This is my Big Idea to Save the World
#289 - scenes from Aspen Ideas Fest, link to the next webinar, and places I will be this summer.
Dear reader,
The question that sparked most conversations at Aspen Ideas Festival was this - What brings you to Aspen? A not-so-subtle glance at my name tag, a quick widening of the eyes, and then: What is sneaky art?
They invited me, I would say. I am here to lead a workshop about how and why everyone should have a drawing habit.
What about someone like me? I can’t draw at all.
It is exactly for you. A drawing habit has very little to do with being good at drawing.
In today’s post, I want to share the big idea with which I attended Aspen Ideas Festival, and the sneaky art I saw there.
The SneakyArt Post is a newsletter of secretly drawn art of the world. Every week, I share my best lines and favourite words. If you like this in your inbox, share it with someone else who might like it too!
Scroll to the bottom for links to good things.
🤞🏼 What I am doing here or anywhere
Immediately upon arrival, I knew that I had never been in a place like this. Everyone wanted to hear from everyone else. Everyone was interested and interesting. If ideas had a physical manifestation, it crackled in the air above us with an electric energy. The place was buzzing. The Aspen Ideas Festival brings “brilliant minds from around the globe to discuss the ideas that will shape tomorrow and help us understand today.” Nestled between mountains on the sprawling campus of the Aspen Meadows resort, I found myself surrounded by people eagerly discussing their big ideas, the work they had already put into them, and the plans they had going forward.
Climate change, de-addiction, wildfire prevention, women’s health, the greatest mysteries of the cosmos, and … sneaky art?
What was I doing here? I could feel my Imposter Syndrome stirring. It had not come across a better opportunity to re-establish its supremacy in years. For a long time, I have kept it subordinate, listening but not heeding, aware but unafraid. I have let go of the notion that I must defeat my Imposter Syndrome, just as I have let go of perfectionism. It is a part of me, and we have our little accommodation, and mostly we coexist in a wabi-sabi state of being. I like to think it keeps me on my toes.
Now it said to me, Don’t even talk. You know nothing. Slink away. Go draw, a tiny person or something. Reader, when your Imposter Syndrome speaks to you this way, know that it is coming from a place of (misguided) concern. Do not hate it, instead take pride in rising above it.
I did this by pushing out of my comfort zone with deliberate energy. Again and again, feeling vulnerable and out of my depth, I approached strangers to spark a conversation. It led to many wonderful introductions and enriching conversations. I am glad to have done it.
I am sure it did something. We were expecting 15 people at my workshop. A long table was set aside for them to sit. The workshop was scheduled for right after lunch, under a hot sun, and I expected lowered energy levels would translate to a lower turnout. Maybe 10 people? Five, said the Imposter Syndrome? But nearly 40 people showed up, and more tables had to be requisitioned!
💡 My Big Idea
The title of my workshop was - How to Build a 5-Minute Drawing Habit.
Because a drawing habit can fit inside our daily schedule without upending it.
Because habits have a way of compounding good lessons in our mind.
Because a drawing habit is not about how well we draw, but the business of paying attention to our world.
I started the session by sharing My Big Idea, speaking loudly to make sure I was heard across three tables full of excited participants.
I think it would be a more beautiful world if we only looked at it more. Drawing connects us with our environment and its people, by leading us out of the sensory-deprivation bubbles of our devices. Drawing is a conversation with yourself, outside of the realm of words and language.
From quantum theory (Helgoland by Carlo Rovelli) I learn that at the most fundamental level, nothing exists except in relation to other things. Every property of an object - size, weight, temperature - is based upon how it interacts with other objects around it.
So, nothing exists by itself. Perhaps not even people? This reconnects me to several good questions my drawing habit has already given me. Does a city exist if there is no one to walk its streets? Is a tree a tree without a person looking at it? Is an ocean an ocean? Is a mountain still a mountain - a discrete, unique, natural peak separated from other peaks around it? Or is land just land and water just water? Is a traffic light real when no one waits underneath it?
Reader, answer some unanswerables?
By adding context and meaning to the objects of our world, we give them value, purpose, and distinct identity. So what happens when we stop noticing things, when we lose ourselves in our devices and the audio-visual sensory bubbles they create? Do things lose meaning? Do our connections fray?
Quantum theory also reveals that time is an illusion, a by-product of how we give our attention to the world. Distracted and careless, time flies by. Attentive and observant, we can savour every moment. Attention is a unit of time. Time is a unit of life.
A sketchbook can be a cheap and simple tool to reclaim our attention spans from predatory algorithms. A drawing habit can enable us to give our attention where we want, rather than succumbing to digital feeds of infinite content. So I do sincerely believe that a 5-minute drawing habit can save your life, if you let it.
These are the ideas that make up my workshop, that go with me when I go out to draw, and that I use to inform the direction of this newsletter. It’s the only thing I believe I have worth sharing. Sometimes it helps to put them into words, at places where people want to listen to me talk. But I like to think the art has a way of communicating them too. In fewer lines, and with more beauty. It’s the only good purpose I can think for my art in today’s time.
🗓️ I am doing a FREE webinar next week to share my techniques for drawing tiny people. Sign up to get the link to join (and a recording afterward).
📚 Preorder my book - Make (Sneaky) Art - and enter a reader-exclusive raffle for a special prize.
📍 I will be in Chicago for the USk Chicago Seminar 10-14 July, and in Edmonds (WA) 17-21 July for Sketcher Fest. I will have more free time at Sketcher Fest, but would love to meet readers in both cities. Email me, or respond in the comments, maybe we can fix something up?
✍🏼 I am drawing people live at the McArthur Glen outlet mall in Vancouver on Sunday, July 6. Drop by between 12 and 3pm to get a free drawing!
Thank you for reading. I am glad to have a little share of your time and attention this week.
Where does a question go if unanswered?
I do very much believe that drawing can save the world and I've been sharing my sketchbook drawings for years hoping to nudge people into a drawing habit. And it works! And you're doing it on a grand scale which is definitely world-changing!