The Art of Engineering!

How does your artwork depict the contribution of engineers to a better world?

“The walls between art and engineering exist only in our minds” once said Dutch artist, Theo Jansen.   This competition broke those walls, allowing our imaginations free to create such amazing art pieces.  My artwork showcased three of the ways that engineers make our world a better place: technology, infrastructure, and transportation.   
Technology is represented using the first “E”, the “G” and the third “E”.  The first “E” portrays a test tube, magnet, atomic schematic, and magnifying glass to show how scientific discoveries rely on engineering tools and how engineers rely on scientific principles.   The “G” depicts a robot, computer, phone, beatbox, and charger using cords and plugs to help them work.  This shows how engineers create technology and continue to modernize the world.  The third “E” portrays medical tools such as a syringe, ice pack, pills, and bandages to show how engineers make diagnostic tools to help patients get better quicker.     
Infrastructure is represented by the first “N”, the “I”, the second “E”, and the bridge.  The first “N’’ depicts a road and a billboard.  Roads connect people to goods and services while billboards show important information.   The “I” portrays a flower representing agriculture and how we need things such as farmhouses and water management tools to grow crops.   The second “E” depicts a building to show how these physical structures help economic, social, and public services.  The drawing of the bridge represents a real one which connects roads and makes the movement of people, goods, and services possible. Like bridges, the engineering profession spans many disciplines.  
Transportation is represented by the second ”N”, the “R”, and the train.   The second “N” portrays an airplane, helicopter, and hot air balloon to show the different types of aerial vehicles that engineers invent.  The “R” depicts a rocket to show how engineers build and test spacecraft which astronauts rely on for survival in outer space.  The drawing of the train represents a real one which is efficient to carry goods or passengers depending on the type of train.   In the windows of the train, you will also find the steps of the Engineering Design Process.
My art piece represents technology, infrastructure, and transportation which are all types of connectivity, either digital or physical; they bring us together.   Engineers connect us all.

Describe how you think viewers from at least two different audiences might view or interpret your work.

My artwork could definitely be interpreted in two different ways.  One audience may look at my art piece and see the tools that help accomplish engineering achievements, focusing mostly on the letters that represent technology.   Another audience might look at my art piece and see the results of engineering efforts and achievements, focusing mostly on the letters and images representing infrastructure and transportation.  Either of those ways are correct because engineers keep improving their outstanding achievements and use these endeavors to assist them.

Briefly describe the materials you used and the process you went through to create your piece.

To create my artwork, I used mostly color pencils with touches of crayons on a piece of paper.  I started by writing the word “ENGINEER” in block letters.  After that I brainstormed about how engineers impact different things in our world and represented each of my ideas onto a letter in pencil.   
I also added a train and bridge underneath my decorated letters as a way to underline the word.  Once I was done the sketch, I colored it with whimsical colors.

Explain anything you learned from the process. Ideally include any failures you experienced along the way. Failure and subsequent improvement are critical to engineering design, so please tell us how you failed, how you dealt with it, and how that influenced your submission.

Inspired by the methods of many great engineers, I made several iterations to get to the version you now have.   On my first draft the letters weren’t centered leaving not enough space for my design on the “E” and too much space after the “R”.  My lines also weren’t straight on my first draft.  Both issues were resolved by using a ruler during my good draft; to fix the spacing I measured where I should start writing the letters, and I traced the edge to create straighter lines.  As a medium in my first draft, I used markers but soon decided that it would be difficult to keep intricate details when using them, so I changed my approach and decided to use colored pencils.  I also used crayons for colors that weren’t available in my colored pencils.