Observation, Creation, Communication

The three lessons from art.

Yesterday I had the privilege of speaking to a group of parents in a homeschool co-op about the Crate. Specifically, about the opportunity for them to purchase art lessons for their kids. 

I had a few takers, but that honestly wasn't my goal. The goal was to have the experience of talking to an actual group of potential buyers about something I'm selling. Families are a key market segment of the Crate, so getting that chance was amazing. I'm very grateful for the connections that made it possible.

Going into it I knew this: That there would be 14 families-worth of parents and that they were all in a homeschool group. That was it.

So this clearly wasn't my typical competition-style pitch. I wasn't here to give them the whole overview or any of the feasibility plan information. I wasn't even seeking an investment, only the odd interest.

So first I wanted to see where they stood with art in general:

"That was a lovely introduction," I started, regarding the words my connection said to the group before I got up to address them, "I'd love to get to know all of you–just a little bit–via a show of hands for just a couple of questions." a couple of nods.

"First, do any of you like art?" and every hand raised.

"Okay, fantastic. Do any of you play an instrument?" A few hands…

"Yeah… instruments actually have nothing to do with this but that's good to know!" a couple chuckles and some smiles. Great start.

"And the last question, are any of you interested in art lessons for your kids?" Only a couple hands went up. That's good to know.

"Alright, that's okay!" and then I went on to explain two things, starting with what people can gain from art and ending with Crate logistics. This first portion I've boiled down to three concepts (though I know from experience there is a WORLD you can learn from art and design). The three are as follow:

Observation

This is most noticeable in empirical work. That is, the work where you say, are looking at an apple and drawing in intimate detail what you notice about that apple. Observational skills involve breaking down complex objects into simple shapes, and noticing the little details.

Creation

This involves the tactile. Any tool skills or techniques or even just knowing how to use a ruler are all part of "creation". Yes, there are the aspects of creation like brainstorming that can make it entirely complicated, but it's first and foremost the skills you need for the process work.

and Communication

This is the one I'm typically most excited about (as a Human Communications major). It's the fact that art has the ability to transcend language barriers using globally understood color and shape language. If anybody sees something pointy or bright red, it can mean danger. If someone sees something round and light blue, it typically seems safe. The power of communication that visual arts holds is something I've hardly scratched the surface of, but look forward to learning more about.

After telling them that these three concepts transfer over to other life skills–trying to explain the viability of art lessons–I then explained the Crate's client onboarding process (which probably took too long) and the CRATE acronym. I think I actually took twice (if not three times) as long as I should have (I was told 5 minutes but the clock definitely went farther than that since I'd last looked…) but they were all smiling. That means either they enjoyed it and it was worthwhile…

or that these parents were good actors.