Amanda looked radiant in her white wedding gown that her mother and grandmother wore before her. Tears welled up her eyes when my old babysitter saw the painting I had made of her and her new husband, a labor of love for the woman who had played such an important role in my own life. Amanda’s reaction to a bit of colored paint layered on canvas crystalized in my mind why I am driven to create. Art is meant to evoke our emotions.

 

There is something innately rewarding for me about beginning with a blank canvas and forming something that did not exist before. I paint to create something that comes from and uniquely reflects me. The interaction between my viewer and my art is just as important as the interaction between my work and me. Amanda’s emotional response to my painting made the long hours in the studio and streaks of paint staining my favorite jeans worthwhile.

 

This ability for art to touch our lives is evident even in the places we least expect: our architectural cities, our functional furniture, our sleek automobiles. Every building, product, machine has a design, a flair, a personality. The world would be boring if every structure was simply a roof with four walls or every car a box with four wheels.

 

I intend to become a creative engineer. By merging my passions for art and science, I plan to harness this powerful combination. I will brainstorm, experiment, and create something that no one has imagined before. I will take my skills with a blank canvas and apply them to a blank whiteboard. I will add my own creative flair to technology by building sculptures that work and machines that are works of art.

 

The act of creating has the power to touch lives. Whether it be creating a new technology for the world or my painting for Amanda, there is the potential to evoke powerful feelings. My goal is to always create an emotional interaction between a viewer and the painting or a user and the machine. I hope the new technologies I design will move people the same way my painting moved Amanda to tears. Finding a crossroads between engineering and visual arts will allow me to enhance people’s lives while touching their hearts.