please join me in welcoming force turns
to the TEDx Sonoma County stage what is
the wildest creative dream that you have
ever had what dream has burned deep
inside of you since you were young well
since I was a kid my wildest dream has
always been to make art and space art
with aliens come along with me on a
journey to embrace this unknown of how
with a creative practice reimagined we
can achieve our wildest of dreams
this is little me turning five years old
my mom sent me this photo the other day
with one of those mom reminders
she said Forrest your passion for space
is nothing new you started off as a
space artist seriously check out your
party you’re standing on my furniture
giving a monologue to your space friends
yoda voices laser beams drama and
adventure some things they never change
and she’s right some things do never
change but thinking back I was so lucky
to have felt that creative spirit so
early what took me what takes me so what
is so powerful when I look at this image
is how the creative urge grabbed my soul
that urge to be at that space artist to
get lost in our imagination that urge to
draw to practice to perform well
I’m 40 now and the road to these red
letters has had a lot of setbacks but
I’m here today to tell you this
I am the passionate kid from that photo
I did achieve my wildest dreams to send
art to space to make art space here’s
the canvas these satellites are called
doves 10 by 10 by 30 centimeters you can
hold them in your hands
designed and built at Planet labs in San
Francisco for the scientific purpose to
take a picture of the whole earth every
day they’re beautifully crafted clean
lines straight corners they’re elegant
hardware is covered in artwork and as
the principal space artist at Planet
labs
I’ve made the largest art show in low
Earth orbit over the last 5 years we’ve
put art on 340 of these satellites it’s
a world record of unique illustrations
characters and handwritten scripts it is
the dream I am a space artist but you
know what I joined that aerospace
company so proud of my previous
successes so proud to have talked my way
into this opportunity so proud to have
asked for permission to make art only
salads I was so ready so when I set up
my easel shoulder-to-shoulder with those
aerospace engineers and made this giant
4 by 6 foot canvas everything aligned my
imposter syndrome had all but
disappeared you know the feeling when
you’re aiming for the fences and you hit
it out of the park homerun
that was it when I painted this piece
those bold marks came through me like a
sword fighter these migratory animals
they would look back at Earth from space
and make art history I know it wasn’t on
satellites yet but I really felt that
and of course my mom loves to brag that
I was trying to put art on spaceships my
dad he loves to tell people that I
finally lined up my practice with the
business elite and while it’s sometimes
embarrassing to hear them talk about it
the truth is it’s hard for me to
separate this polished product from the
truth of the story behind the story in
the background of painting this first
successful piece I was terrified I had
no idea of how to actually get this
piece that I had made on to the
satellites so desperately I was calling
everyone I knew that I thought could
help chemists at paint companies were
hanging up on me
established artists they thought I was
joking and my trusted friends from my
art community they had painted on
then the real pressure hit one of the
founders approached me that evening and
said point blank we start making
satellites tomorrow and I’m seeing this
beautiful piece u-men but where’s the
Artemis satellites so you know that kind
of put me in a place of not knowing what
to do I was frantic I was wild and the
Cinderella story of the small town kid
hacking my way into this amazing
opportunity
it was tempered by the daunting gravity
of how to actually achieve what I
bragged that I could do the fed failure
was coming in like the Wolves the
deadline loomed so back to the aerospace
lab I said
hey guys have you seen this piece that I
made yeah well do you think that we can
uh maybe just repaint this on to the
satellites no it’ll evaporate off in the
vacuum of space well do you think we
could make it into a sticker and paint
it on there
no the constant solar radiation it will
fade your ink and peel your sticker well
do you think that I could just make it
into a stencil and spray-paint it on
there that’ll work right
no the consistent temperature
fluctuation between 150 and sub-zero
degrees every 90-minute orbit it will
wreak havoc on your paint we don’t want
that well what about this nope what
about that nope what no what no what no
oh nothing man and like I said that’s
when the real pressure melted I had
but you know what you all probably know
this as a creative you don’t always win
and these rocket ship exploding feelings
they happen all the time now what do I
do in times where I am clinched by the
fear of not being good enough times when
I feel like I have totally failed I
retreat to my sketchbook meditate and
make a new plan my practice of drawing
so I into these pages pushed away the
fear all right all right so the question
was how am I gonna get my art to
actually stick to a satellite made of
powder-coated metal and not totally ruin
the scientific mission all right artists
figure that out good question so I
started making marks questioning ideas
re mixing variables and drawing and
drawing and drawing and boom there it
was the answer hit me like lightning I
was thinking of this whole problem
backwards instead of adding art medium I
would subtract my mother was a glass
engraver my whole life and thinking back
this would be the perfect way to take
this obnoxiously large painting and put
make it on a much smaller scale it would
be the perfect perfect technique so on
my trusty ten-speed with a backpack full
of spaceship parts I was off on an
all-nighter our mission what could
possibly go wrong right and thankfully
nothing went wrong it worked perfectly
so I caught the 5:30 BART train back to
San Francisco exhausted and smelling
like laser beams the team could not
believe that I had pulled it off but
together that day as a creative
community
we started to build that first flock of
28 satellites
covered in artwork now you might think
that the solution to this adventure may
have seemed like luck well it comes down
to this when we face challenges that
push us to our edge our practice expects
us to be present in mind and ready with
tool living your practice is giving
yourself the ability to learn from
yourself through relentless execution
and endless observation it is the
feedback loop of learning your own
unique creative language and these
lessons my friends are applicable to any
venture where creativity is needed or
innovation expected and now I’m facing
these creative challenges all over again
in the background of creating the
largest art show in low Earth orbit my
amazing partner Tory and I we were
engineering a different project we’ve
made a human in the studio where I
usually make inanimate subject matter
and she’s four now the love of my life
this kids practice is teaching me
lessons every day and what a trip right
when I thought parenting would be
another metric of success and
celebration you know which don’t get me
wrong when I post pictures of her
painting and the high points I’m happy
to brag just like my mom tells the
stories of the high points of my career
but being a father is hard it is the
most abstract art project of them all
with its fits in starts its masterpieces
and explosions and failures well anyone
who is a parent or who knows the truth
of kids knows these moments these
incremental steps of learning and
growing confronting humility and not
knowing the answers these are the
lessons these moments are the currency
that give you the ability to keep
showing up to keep responding with calm
and with love and with tenacity because
that is what the practice demands of us
that is what the practice requires and
now that I’m a father
I get the amazing opportunity to teach
my daughter the lessons that have been
handed down to me lessons from endless
sketchbooks lessons from spaceships and
from parenting these lessons have taught
me that practice does not expect you to
compete no it expects you to be in
collaboration to illuminate the final
idea practice offers you a chance to
make a masterpiece but it does not
promise it
it offers endless guidance but expects
you to show up and because all of this I
believe point-blank that you cannot
achieve any dream without practice but
my dear I believe in you and my friends
I believe in you too
and I invite you to trust it thank you [Applause]
to the TEDx Sonoma County stage what is
the wildest creative dream that you have
ever had what dream has burned deep
inside of you since you were young well
since I was a kid my wildest dream has
always been to make art and space art
with aliens come along with me on a
journey to embrace this unknown of how
with a creative practice reimagined we
can achieve our wildest of dreams
this is little me turning five years old
my mom sent me this photo the other day
with one of those mom reminders
she said Forrest your passion for space
is nothing new you started off as a
space artist seriously check out your
party you’re standing on my furniture
giving a monologue to your space friends
yoda voices laser beams drama and
adventure some things they never change
and she’s right some things do never
change but thinking back I was so lucky
to have felt that creative spirit so
early what took me what takes me so what
is so powerful when I look at this image
is how the creative urge grabbed my soul
that urge to be at that space artist to
get lost in our imagination that urge to
draw to practice to perform well
I’m 40 now and the road to these red
letters has had a lot of setbacks but
I’m here today to tell you this
I am the passionate kid from that photo
I did achieve my wildest dreams to send
art to space to make art space here’s
the canvas these satellites are called
doves 10 by 10 by 30 centimeters you can
hold them in your hands
designed and built at Planet labs in San
Francisco for the scientific purpose to
take a picture of the whole earth every
day they’re beautifully crafted clean
lines straight corners they’re elegant
hardware is covered in artwork and as
the principal space artist at Planet
labs
I’ve made the largest art show in low
Earth orbit over the last 5 years we’ve
put art on 340 of these satellites it’s
a world record of unique illustrations
characters and handwritten scripts it is
the dream I am a space artist but you
know what I joined that aerospace
company so proud of my previous
successes so proud to have talked my way
into this opportunity so proud to have
asked for permission to make art only
salads I was so ready so when I set up
my easel shoulder-to-shoulder with those
aerospace engineers and made this giant
4 by 6 foot canvas everything aligned my
imposter syndrome had all but
disappeared you know the feeling when
you’re aiming for the fences and you hit
it out of the park homerun
that was it when I painted this piece
those bold marks came through me like a
sword fighter these migratory animals
they would look back at Earth from space
and make art history I know it wasn’t on
satellites yet but I really felt that
and of course my mom loves to brag that
I was trying to put art on spaceships my
dad he loves to tell people that I
finally lined up my practice with the
business elite and while it’s sometimes
embarrassing to hear them talk about it
the truth is it’s hard for me to
separate this polished product from the
truth of the story behind the story in
the background of painting this first
successful piece I was terrified I had
no idea of how to actually get this
piece that I had made on to the
satellites so desperately I was calling
everyone I knew that I thought could
help chemists at paint companies were
hanging up on me
established artists they thought I was
joking and my trusted friends from my
art community they had painted on
then the real pressure hit one of the
founders approached me that evening and
said point blank we start making
satellites tomorrow and I’m seeing this
beautiful piece u-men but where’s the
Artemis satellites so you know that kind
of put me in a place of not knowing what
to do I was frantic I was wild and the
Cinderella story of the small town kid
hacking my way into this amazing
opportunity
it was tempered by the daunting gravity
of how to actually achieve what I
bragged that I could do the fed failure
was coming in like the Wolves the
deadline loomed so back to the aerospace
lab I said
hey guys have you seen this piece that I
made yeah well do you think that we can
uh maybe just repaint this on to the
satellites no it’ll evaporate off in the
vacuum of space well do you think we
could make it into a sticker and paint
it on there
no the constant solar radiation it will
fade your ink and peel your sticker well
do you think that I could just make it
into a stencil and spray-paint it on
there that’ll work right
no the consistent temperature
fluctuation between 150 and sub-zero
degrees every 90-minute orbit it will
wreak havoc on your paint we don’t want
that well what about this nope what
about that nope what no what no what no
oh nothing man and like I said that’s
when the real pressure melted I had
but you know what you all probably know
this as a creative you don’t always win
and these rocket ship exploding feelings
they happen all the time now what do I
do in times where I am clinched by the
fear of not being good enough times when
I feel like I have totally failed I
retreat to my sketchbook meditate and
make a new plan my practice of drawing
so I into these pages pushed away the
fear all right all right so the question
was how am I gonna get my art to
actually stick to a satellite made of
powder-coated metal and not totally ruin
the scientific mission all right artists
figure that out good question so I
started making marks questioning ideas
re mixing variables and drawing and
drawing and drawing and boom there it
was the answer hit me like lightning I
was thinking of this whole problem
backwards instead of adding art medium I
would subtract my mother was a glass
engraver my whole life and thinking back
this would be the perfect way to take
this obnoxiously large painting and put
make it on a much smaller scale it would
be the perfect perfect technique so on
my trusty ten-speed with a backpack full
of spaceship parts I was off on an
all-nighter our mission what could
possibly go wrong right and thankfully
nothing went wrong it worked perfectly
so I caught the 5:30 BART train back to
San Francisco exhausted and smelling
like laser beams the team could not
believe that I had pulled it off but
together that day as a creative
community
we started to build that first flock of
28 satellites
covered in artwork now you might think
that the solution to this adventure may
have seemed like luck well it comes down
to this when we face challenges that
push us to our edge our practice expects
us to be present in mind and ready with
tool living your practice is giving
yourself the ability to learn from
yourself through relentless execution
and endless observation it is the
feedback loop of learning your own
unique creative language and these
lessons my friends are applicable to any
venture where creativity is needed or
innovation expected and now I’m facing
these creative challenges all over again
in the background of creating the
largest art show in low Earth orbit my
amazing partner Tory and I we were
engineering a different project we’ve
made a human in the studio where I
usually make inanimate subject matter
and she’s four now the love of my life
this kids practice is teaching me
lessons every day and what a trip right
when I thought parenting would be
another metric of success and
celebration you know which don’t get me
wrong when I post pictures of her
painting and the high points I’m happy
to brag just like my mom tells the
stories of the high points of my career
but being a father is hard it is the
most abstract art project of them all
with its fits in starts its masterpieces
and explosions and failures well anyone
who is a parent or who knows the truth
of kids knows these moments these
incremental steps of learning and
growing confronting humility and not
knowing the answers these are the
lessons these moments are the currency
that give you the ability to keep
showing up to keep responding with calm
and with love and with tenacity because
that is what the practice demands of us
that is what the practice requires and
now that I’m a father
I get the amazing opportunity to teach
my daughter the lessons that have been
handed down to me lessons from endless
sketchbooks lessons from spaceships and
from parenting these lessons have taught
me that practice does not expect you to
compete no it expects you to be in
collaboration to illuminate the final
idea practice offers you a chance to
make a masterpiece but it does not
promise it
it offers endless guidance but expects
you to show up and because all of this I
believe point-blank that you cannot
achieve any dream without practice but
my dear I believe in you and my friends
I believe in you too
and I invite you to trust it thank you [Applause]
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