my creative outlets complemented my science rather than detracting from it I needed a creative outlet to keep myself going; it just had to fit within my schedule. This was when I found pottery, which I could pursue on evenings and weekends. After my first class, I was hooked. My family member’s comment about my love for pottery shook me but did not halt my passion for the craft. Instead, it has inspired me to more intentionally mix my art with my science. I keep a notebook at my lab bench filled with doodles of mug designs inspired by my experiments, such as my work investigating copper’s ability to cause protein precipitation. Through the challenge of distilling my paper into its core concepts in such a way that it could be displayed on a mug, I gained a better understanding of my project. Pottery has now turned into a way for me to train my brain to be creative and think outside the box. It helps me learn how to take a lump of clay and turn it into the unimaginable I realized I talked about science the same way I would paint a picture, explaining concepts in broad strokes—in part because I struggled to remember technical scientific terminology. doi: 10.1126/science.caredit.adk1006 How centering my creativity helps my science |
