Art by definition is a process, a skill, a mastery of something. The meaning of art is explored in a branch of philosophy known as aesthetics, which focuses on new ways of seeing the world. Artists use various mediums for presenting their work, which include music, literature, film, sculpture, and paintings. Whatever the style or choice of expression, how an artist arranges and presents elements related to events, activities, structures, ideas, and phenomena, the intent is to appeal to the senses and emotions. And its interpretation can be both objective and subjective. In the Romantic period of the 18th century, art was viewed as a special faculty of the human mind to be classified with religion and science. That special faculty is passion.
Science (Latin scientia=knowledge) by definition is a process, a methodical and analytical system, and is used to acquire knowledge through the use of the scientific method. Scientists make observations about events, activities, and various phenomena. The goal is to interpret the meaning behind the elements of each by collecting observable evidence and generating hypotheses about how things work and testing it through experiments under controlled conditions. Observational data is recorded and analyzed and the information is used to construct a theoretical explanation as to how things work like they do. This process gives us a better understanding of past events and a better ability to predict future events of the same type as those that have been tested.
Both art and science stimulate thought and imagination. The right hemisphere of the brain is associated with art; the left, with science. The two hemispheres are connected by the corpus callosum, a structure in the longitudinal fissure of the mammalian brain, which allows communication between them; it provides a convenient pathway for the convergence of artistic and scientific thought. The flight of a bird, the color of a leaf, the human body, the bursting of a bubble, the construction of a building, the solar system, and the formation of a creature are explained through science in an objective and analytical manner. They are interpreted (or also explained) through art in an objective, subjective and creative manner. Science is empirically based and the same could be said for art in the sense that the information for the development of each is gained by means of observation, experience, or experiment.
Science seeks to discover information about the natural world and how it can be organized into meaningful patterns. Art does the same thing but extends beyond tangible borders; it is not confined by observable data, yet it can be found within and as a result of that same data. In either field, one perspective is reclaimed by the other (science results in objectives but art has more freedom for subjective interpretations). The same patterns developed through science are designed to appeal to the senses through art.
Art serves an aesthetic purpose and science serves a logical purpose. The two fields seek to organize a meaningful pattern through either concrete or abstract information. Both areas allow us to explore, discover, and enhance the imagination, which is optimized when both hemispheres of the brain are put to use. Both art and science are impassioning; especially for those who thirst for creativity and knowledge. Find the art in science and it is likely you will find a masterpiece and appreciation for every observable and imaginable creation.
...one of the strongest motives that lead men to art and science is escape from everyday life with its painful crudity and hopeless dreariness, from the fetters of one's own ever-shifting desires. A finely tempered nature longs to escape from the personal life into the world of objective perception and thought.—Albert Einstein (3/14/1879–4/18/1955)
Copyright ©2013 Joyce E.M. Wall
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