother - I am by no means an expert at Chinese art, but at least I have a feel for it. I have a mom and grandma who are great cooks. I was able to take music lessons as a kid. At the very least, I have a level of appreciation for artsy-fartsy stuff, even if I am just an engineer.
No comments:
Post a Comment