Hello and welcome back. We are at Hillbrook School. My name is Bill Selleck. I'm director of technology. I have two illustrious guests today, Laura and Susie. Laura, how you doing?
Good morning, Bill. Thanks for having us.
Yeah, absolutely. And Susie. How are you?
I'm doing great. Happy Friday.
It is. Well, it's a happy Friday for us.
Oh, yeah.
We'll have to insert, like, the future people a variable. Happy whatever day you're listening to today.
Every day can be a happy day.
Every day, but not could every day be a happy Friday?
Yes.
So no matter what, I stand corrected. Happy Friday to you.
That's right.
Right. We started off interactive, and we're going to continue interactive today. Laura, you have a yeah. Bill, this is not a sit and get.
This isn't just a sit and receive. This is a sit and. Imagine and think for a moment. I would love the listeners to play a little game with us. Susie and I have a list, and Susie will read it and think about why we brought this list to the listeners today. Here we go, Susie.
Okay, here we go. Duck. Helper, typist, detective, secret spy, zookeeper, dirt biker, baker, journalist, fashion designer, actress, hairstylist, dog sitter design, self driving cars, chef, sewer, adoption center owner, paleontologist, movie maker, toy maker, or designer, a vet, gymnast, teacher, work at build a bear a Seologist. I think she meant oceanographer. Horseback rider, a pro soccer player, pro hockey player, pro basketball player, work it in and out because they make $22 an hour. Comic book writer, author of Christmas and Halloween books, songwriter, teacher, artist. Lot said this one. Engineer, art teacher, YouTuber, that's the most popular, although they didn't really have content planned out yet.
So this week, Susie and I have asked I know we've asked our students in the lower school and the middle school what profession they imagined themselves to be headed toward as adults. And that list that Susie read came from what grade?
This was third grade.
Third grade. There's a couple more, Susie. Yes, there is a back to the list.
Susie, do you want to, like, halfway?
No, no.
Do you want to give us the rest?
Yes. A geologist, an archaeologist, a surgeon, a singer, a video game maker, a video game tester. And I loved this one to be happy, she wrote.
Yeah, that's a really nice place to start, just to be happy. So what I was hoping that Susie, you, and I could do today is, well, and listener, you may have thought, as Susie was reading that list, oh, these are things that one does in the world, and it's a delightfully eclectic list. In the middle school, the children were more inclined to say pro sports as a profession. Duck helper. Warms my heart. I love that so much.
Hang on. Is that just a human that helps ducks?
Yeah, I think so. He's really into ducks. Yeah, I think a human who helps ducks. Anyway.
Can we play this out for just a moment? Ducks don't have opposable thumbs, so they want a loaf of bread at the local 711. And you're going to help the duck get a loaf of bread. Are these scenarios that a duck helper would engage in?
Well, I think the world is ours for the making. In terms of duck helper, we get.
To decide, oh, God, the duck song is now going to be stuck in my head.
Oh, don't sing it.
No, I'll keep it in.
All right. Professions. Professions. Many times in class, students will say, why are we doing yeah. Which I love. Actually. That is an opportunity. And Susie and I are going to embrace that opportunity this morning and talk about how professions that are outside of the creative outside of the creative realm or the visual arts, how they are actually benefited by study in the visual arts. And we together decided rather than to talk about the entire list because that was rather extensive, we'll hone in on duck helper. Yeah, right.
On duck helper.
For the next 15 minutes, we're going to cover just a few specifics off the list. So the first is duck helper actually perfect. Yeah. So the things that a visual arts background can bring a duck helper. Susie, off the top of your head, what do you say?
Maybe their habitat, designing where they live and how they live.
Awareness. Awareness about the space that the duck resides. Making sure that the space is assistive to the duck and pleasurable for the duck. Absolutely. Something that I thought of is understanding. Form and shape can help a duck helper appreciate the form of the duck itself, the beauty of the animal, the curve and the angle of the neck, the beak feathers, the colors. The textures. Right, the textures. So the visual arts are bringing up an awareness of all of those qualities in the duck.
It's a noticing, right?
It is a noticing.
I notice my wife is deep into modern quilting.
Yes. And such a great quilter is she?
She is. She's incredible. The things she notices when she looks at quilts are different than the things I notice. And she tends to notice more details. She tends to notice way more and I tend to notice way less. We're being silly with the duck helper. But truly, your quantity of noticings are a skill that you develop.
Absolutely. And I have long said to students that what we're actually doing is we're helping train sight. We take that we see things actually for granted. Those of us who are seeing people, we think, oh, because my eyes work, I see the world. But study in the visual arts reveals to us that we don't see it all. And the more we study in visual arts, the more we see. Exactly. How about a detective or a spy? What could they benefit from in studying the visual arts?
Well, I would definitely say that attention to detail and noticing and being very observant and again, noticing things that others just would not even think to notice.
I would also say organization of thought. So a detective has to keep track of many bits of information. And when you are working visually, you're keeping track of a lot of information as you're working. And so a detective would probably be benefited from that organization of thought and making connections.
For sure.
Absolutely. Making connections. How this relates to that, that's really interesting.
I'm thinking back when I was working in recording studios professionally, laptop recording was just becoming a thing. So there were a couple of different studios that would record onto Adat. So think like VCR cassette, but it was data. And so you'd load up two or three dat machines and you'd have to keep extensive notes on all the tracks you have. And sometimes every time you would run out of tracks. So no longer is track 14 just backing vocals, it's now backing vocals and the guitar bit in the bridge.
Right.
But then if you decide you have to keep track of all the stuff.
Right.
And now when everything's visual and computer based or iPad based or phone based or whatever, when it's all digital and all visual, that's a different way to organize.
Right. And tying that organization back into an awareness. You cannot track if you're not aware. And you cannot organize if you're not aware. Those things are symbiotic. They go together. How about Zookeeper?
Zookeeper.
It's kind of akin to the Duck Helper, isn't it?
It is.
You were describing it and I was actually picturing like, zookeeper or like zoo. Zoo designer.
Oh, right. Like habitat.
Yes, Habitat, which is an actual job, I was sure laughing at it, but I'm just captivated by duck Helper. I love that. I want to get a shirt that says Duck Helper. Really catchy. Anyways, zookeeper.
Yeah, I'm curious. George liked the zookeeper, too. Yeah, definitely. Again, with Habitat, I'm also coming back to their diet and food.
Absolutely.
And learning, maybe creating a chef I feel like is so similar to an artist in that you're finding flavors that go together. I know that animals probably don't feel well. We have healthy diet, right.
We have to understand what flavors appeal to our zoo animal. And I have spent some time in some really great zoos, and I know that really great zoos do a wonderful job of creating interest for the animals. The life of captivity is one that we could have a whole different discussion about. But creating play around food. Also, I think the visual arts lend themselves to understanding about texture and food. Something in its wetness or its dryness crunchy. Right? And how something crunchy goes with something else.
Wait, explain to me. With food, I get that. How does that fit with visual arts? Is it like you can I know with some Monets when I was traveling, I liked getting to the side of it almost with my head against the wall, and you can see the depth.
That's the bad goat.
That's what blew me away, is these paintings have depth. They've always been flat in my head. Is that close to what you're talking about?
Right. So we think of visual arts paintings, drawings as 2D. Many paintings, as you have observed, if you get up close to them on the side, they actually have dimension. And no matter what material you're using, even watercolor has a change of texture depending on how much water you have on your brush. If you're using a dry brush over dry paper, or wet brush, or wet, yeah. There are a multitude of material experiences that have textural qualities in the visual arts. Graphite on paper, an H pencil, a six H pencil, which is a very, very hard graphite pencil, versus a six B. Very, very soft. Those give you different effects, but also they feel different texturally. The H pencil will resist you on the paper, and the six B pencil will move sort of liquid satisfying. Yeah. On the paper, very smudgy and inky and dark.
Is there a two B pencil?
There is a two B.
Is this the famous number two pencil?
Well, yes. And you might not realize this, listener, but the pencil that we all used in school, the yellow pencil, is HB, which is perfectly it's not Hillbrook. It's perfectly in the middle between hard and soft.
Oh, wait, so HB is soft.
Correct.
It's quite a fun fact. So let's move past the zookeeper.
Architects use a lot of H pencils. Yes, zookeeper. How about pro sports? Yes, pro sports.
Professional sports. I thought you meant like, I'm for sports. I'm pro sports. Three times I heard you say pro sports, and I was like, Are people anti sports? No, professional.
Professional sports.
Yeah.
There's one person listening that's like right. So pro sports. I've got like nothing comes to mind.
Yeah. Oh, gosh. Let her go.
I would love to talk about how pro sports and visual arts align. So, first of all, visual discernment on the field, being able to see with detail the actions of others, and the movement on the field is very much tied to training in visual arts as well as the mechanics. So you might not think of visual arts as gross motor. I happen to think of it as gross motor because even when you are working small, you're using your body in space. And this is something that students develop an awareness of over time. It's not something that you're typically talking to a lower school student about, but the way we hold ourselves in space, the body awareness that we have when we're creating the visual arts really connects to the body awareness of a pro athlete, professional athlete.
Is that in the same way that when I was studying music in college, posture was such a big deal absolutely. That it actually affects wow.
Absolutely.
Just made me sit up straight.
Thanks.
I know. Instantly. Yeah. And quick tangent with that. I know it's visual arts, but I keep bringing in the audio arts. I got to spend a day in the studio in Santa Barbara with Michael Trujillo, who now is the bass player of Metallica. He's been in many, many things. I saw him on MTV Awards. I don't know why I was watching this. Like, a month after we were in the studio, and he had hair down to his knees that was like braided. He's bending over like his bass is almost on the floor. He's almost like a letter N. He was so curved and it was in such contrast because when he was in the studio, he walked in and I was just like, whoa, this dude is, like, legit. He looks the part, but kindest human. And as soon as he sat down in the chair most serious human I have ever, ever met. Perfect, flawless posture. I thought it was a joke at first, and it was like, record. He'd play it be as serious as you want with the quality, like flawless. And I don't use that term lightly. Flawless bass playing. All right, next track. Go plays perfect posture the whole time. So, like, I'm interesting connections.
Yeah.
It's not pro sports and it's not.
Visual arts, but it's pro musicianship. It's professional musicians.
I'm proving a connection that I've never even thought about before. And is it similar? Like, if you're like what's it called with the clay and spinning a pot.
Throwing if you throw it, like, to your feet.
Right.
Posture make a difference.
Your whole body, the body's mechanics are everything in throwing a piece of ceramic on a pottery wheel. It's not just that realm, though. When I or a student is painting or drawing in a big format, you get posture coming into it.
What's big format? Like bigger than eight.
Like what they're doing for the set? Well, currently, yeah, currently we have the 8th graders working on a twelve x 26 foot backdrop for the spring musical. And the body awareness in that space comes in that changes how you paint. Absolutely. So something that I teach my students is that a brush gets pulled, not pushed.
Say that again?
A brush gets pulled, not pushed. So I know, right. There are all these little adjustments to know about materials use and tools use that play into the result you get from using said material and tool.
Yeah, it's so fun with the young ones, especially, like, the JK and know they don't know much. I mean, some of them can write their name at the beginning of the year, but just little things that I instill in them throughout their years with me and preparing them to go with Laura. Pulling your pen when they make their border frame, the line around. I'm just always saying, remember, pull your pen towards you. Turn the paper, pull it toward you. If you go sideways or up, it's.
Just you're not supposed to go sideways or up.
No. Well, no, just the border frame. Well, actually.
I'm consistently getting my mind blown.
Well, actually, how many times that and the older kids are getting it. We're working on a beautiful project inspired by Alma Woodsey Thomas. Look her up. She's great. Was great. But where they're painting in a circular fashion, little dashes, like almost like mosaics. And to be able to turn your paper as you're going, instead of twisting yourself up into a pretzel to be able to make a couple of marks and just constantly be turning your paper so that your motion is the same that your hand is doing it's just repeating that same motion instead of doing.
And that's the way I hear coaches talk about free throws for basketball. Right. Same motion.
That muscle memory. Yeah, absolutely. So nice tie in bell with the pro sports. Yeah.
Bringing pro sports back into it. I would love to sort of circle back to the last thing you said when you read your list, Susie, which was the be.
This.
Okay. Putting aside that, of course we celebrate students who want to go into the arts, we guide those students and we help those students develop the skills to be successful in the visual art that they choose. The being happy is something that I love because, of course, in life, no matter what profession we're in, we want to be happy in that profession. And the visual arts can help us. What I think of in terms of happiness and the visual arts is that, well, I have to I have to present a thesis. I believe that the arts in general, the creative pursuits in general, are the glue that holds society together. It's a form of communication that allows us community that we don't have otherwise. And so if this child wants to be happy, the study in the arts really gives them the language of the arts and gives them that flexibility to engage with not only the world, but the art that is made in the world. And that, in turn, leads to happiness, that understanding and that sense of belonging.
Right. And it's fun to talk about with the younger ones. Everything around us is art. I mean, look at what you're wearing, your clothes. And I don't mean art, but there was a creativity, design and design. Right. So the car that your family has, not just the color of it, but the design and all the things that went into it your furniture, your kitchen.
Your proportions, proportions, shape, form.
I mean, all of those things will come into play no matter what we become. A surgeon was another one. Oh, yes. That they still have those skills that we're helping them to gain and all the noticing and all of those things still will be a part of their life as it should be, no matter what they do, if they're designing a self driving car.
Well, I know we just kind of threw, like, car manufacturer. A couple weeks ago, I was at Nvidia with a couple students, and we got to see kind of their executive briefing center before we went to a meeting to talk about kind of AI in San Jose, like the mayor of San Jose was. There was an extraordinary time. And part of the connection they made, part of the story they told. And if I pause for a moment, nvidia makes the hardware that everybody's building AI on interesting. All right.
Are they singular in this? Is there anyone else making if you're.
In the AI space, Nvidia is your hardware.
Got it.
Go to okay.
Like, very simply put, we're not doing an episode on that. What was fascinating is that you can actually train AI models to let you either interact in a virtual reality space, which I've always been like with, but you can actually run a handful of simulations in a way that wasn't accurate or really feasible previously. And so the example they gave with the cars and this is where somebody in engineering, I'm trying to make the connection between visual arts and engineering. Now, I design, like, here's the Machine that's going to put a door on a car.
Right.
All right. But actually, how does that fit into the factory? And so you can drop in all of these different factors and run like, 100 simulations that legit run the simulations, not in a way that we've used kind of previously. And they can go, actually, this Machine won't fit because of this. Or as people wheel stuff from kind of one station to another station, you can run a whole bunch of different ways of, like, let's make a six foot kind of path. Let's make an eight foot path. What if we make this box this big and you can run it a whole bunch of times and see where the bottlenecks are in a way that just at scale you never could have previously. So even like a deeply technical job like designing a robot to put a door on a car, sure. The better you understand visual arts, the better you're going to be able to leverage these tools.
Absolutely. And I would argue and I guess the position that I'm taking is that you can name any field for me, literally anything. And I can find how the visual arts benefit that professional.
Absolutely, yes.
Thank you. Do we have any more jobs? We have hundreds more jobs.
Oh, I know there are countless jobs. I think that rather than talk about any specific areas of professional life just to close on talking about how Miss Susie and I go by Ms. Hale. How we came to teaching art, the visual arts because we really believe that it enhances the lives of the students no matter what profession that they should choose. And to the why are we doing this? That actually came up. I was working with the 6th grade. We were looking at negative space and they had never considered that the area between and around objects is itself space. That's wild. That's wild. And so I heard them as they discovered that there are in fact shapes between objects, enlightening what I see it, they said. And that is the promise of the visual arts. Really being able to connect individuals to a way of seeing and discerning that they don't get otherwise and any other discipline.
That's right. And I really believe that the time that we spend with them, for me, twice a week for 45 minutes carries on all over campus. They take that with them as simple as just persevering and seeing success and feeling proud of something that they've created that they perhaps thought that they just never could do. They carry that with them to their next class or back to homeroom or to PE or whatever. They hold on to those feelings. Absolutely. And then off out into the world. And these kids are very lucky. Yeah.
We call it visual arts, but we're really about improving the lives of humans.
Yes.
So if anyone is as compelled as I am listening and wants to develop those muscles of noticing, maybe I have an idea. Yeah. This is going to be the bow on our episode. What's your idea?
The number one way I say for you to grow your ability to see is to draw blindly. So look at an object, draw what you see without looking at what you're drawing.
Blind concept.
I'm looking at the distance at this redwood tree. So my eyes are going to be on the redwood tree. My eyes are open.
Right.
There's paper in front of me. And then I'm drawing with an HB pencil, most likely. I'm not looking at my hand or the paper. I am looking I'm not like looking at thing, closing my eyes and drawing.
Yeah.
I call this looking with the eyes rather than the brain. Because when we're looking at our drawing, we're really using our brain's memory. And so when we're drawing without looking at our paper, we're relying solely on our vision. And you will record what you see and guess what? It won't look like the tree. And that is how you can improve your sight.
I'm kind of cracking up because the third graders are on their way across campus and I was really hoping to find the duck helper. My friend, we could have asked him a little bit more about profession.
Oh, well, I mean, I hope by the end of this episode that we all become duck helpers.
Duck helpers in spirit.
I think we need to make that shirt in the hub.
Absolutely. And so what I've just invited everyone to do is to try something called blind contour. Drawing. And you can find lots of tutorials on YouTube for this. And this is the number one way.
To improve your wonderful.
So much. Susie, thanks for joining us. Laura, thanks for joining us.
You're welcome. Thanks for having us.
All of you listening to your blind, contour drawings.
That's right. Go folks.
And no matter what day it is for you, happy Friday.