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| Biochem Lab | |
 BIOCHEM LAB "The Art of Learning Medicine" Appleton-Century-Crofts, NYC, l974 May H. Lesser I needed to have permission to do my project in biochemistry, so I spoke to the department chairman, an outstanding research professor. I described what I was doing. I explained the idea of studying the g growth of the students, as reflected in the growth of my artwork. I said, "it feels right, honest, for me to do this; I want to do it but I do not know exactly what will come of it." He said, "Excellent research, go to it!" And so, with this encouragement, I did. Biologic chemistry deals wit the structure, transformations, and interactions of the chemical constituents of living organisms. There are long hours at crowded lab tables in an atmosphere overheated by innumerable Bunsen burners, and aromatic with the mixture of odors from numerous chemical and metabolic products. There were fifty or more students doing the same work. The simple forms made of standing students pipetting with the index finger, not the thumb, measuring exactly into flasks, were juxtaposed with the seal scales, the gas and the electricity outlets, the black countertops, and the air conditioning water condensation tower seen through the window. A red sweater was lying on the counter. The etching was a study of the white coats transposed into colors and the parallel tables taken at the angle from where I stood by the waste can in the corner. I was impressed that as I worked on my lift ground for the aquatint, one of the women students walking back and forth from her table to the sink noticed that I had changed the design from what I began with...very observant of her. She told me how many jobs she had held down to earn her way into medial school, from baby sitting to lawn cutting, and now she was tired and wanted a good summer’s vacation. |