I feel like this is very drab, and it needs some spicing up. I'm not exactly sure how to do it.
What is art? Art is not limited to a single, traditional medium----not just a series of brushstrokes, or a ballet performance. It is anything that requires skill, ingenuity, or imagination. It is the application of these techniques that make these pursuits beautiful----be it a laboratory investigation, a booklet of poems, or a precise manner of dismantling the remote control.
At a very early age, I exhibited reasoning, mechanical, and verbal powers-----skills I would later apply to several endeavors. For instance, I was able to use special observations and mechanical strengths to dismantle the remote control at nine months of age. This was evidence of my reasoning powers---I had never even seen my parents change a battery. Later, I would use these same reasoning powers in the field of mathematics and sciences. Similarly, my verbal faculties were very highly developed----enough to interpret the role of "teacher" in my elementary school's annual "kindergarten graduation." In the years that followed, I turned my talent for verbal interpretation to oration, then writing short stories and poems. Thus, I discovered the art of words.
My mechanical and reasoning talents seemed dormant until high school, where I was thrust into the world of numbers with a vengeance. Forced to apply the logical side of my brain, I soon discovered that with a bit of practice, geometry was not as difficult. Soon, I started to see the sense behind the proofs and a logical pattern behind the algebra. I saw clarity in Descartes' rule of sign, sense in chemical titrations, and pulchritude in a solution to a twenty-step proof. Thus, I discovered the art of problem solving.
My discovery of these arts, though inspiring and beautiful, could not match the desire I felt for an escape. Therefore, I was introduced to music, dance, theatre, and the visual arts at age six, and continue to value all of them today. The traditional arts may be some of the hardest to engage in, because the artist is using more than one faculty of his or her brain. Great art---of any kind----always requires skill, cleverness, and creativity on some level. It cannot come naturally, as the other art forms may to some. One must put in more blood, sweat, and tears, for less pay, to produce an oeuvre. Despite the thankless duties of a traditional artist, however, the rewards always outweigh the hardships.
At a glance, my pursuits may seem to be totally dissimilar. Yet, the artist sees that all require the use of special skills at the proper times. I consider everything I do in life as an art, for all of it requires ingenuity. Therefore, my life exemplifies "artes" in all I do, and will continue to do so as a Florida State Seminole.
