January 23, 2025 • 46 mins
Ever wondered what it takes to navigate the complexities of identity and culture, as a young immigrant?
In this two-part episode, Taiwanese-Canadian artist and educator Pete (Shouh) Young takes us on a journey through his life, sharing how his experience of moving from Taiwan to Vancouver at the age of nine shaped his art, his studies, and his sense of self. From the challenges of adapting to a new language and culture, to the founding of Young Guns Studio to mentor young artists, Pete's story is one of resilience, creativity, and a deep connection to his roots. Pete shares how his parents, a meaningful Chinese name, and food traditions, continue to influence who he is today.
HELPFUL LINKS
- Get my free Travel Planning Tool
- Daikon soup (Taiwanese soup from pork bones) 排骨蘿蔔湯 - This recipe provided by Pete, is a close representation of his Grandmother’s recipe. Sadly he does not have his Grandmother’s original recipe. A gentle reminder to capture our family recipes.
- Get in touch with Pete on Instagram (@_ygstudio) or visit his website: https://www.ygstudio.ca/
- Pete is generously offering a 30% discount to the Young Guns sketchbook course designed for adults! (As described in this episode) This 2 week sketchbook course fosters imagination in a freeing, non-judgmental way. You’ll receive one sketchbook prompt each morning, hot out the oven, freshly delivered. Monday to Friday, with easy-to-follow instructions that take just 15-30 minutes. No overwhelming art projects and fancy supplies—just simple ways to fill your creative tank and get back in touch with what lights you up.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
I am back with part two fromTaiwan to Canada, Pete's Journey
(00:04):
of Creativity and Innovation.
And in this episode, we reallydive into innovation and
creativity and also Pete'sjourney from Taiwan to
Vancouver, not just as a youngimmigrant, which we discussed in
part one, but also as a youngartist and how he then navigates
the university system a fewyears later.
(00:25):
And through that processdiscovers a need that needs to
be filled, and that is to help.
young artists navigate theuniversity process and develop
their portfolios.
So what does Pete do?
He opens up Young Gun Studios.
Through this conversation, Peteshares with us so many great
nuggets, lessons, information,different perspectives.
(00:45):
I really hope you love it.
I sure did.
(01:14):
Pete Shouh Young is a TaiwaneseCanadian artist and educator who
founded Young Gun Studios in2008 to create the supportive,
inspiring environment he wishedhe'd had as a young artist.
A graduate of OCAD's industrialdesign program, Pete combines
his own journey of challengingexpectations and embracing
creativity with a mission tonurture young talent with
(01:37):
agency.
Through Young Guns, he hasguided students to secure more
than 900 acceptance letters andover 8.
5 million in scholarships,fostering a community where
mentorship, curiosity, anddreams take root and flourish.
In part two, we continue wherewe left off and dive into Pete's
(01:59):
journey as a young immigrant anda young artist from Taiwan to
Vancouver.
audioPaulaMohammed21170806 (02:05):
What amazes me when I hear your
story, is your parents really,nurtured this innovation and
creativity that they saw in you.
Did you feel like You had to goto university.
Was there a path that you had tofollow or did your parents
literally lift you up and moveyou off that path and really
supported you in whatever youwanted to do?
audioPeteYoung11170806892 (02:26):
When I think about how my parents,
cultivated creativity andcontinuously nurtured that in
me, I think back to this oneepisode very vividly.
I do art classes, when I was alittle kid.
And this is back in Taiwan.
I remember learning from thisart teacher.
Mr.
Shu, for, for a little bit oftime when I was a little kid.
(02:48):
And then moving here.
My mom was trying to find an artteacher for me it was, this was
before email days, obviously.
I remember her writing a letterand I asked my mom, I'm like,
mom, like, what, who's thisletter to?
And then she's oh, this is toMr.
Shu is to ask him for advice onhow, to find a great art
(03:11):
educator.
Um, and also advice on how tonurture my creativity.
And that is so meaningful to mebecause looking back, I think
the young Pete really understoodhow seriously my mom took it.
terms of, oh, I could go downthe academic side.
(03:34):
But I could also, go down thisother path, that very few Asian
kids would go down.
Really, like, nurtured that sideof my development and she went,
full in on it.
I remember, know, taking otherclasses like piano, horseback
riding, even.
And it wasn't like I took a lotof classes, but I remember the
(03:56):
attention and care that she hadspecifically placed on, art
classes.
So, we went to, Granville Islandand Arts Umbrella when I was,
yeah, when I was very little.
And I just loved it therebecause Arts Umbrella, was
really, it gave me a lot ofspace and freedom to draw and
(04:19):
express in the way that I wantedto.
That's literally the best thingthat I could have, of received
in terms of art education when Iwas at that age.
One thing led to another, I wasin grade 10 and 11 and, you
know, art was always my thing,but It took on a bit of a
different meaning at that pointbecause on one hand, I realized,
(04:42):
oh, okay, art allows me to standout.
It's literally my tool for me tobe like really to find my
identity, to be this likepopular kid because of my
artistic talents and skills.
But on the other hand, itbecame, daunting in the sense
that, oh, I now have a to make,which is what do I do in
university?
(05:03):
Grade 10, grade 11, like myparents always ask me,
especially my mom, she wasasking me, son, what do you want
to do, as, as a career?
What do you want to study inuniversity?
Cause I had good grades, and Icould have applied to SFU, UBC,
but being the second, my sisterwas also really talented in
arts.
audioPaulaMohammed2117080689 (05:22):
Mm
audioPeteYoung11170806892 (05:23):
My sister's, four years older than
me, my parents had, alongside ofher, they had left it to go to
this, more typical path studiedat UBC.
When it came to my turn, I toldmy parents, after doing some
thinking, I'm like, Okay, thisis pretty easy, uh, in the sense
that I know I'm not going to doanything else but something to
(05:47):
do with arts.
That decision was easy.
The part that was the mostdifficult is didn't have any
resources.
My, my mom didn't have anyresources.
It was like, oh, okay, now thatmy son has decided that he wants
to pursue a career in the artsand design, how do we do it?
audioPaulaMohammed21170806 (06:04):
hmm.
audioPeteYoung11170806892 (06:05):
And we were all super lost.
I was asking, my high school artteacher, and he didn't know.
He didn't have any resources.
I went on the internet back,this was like 2003, right?
2002.
So the information is not likewhat we have now.
It's so easy to hunt copiousamounts of information nowadays,
but the internet isn't what itis nowadays.
(06:26):
And so it's still very limitedinformation.
I remember, of all the designs,all the arts, I don't know
anything about them.
I just know that I'm really goodat drawing and painting.
I was really, really intosneaker culture, uh, basketball.
And so one thing led to another.
I was like, okay, I was alreadycustomizing painting on my own
shoes.
audioPaulaMohammed211708068 (06:47):
Oh, wow.
audioPeteYoung1117080689 (06:48):
That's how I was able to stand out,
right?
That, other kids like boughttheir Shoes, their fresh
Jordans, Nikes, whereas, myparents, they didn't want me to
waste money like that, andthey're just like, you can go to
Payless Shouhe store and buy apair of Reeboks and you can do
whatever you want with that,right?
And your allowance is this.
(07:09):
So then I had to paint on theshoes.
And my friends really liked itand I thought, oh, okay, I love
basketball.
I love sneaker culture.
I was like, oh, could I dosomething with that?
I was reading this magazinecalled, by, uh, Slam.
It's called Kicks.
And so they were interviewingthis, sneaker designer.
Who's designing a pair ofsignature shoes for Tracy
(07:30):
McGrady.
this NBA basketball player.
Um, one of my favorite playersat the time.
And she talked about how, Oh, inorder for you to become a shoe
designer, footwear designer, youneed to have a degree in product
design or industrial design.
And I went, that's it! You know,that's my calling! That's,
that's exactly what I need todo.
(07:52):
Knowing nothing about it.
Uh, I then, uh, you know,applied to Emily Carr, and also
to OCAD.
Again, all that process was justvery difficult to navigate,
because I went and looked up,uh, Industrial Design and what
OCAD was saying about IndustrialDesign, what Emily Carr was
saying about Industrial Design,and they were saying something
(08:12):
along the lines of, Are you aproblem solver?
Do you like to solve problemscreatively?
And I went I guess, I don't knowwhat that means though, right?
So it felt very much like I wasdoing everything in the dark.
And when I was applying to theseuniversities, these two schools,
I noticed that, oh, you have toproduce a portfolio.
And I went, what?
(08:33):
What's a portfolio?
What does that even mean?
So then I was really developing,uh, everything in the dark.
I learned, I was, learning withthis Chinese art teacher, at the
time, but he was very, youtraditional.
He teaches me how to develop mycore skills, which is awesome.
but he doesn't really know howto, cultivate the more creative
(08:56):
side of words.
These schools are really lookingfor.
So I think that's also wonderfulin a way because he honed my
hard skills, but really lefteverything to me and the
creative side of how I want toexplore.
The storytelling in myportfolio.
I didn't know that it wasstorytelling.
I didn't know that it was aboutnarrative, but I just went,
(09:17):
well, okay.
How do I be creative?
Uh, I love basketball.
So I literally went and I gotsome of my old shoes and I got
this old basketball.
So I went, okay, I need to do asculptural piece.
And so I just like made aliteral basketball head out of
that.
And then I also went, okay,that's cool.
(09:37):
Uh, I'm now going to paint that.
So I painted, I did anotherpainting that was like, it's
comprised of all these likebasketball shoes and then again
the basketball head on the veryback.
I submitted my portfolio.
I put together my application.
It was back then, it was stillon paper.
You had to also submitphotocopies of your sketchbook.
audioPaulaMohammed2117080 (09:58):
Yeah.
audioPeteYoung11170806892 (09:59):
And submit like a colored photocopy
version of the sketchbook, andnone of it was digital.
It was, it was crazy because Iactually submitted, my
application to Emily Carr andOCAD.
But I was so confident in myabilities that I was like, ah,
forget about Emily Carr justsubmitted one portfolio to OCAD
(10:21):
and you know, luckily I, I gotin,
audioPaulaMohammed21170806 (10:26):
Now, Pete, for our listeners outside
of Canada, can you just, uh,just quickly a couple of
sentences about Emily Carr andwhat OCAD is?
audioPeteYoung11170806892 (10:35):
Yeah, if you're to apply to art and
design schools, uh, in Canada,in the, in the States, there are
a lot more options, most of theschools are either on the East
Coast or West Coast, and inCanada, there are a number of
choices as well, but, the mostpopular choices being, Emily
Carr, um, University of Arts andDesign in Vancouver, and on the
east coast in Toronto, it wouldbe Ontario College of Art and
(10:57):
Design at the time when I wentthere.
Now it's called OCADU, OCADUniversity.
So these are two of the most,like, popular, design schools,
art schools that students wouldattend.
audioPaulaMohammed211708 (11:10):
Great.
Thank you.
So you got accepted to OCAD.
You did your degree there.
audioPeteYoung11170806892 (11:15):
Yeah, and, you know, with dreams, like
everyone in school.
So I was at OCAD in Toronto, andeveryone in school, like my
peers, the faculty, myprofessors, they all knew that,
oh, there's this kid who wantsto go work for Nike in Portland,
because that's his dream, andvowed to himself that it doesn't
matter if he's working as acustodian there.
(11:36):
Whatever that it takes to gethis foot in the door.
Like whatever project I coulddo, I somehow dressed it up and
made it turn it into somethingrelated to sneakers.
As I went through the, theyears, like first year to second
year to third year, I started tolearn more and more about, the
power of design.
(11:56):
And what is, and that was areally massive transition
because the biggest differenceis I used to think that arts and
design, they're one in the same,that if I'm a great artist, I'm
a great designer.
It's totally different.
there's shared commonalities,but the difference is art is
really for the self.
as an artist, whatever youthink, whatever you say, like as
(12:17):
long as you hold true to that,okay, valid, right.
And it's, it can be sosubjective.
But on the other side, on thecontrary, design is, it has to
be objective.
Like you're designing to serveothers.
You're designing for others.
audioPaulaMohammed21170806892 (12:32):
I never thought of it that way.
audioPeteYoung11170806892 (12:33):
So that was my huge wake up call.
I was like, Oh, I, just causeI'm a good artist doesn't
necessarily mean that I'm agreat designer.
So as I learned more and moreabout design, I think it opened
up my mindset to understandthat, Oh, it's actually very
potent, very powerful, and it'swide ranging.
You can apply design thinking toa wide array of, industries.
(12:57):
It's not just.
Drawing shoes anymore.
It's not just designing a pairof shoes anymore.
There are two things thathappened there.
One was, I felt like, the, whatI had in terms of skill set was
not able to get me to, thatposition to be a a footwear
designer for Nike.
And I went, yeah, I could workharder to develop those skills
(13:18):
in the last year.
Or, what if there are otheropportunities?
Fortuitously, or as fate wouldhave it, my dad, um, so he used
to tutor English and he had astudent who wanted to apply to
OCAD.
I then co mentored her.
He was like, Hey, do you want tomentor her for a couple of
weeks, during, during winter?
(13:40):
During your, winter break.
So I did that.
I mentored her, her name'sFionn, and I helped her get into
OCAD because of that mentorship.
And I was like, huh,interesting.
Like, so, for the first time,it, I, I had a semblance, I had
a feeling of what it was like togive back.
Because all the way till then,it was like, oh, all about me,
(14:00):
all about what I want, what canI get out of this process.
But for that first time, I waslike, oh, this is cool.
Because I had walked throughthat experience and that
journey.
I felt like everything that Iwas doing was mostly in the
dark.
And I can then take myexperience, and what I learned
and be able to pass it on to Tothis person, and I then started
to realize, oh, there'ssomething, there's a superpower
(14:23):
in me that I have yet todiscover until then, which is
the superpower of empathy, thatI can really place myself into
that student's perspective,that, that, you know, Fiona's
shoes, and to really understand,oh, there are all these fears
that she must have, because Ijust went through that a couple
years ago.
So then one thing led toanother.
I was like, okay, this is thatreally crossroads, right?
(14:45):
Um, I either do this somethingnew that had no idea what it
would be Or that I wouldcontinue this path of being a
sneaker designer So aftercoaching the student, I didn't
think much of it.
My dad, um after four or fivemonths He approached me with
this idea.
He's like son if you reallydon't have it figured out yet
then what are your thoughts onfounding your own art school
(15:05):
starting shop So in fourth yearwe had a, a class and it was, I
think it's something about likecareer development.
So, I took my dad's idea and,synchronized it with this career
development class and was like,oh, okay, cool.
What if I did start my own artstudio and my own little art
program?
I called it at the time, it wasusing my parents company, M Pet
(15:27):
and Young, and it says PortfolioServices.
I tried to workshop this ideawith a couple of faculties, and
that's how I began the wholeprocess.
The first step was definitelydifficult, right?
I'm very grateful to my dad.
So my dad was the one who helpedme set up a Shop.
My parents, they found this likelittle studio space.
And my dad told me, he's like,son, I'm going to, help you pay
(15:52):
for the first two months ofrent.
And after that, you'recompletely on your own.
And he also did a second thing.
He was the person who helpedfind the first five or six
students of mine.
And it was, it ranged from gradethree to, grade 12.
Put them all together in oneclass and I'm like, wait, what
(16:15):
am I doing?
I'm babysitting on one end, butI'm also talking about portfolio
on the other.
So, um, that's how it started.
Um, but
audioPaulaMohammed2117080 (16:24):
Sorry to interrupt, but what year was
that that you started at thatyou launched Young Guns?
audioPeteYoung11170806892 (16:28):
so I launched Young Guns in 2008.
audioPaulaMohammed2117080 (16:30):
2008.
Okay.
Wow.
Now take us to what Young Gunsis today.
What does it look like?
audioPeteYoung11170806892 (16:37):
I think for the first couple of
years, it was Finding MyBearings.
My goal was in anything andeverything I do is like, as long
as I put my mind to it, I wantto be the best at it.
So that's been my goal eversince.
I really have this dream ofbuilding a program where
students can come through.
(16:59):
And we're not just helping themdevelop art skills, but we're
really helping them explorethrough art.
Because art can help you, tellso many stories.
But in order for you to tellstories, you need to first dig
really, really deep.
You need to, reflect.
You need to also embrace yourinsecurities and your fears.
(17:23):
You can get creative with math,I'm sure.
But unlike certain topics,subjects where there's a sort of
right or wrong.
I think in the arts, there's noright or wrong.
And so it's helping studentswalk through that process to
develop skills, but also todevelop confidence in
understanding who they are andto develop that agency for them
(17:47):
to do anything and everythingthey can to make that idea come
to fruition.
I think that's the most likeimportant part of the process,
which is to see the essence ofwho you are continuously.
like surface and that you canput your hard work out there and
(18:09):
it manifests itself as aphysical piece and others can
start to have a dialogue withyou.
I think that that journey tohelp a student go from, I am so
lost.
I know I love the arts to, oh, Ihave certain skill sets now and
I have a certain creative voice.
It just takes this process forme to like bring that out and I
(18:32):
can show it to the world.
And in seeing them develop theirvoice and their confidence, um,
I think it's the most wonderfulthing because I don't look at it
as helping them get into the artschool only, but I really want
to help them find the skills andto find that mission, to find
their core why, so that they cango very, very far in life, in
(18:54):
this, you know, nurturing andfostering of their creativity.
And that's the gift that I wantto give to the world because I
feel like in many ways, thoseare the things that I had
received, in my life when I wasa little kid.
Oh, this is magical, like, thatyou can do all these things with
the arts.
It's like these animators,Disney animators, they're
wizards, right?
(19:14):
They can bring something to lifethat almost feels, when I close
my eyes, it's even more fun andeven more real than, my
experiences.
Yeah.
audioPaulaMohammed21170806 (19:25):
It's interesting hearing you talk
right now.
I was thinking the exact samething, having heard your story
within this, short period oftime from start to finish is, as
you were talking about what youwant to give to your students,
helping them identify, right?
Be aware of their strengths assuch a gift in itself.
(19:45):
And then, Helping them explorethat and develop it is what your
parents did for you.
You're following that sameroadmap, I'm hearing you talk
about art and that's so muchlike the culinary arts, I find
my creativity in cooking andthen sharing that food with
family and friends brings me somuch, joy.
Want to come back to a littlebit more about food and culture
(20:06):
in Taiwan, but I also don't wantto lose this train thought I'm
on.
In terms of innovation, when, wewere chatting about this
upcoming, podcast episode, youhave obviously, spent a lot of
time And, Really developing howyou want to nurture innovation
in your students, in yourself.
(20:27):
And I found it reallyinteresting reading about, your
perspective on innovation.
Can you just talk us through alittle bit about innovation?
innovation from your perspectiveand why it's so important and
how you see it's changing.
I'm going to follow up withanother question on that because
I'm really curious about, whenyou were growing up in Taiwan,
(20:49):
did you, feel that the culturewas innovative at that time?
Or do you feel like that sparkstarted when you came To
Vancouver.
audioPeteYoung11170806892 (20:59):
I used to, I used to not think
about this so much.
I used to not think about likeoriginality, so much, because
Back in school, we were taughtthis, I think it was Pablo
Picasso that like, you know,great artists steal, right?
And so it's it's okay to steal.
There's only one you in theworld and you'll always create
something a little bitdifferent, a little bit more
unique.
(21:20):
So I kind of like put that torest.
But again, what we previouslytouched up on, which is.
I think in this world that we'rein now, the way that it's
shifting in the students that Iwork with.
I'm starting to see that,originality can be something
that is faked or fiend.
because there's so muchinformation out there, artists
(21:40):
are teaching other artistsexactly how to do something.
where.
Students can then, let's say ifwe're talking about portfolio,
could create a body of work thatlooks very exciting and new, but
that actually is not a processthat they've gone through
themselves.
It's not a process of trial anderror, that they've come to this
(22:03):
result, that they've come tothis way of thinking, this way
of working.
It's actually through copying aset of framework that has
already been created.
audioPaulaMohammed21170806 (22:12):
Hmm.
audioPeteYoung11170806892 (22:13):
I was talking to a colleague of mine
and she challenged me.
She's like, Pete, sure you guysdo wonderful works with the
students, but she's shechallenges me to be more
innovative with my approach toteaching and to thinking about
the programs.
And I was like, yeah, you areright.
I think about, innovation alittle bit, but I think about
(22:34):
thinking outside the box a lot,right?
In a way, they're not reallythat different.
When I talked to a mentor ofmine, he gave me, uh, literally
like one of the best tips thatI've received on innovation or
on creativity or on thinkingoutside the box.
He said, in order for you tothink outside the box, You need
to go back to the firstprinciples and think about how
(22:58):
things could be done or shouldbe done instead of how things
are currently done.
Love that thinking becauseoften, in anything and
everything that we do, it's likethere's a set way to do things.
There's a right way to do thingsalmost, and we become lazy.
And now even more so with myunderstanding of AI so far, with
(23:21):
what my students are doing withAI, it's so easy when we begin
learning these tools for us togo, Oh, we become very prompt
based.
audioPaulaMohammed211708 (23:29):
Right.
audioPeteYoung11170806892 (23:30):
We give it a prompt and it does the
work for us.
In a way it's then, if you don'tuse it correctly or effectively
to really nurture your ownthinking, you then become very,
very lazy.
Right?
audioPaulaMohammed211708068 (23:43):
the processing piece is missing.
audioPeteYoung11170806 (23:46):
Exactly.
We're not really processing howto do something because AI is
like really giving you thatanswer.
I've literally had a studentlast weekend.
We're working on this capstonesneaker design project.
And he was asking AI, what doyou think are the opportunities?
Give me the solutions.
(24:06):
And so he's not doing any ofthat thinking, right?
AI's doing all that thinking.
So, coming back to what I wassaying about, creativity and
innovation, I think even moreso, that's when students really
need to go, well, okay, how do Ithink outside the box?
How do I really be innovative?
(24:26):
How do I really be at theforefront of this when everyone
else becomes more copy andpaste?
that I have to really protect myindividuality, um, and I also
learned this other point thatwas really, really beneficial, I
hope, to the audience too.
There's this Japanese designernamed Rei Kawakubo, she's this
(24:47):
legendary female fashiondesigner and, she was talking
about this idea that I thoughtwas so, so compelling.
She said there's The primarysource, and then there is a
secondary source.
In my understanding of it, she'ssaying the primary source is
what you, again, as a humanexperience directly, and she
(25:08):
protects that, protects thatfiercely, right, because she's
like the secondary source.
audioPaulaMohammed211708 (25:13):
Sorry, Pete.
You mean she protects that inherself?
Like that prime, her ownprimers.
I've got it.
audioPeteYoung11170806 (25:19):
Exactly.
Uh, she protects that fiercelybecause she's that's the way for
her to be original, and for herto understand how she wants to
innovate in her ways.
Not necessarily going, oh, Iwant to study other fashion
designers and what they'redoing.
She's going, well, how do I livemy story?
How do I live my life?
(25:40):
How do I be the best fashiondesigner that I can be?
Oh, I'm not just living andeating fashion design.
I actually need to experiencethe world and through the
stories, through theconversations, that's where
they're going to inspire mewith, these ideas that I can
then inject into my works.
So I think, I think that's wherethe other point that I learned
(26:02):
about innovation, that is socritical, which.
is saying that it, it has tocome from a place of, to me, of
humanity, because that again,going to this conversation about
AI is something that I've beenreally thinking a lot more of.
We don't know, none of us, Iwould say none of us would know
where the future is going totake us in terms of AI.
(26:23):
But I do know that in everythingthat AI is, the things that
humans are, like the, you know,the humanity aspect, our
emotions, and our sentiments,and our, maybe even our, what
makes us human is that we'reprone to making mistakes.
Making mistakes parts isactually totally fascinating
(26:43):
because I really don't think AIcan make mistakes like that in
the way that humans can.
Where it's through thesemistakes, that's where some of
this innovation actually comesfrom.
That's where this like, in theart world, it's called happy
accidents.
These happy accidents.
are amazing because if youdevelop this mindset where
(27:03):
you're always open, right?
You're very open minded.
That's, you know, a core of whatI do with the kids is I want to
open up their mindsets, right?
To go, to accept that you mayhave a solution here, but when
you're doing an artwork, youprobably only know 30 percent
there is to know about thisparticular project, so you have
to really embrace theuncertainty of the unknown.
(27:27):
And I think that's the, I knowyour audience is some of, maybe
most of them are parents, uh,some of them are parents.
And that, like, the, the tipthat I have for parents now that
I'm a parent too, when I'mthinking about how to raise my
kid, is I want to give the kidsa lot of room for them to make
(27:47):
mistakes.
Like with my toddler, if he'smaking a mistake, quote unquote,
then I would go, my firstinstinct is, oh, I want to help
them fix something.
I want to help rectify this.
But then I go, actually, no, Ihave to actually hold back and
let him continuously do that andfigure it out.
And I think in cultivating that,it's, it's so important.
(28:09):
It's an exercise that I thinkabout.
It's a mindset that can becultivated.
In Stanford, D-School, theirdesign school, they have this
series of exercises.
so it's called Stokes.
So it's literally getting youstoked for, the actual activity
that you're about to do.
Let's say you're designing thisnew product or whatever.
And so the Stokes is a series ofexercises.
(28:33):
Let's say, one of them is getwith a partner.
And, you can't look at yoursheet of paper.
You can only look at yourpartner and draw.
And I think the idea to that islike, you're then trying to,
through that process, trying toreally unleash, the unbounded
creativity or the unboundedquality of Oh, your drawing
(28:54):
could be fun and whimsical.
It doesn't have to look exactlylike the human, like the person
that you're drawing.
But it's a way for you toreally, train your mind to go,
Oh, actually having a little bitof folly, a little bit of fun.
is really good, and you kind ofstart to kick that into an
overdrive into the nextactivity.
Let's say an exercise that Ithink would be great for parents
(29:16):
to do with their kids,regardless of their age, is to
talk about scenarios.
For example, what would theworld be like if, there were no
transportation devices, thereare only ladders?
audioPaulaMohammed211708068 (29:30):
Oh, I love that.
Yeah.
audioPeteYoung11170806892 (29:32):
What the world, what would the world
be like if there's no gravity?
What would the world be like, ifIt's whatever scenarios that we
want to paint, or would youchoose like there are these two
scenarios?
Would you choose this or that?
I think painting out thesescenarios like for, and to have
a discussion, with, with thekids about the possibilities is
(29:52):
helping them understand Oh,okay.
There's like this muscle that Ican exercise.
I can think about the unknowns,right?
I can think about thepossibilities and I can use my
imagination to, to do this kindof scenario playing into, paint
these scenarios where I don'tknow the answer, but, that's why
I'm training myself to be ableto think about these possible,
(30:13):
happenings.
audioPaulaMohammed21170806 (30:16):
When Pete and I first met, it was
actually at a Young Guns artexhibit it was a friend of my
son is a student of yours, andI'd never actually seen anything
quite like it.
So just, I'll quickly paint thepicture, no pun intended, for
our listeners.
It was outdoors and there was aphysical piece.
There is a car, and the car hadbeen, used as part of the art.
(30:38):
And the car was up against awhite brick wall.
And then there was projectionsput onto the car and the wall.
And the projections told astory.
So you had these three differentmediums that all came together
that multiple students hadworked on that told this story.
And I mean, that to me, I waslike, Oh, so okay, this is, this
(31:00):
is like a way different way oflooking at art and design that
I'm used to.
That, that goes to what you'retalking about is exercising this
muscle of using creativity in adifferent way.
I think you're, one of myquestions was what would your
advice be to parents?
I think what you're saying is sovaluable.
I also can't help thinking aboutin cooking.
(31:21):
I come across a lot of peoplewhen we do our virtual classes.
I always say our, we're notclasses, it's more experiences,
but people really want therecipe.
And often we're cooking with itused to be with our In My
Kitchen hosts.
Now it might be me sharing myrecipes, but people like your
mom, Pete, or your grandmother,or your wife, who I bet they're
not necessarily following arecipe.
(31:42):
This is like a pinch of this, apinch of that.
So it was always challengingbecause our participants really
want the recipe.
So we would recipe test, recipetest, recipe test to get the
exact measurements.
But I always had to say topeople, don't worry if Melissa
is not, if it's a little bitdifferent than the recipe you're
looking at.
And then I realized peoplerelied on those recipes so much
(32:03):
and I wanted them to throw themaway and do exactly what you're
saying, learn to cook and make,and I love this terminology,
make happy accidents or tastyaccidents.
It's that same idea ofdeveloping this, muscle of
creativity or, um, gainingconfidence and just, allowing
yourself to Make Mistakes.
(32:25):
And I'd never looked at AI andinnovation in this way until I
was chatting to you.
And now I'm thinking about it interms of cooking as well and
sharing meals together and how,AI can take that away if we're
not, if we're not careful.
If the next generation justquickly goes to, using AI
versus, strengthening andexercising that creativity
(32:46):
muscle of their own.
I wanted to ask you, you talkedto me briefly about it and I saw
it on your website and there's aprogram or something that you
offer with adults and it's thesketchbook prompt.
Can you talk a little bit aboutthat?
I'm quite interested inunderstanding it more and the
purpose of it.
audioPeteYoung11170806892 (33:06):
Last year we started, this.
where I thought, Hmm, I'veamassed, a large copious amount
of information or education andour niche just to work with high
school students.
But, I went, if, if my missionin my life is to bring, light
and love to the world, I can behelping more people.
(33:29):
And, I started to think aboutother populations like adults,
different age groups, And, mystaffs and I, we then went
through this process where, Istarted to field test these
ideas.
So I was like, okay, then who'sour target audience?
What are their needs?
What are their pain points?
(33:50):
We created a whole curriculum,like curriculums, and I
realized, oh, this doesn't workbecause adults are busy.
I mean, literally everyone'sbusy.
and so I had to scrap thatentire thinking and, I co
developed this curriculum withJulian, who's one of my past
students.
He's an excellent artist in hisown right now.
(34:12):
We then began developing thisframework around this idea of,
okay, if All adults are superbusy.
And what are they missing intheir life?
I feel like everyone iscreative, not I feel like I know
everyone's creative.
It's just, it depends on howthey're defining, how the
individuals are definingcreativity and how it manifests
itself in their lives.
So we're like, okay, it's thennot these courses for adults.
(34:34):
This particular class foradults, it's not really about
teaching the adult how to draw aportrait, right?
How to improve your hard skills,but it's actually to exercise
that creative muscle.
And so what we set out to do isto make sure that there are a
couple rules that are in check.
First, it's not going to take alot of time.
So it'd be like 15 minutes aday, maximum 20 minutes.
(34:59):
And second, we need to give thema framework.
We need to give them guiderails, right?
These guard rails are the thingsthat are going to help them go,
Oh, I'm a beginner, I'm anovice, or I haven't touched the
arts and two decades, but I'mgoing to take these guardrails,
these instructions, and to thenrun wild with it within these
(35:20):
boundaries, right?
The course is designed so it'sdripped into, the learner's,
inbox every morning.
And so the learners, thenaccessing this portal.
And then we will start withsometimes the day we'd like
start with a quick video ofJulian or I talking about this
new topic, or it would just bethis, like this PDF that's given
this instruction.
(35:40):
And, the third rule is we wantto make sure that no fancy art
lingo and no fancy art suppliesare necessary, right?
That like everyone can do this.
So that's this idea of thiscourse where it's two weeks.
why two weeks?
Because we want to make surethat, in my experience, so we
actually ran these classes,twice, with in person students,
(36:02):
in this past summer.
So in my experience, I think thehardest thing to do is, they'll
have a lot of fun in one class,but then they'll go right back
into, their usual pattern, whichis not working in their
sketchbook, or not havingcreativity manifesting that in
some small way.
And so we're like, okay, let'sdo this over the course of two
weeks where you do need tocommit to it.
(36:24):
15 minutes a day, it's Monday toFriday and then Monday to
Friday.
So we're hoping that because ofthe two weeks we can, start to
implement a bit of a ritual andthen to a routine and then
turning into a habit.
Yeah.
So that's the idea behind, this,sketchbook, class.
audioPaulaMohammed21170806 (36:42):
It's almost like journaling.
I'm somebody who, is not atalented, I know you're not
supposed to say you can't draw,but who is somebody who, can't
draw.
I love the feel of writing.
I love the process of, I'm verymuch a pen to paper person.
So get up in the morning, I domy Wordle, check my inbox, and
(37:04):
would this be applicable tosomeone like me who doesn't
have.
Any background?
audioPeteYoung11170806892 (37:09):
A hundred percent.
It's, Precisely designed forsomeone like you who doesn't
have a background in the arts.
We design it in a way where it'slike these little stepping
stones.
the first week it'll be, it willfeel like it's a breeze if you
commit to it.
And then the second week, itstarts to increase a little bit
in difficulty, but the ideathere is over the course of the
(37:32):
two weeks, you can then flipback and look back to your
sketchbook and the pages and go,Oh, wow, I see this development.
And I find that to be like oneof the best ways to excite a new
learner, which is when they seetheir progression and when they
see evidence of, theirlearnings.
There's this idea that I read ina book once that I found to be
(37:52):
phenomenal.
This author was talking about,how for children when they first
start drawing, the drawings area gestural sort of thing, right?
So that when you first startmaking marks as a toddler, as a
year and a half old, two yearsold, I think the fascination is,
oh, that's evidence that Iexist, because of the marks.
(38:16):
I think in a, in a compellingway, like what, that's what
we're really trying to do withthis course, which is, you know,
this conversation about AI andabout how do we become more
human in an increasingly inhumanworld?
Doing things like, journaling,sketchbooking, that's what it
does in kind of circling back tothe idea of, You know, nurturing
(38:38):
your primary census sources.
That's what I would hope to, youknow, impart through this course
to learners.
Yeah.
audioPaulaMohammed21170806 (38:46):
I'll put a link in the Shouhw notes
of how people can access italong with the daikon soup.
So we can have, I can just seehow my habits are going to turn.
It's going to be fantasticcooking and drawing and wordle.
Before we wrap up, I just wantto go back to you.
You said it briefly in, when wewere chatting, but I just want
to end on this.
your personal mission, yourpurpose.
You have a sentence that Ireally love.
(39:08):
Do you know what I'm talkingabout?
audioPeteYoung11170806892 (39:09):
Yes.
My mission in life is to bringlight to the world.
audioPaulaMohammed211708068 (39:14):
And on that note, you have brought
so much light into my world thismorning, would really love to
invite you to come to my son'shigh school and speak to the
students.
For anyone who has, kids who areinterested in design and art in
grade sort of 11, 12, is thatsomething that you would do is
come and speak to studentsdirectly in a school setting?
audioPeteYoung11170806892 (39:33):
Oh, a hundred percent.
I'd love to have thatopportunity.
Actually tomorrow morning, we'regoing into West Point Gray
audioPaulaMohammed2117080689 (39:39):
Oh yeah.
audioPeteYoung11170806892 (39:39):
and, we're going to be teaching life
drawing to, grade nines all theway to grade twelfths.
Uh, so that's, uh,
audioPaulaMohammed211708068 (39:45):
And
audioPeteYoung11170806892 (39:47):
love to, speak to parents, students,
just because when I talk todifferent art teachers, I think
the shared, common pain point isparents, even if they want to
support their children in goinginto the arts, their child to go
into the arts.
I think the biggest unknown,uncertainty, or maybe the stigma
(40:11):
is that they're going to be astarving artist.
Right?
That's literally the first thingthat pops into their head.
And rightfully so.
If I were a parent that knowsnothing about this field, I'd
probably think about, oh,there's no money to be made.
There's no future to be had.
And I really do want to make itmy purpose to be able to go into
these, environments and to beable to say, hey, that's
(40:33):
actually not the case becausecreative thinking is literally
the future.
If you don't have creativethinking in you, to me, you will
be very, very easily replaced.
I can totally speak about,Quieting these voices of the
noises of the uncertainties thatstudents, the kids or the
parents would have and to say,okay, then how do we cultivate
(40:57):
and nurture these tools in thestudents?
audioPaulaMohammed2117 (40:59):
creative thinking is, so important in, if
you're going to be in businessand entrepreneurship, in
anything, it's like you said, amuscle to be developed and
strengthened as much as wepossibly can.
If you could just give us aquick rundown on how parents, if
they want their children to be,or young adults who want to be a
part of Young Guns, how theycan, um, And if we want to
(41:22):
follow more of your projects andstories, what are your, social
media handles and I'll put itall in the Shouhw notes as well.
audioPeteYoung11170806892 (41:28):
Yeah, that would all be in the Shouhw
notes.
Our website is, uh, ygstudio.
ca.
and our Instagram is, oh,underscore ygstudio, And, uh,
yeah, just, you can also reachout to us, via email.
It's info at ygstudio.
ca.
Last thing to add to that is,,we are going to start to have
(41:51):
more, parent seminars and openhouses.
and in particular, I think inan, in a citing idea that I've
been planning is, an industrysocial.
So I, I don't know exactly wherethat's going to take us, but I
do want younguns to become, thishub, to connect, the industry
experts, the artists, thedesigners, and also, it's, it
(42:14):
can be a good opportunity downthe line for parents to kind of
tap into that as well, to tapinto that network.
So that's, that's in the works,that's in planning, yes.
audioPaulaMohammed2117080 (42:24):
Pete.
I've really, enjoyed this.
We sat down and chatted and itwas hard to end the conversation
because, synergies, but also,you just have such a great
energy about you and yourstudents, 900 successful
applicants and over Eightmillion in scholarships.
That's quite something.
And, I think your parents, I'venever met them, but what
wonderful people.
(42:45):
And it's so neat to see thatyou're paying it forward and
sharing these life lessons.
audioPeteYoung11170806892 (42:52):
100%.
Can we hang out sometime again,please?
audioPaulaMohammed2117080 (42:55):
Let's do it.
audioPeteYoung11170806892 (42:56):
Or can we, maybe can we cook?
Maybe, maybe I can invite youover and, my wife would, like,
we can cook together orsomething.
audioPaulaMohammed2117080 (43:03):
Check with her.
I I would love to learn, someTaiwanese recipes.
audioPeteYoung11170806892 (43:06):
This is, this is fun.
audioPaulaMohammed2117080 (43:07):
Good, I
audioPeteYoung1117080689 (43:08):
pretty nervous going into it and then
I'm like, ah, yes.
audioPaulaMohammed21170 (43:12):
Thanks, Pete.
It's been such a pleasure tochat with you this morning.
Okay.
I'll chat to you soon.
audioPeteYoung11170806892 (43:16):
Thank you so much, Paula.
audioPaulaMohammed21170 (43:18):
Thanks.
This conversation with Petereminded me how much I love
chatting to people, not justfrom other cultures, but also
from other generations.
Pete's a fair bit younger than Iam.
And a long time ago, I knewintuitively that it was going to
be important throughout my lifeto have friends who are at least
10 years older.
and at least 10 years younger.
(43:39):
And you know what?
I have.
And I know I've benefited fromit.
I really loved in this episodehow Pete brought up the use of
AI and how we're going to haveto be careful not to become a
prompt based society.
It reminded me when he talkedabout, creativity and innovation
and making mistakes.
(44:00):
I hadn't really thought about itthis way before, but yeah, that
process of coming up with theidea, it can be painful at
times.
But that's where the magic is.
That's where the innovation iscultivated and grows.
That's where we strengthen thatcreativity muscle.
Anyway, I hope this hit home foryou as much as it did for me.
Uh, it really did get methinking.
(44:21):
I am wanting to continue thisconversation and really want to
reach out to a couple of closefriends of mine who I consider
master educators.
One's currently a viceprincipal, with a God, an
impressive background ofeducation behind her.
And the other one runs a verysuccessful art and French
preschool here in Vancouver.
(44:42):
I want to reach out to thembecause I want to find out, are
we teaching innovation andcreativity and cultivating it in
our public school system rightnow?
How is Shannon cultivating thisin her French preschool?
And as parents.
Are they mindful of this andcultivating it in their children
who are now about to enter andare in the university stage of
(45:05):
life or post secondary?
There are so many synergiesbetween creativity and
innovation and how we strengthenthose muscles through the arts,
but also through everydaycooking, through doing different
activities, using those muscles.
I truly believe that usingthese, strengths of ours in a
different way every day or asmuch as we can will benefit us
(45:28):
in more ways than we canrealize.
I hope that when you finishlistening to this episode, which
obviously you have now, you'llfeel motivated to, to pick up
the phone and call.
Well, actually, let's face it,you're probably going to text
somebody, uh, but reach out tosomebody and continue the
conversation.
Reach out to me.
I'd love to chat to you moreabout this.
I just think there are so manygreat nuggets in here.
(45:49):
And actually, if you have achild or youth.
Who's interested in the arts andmaybe a career in art and or
design, or just design ingeneral.
I think you'd do them a hugefavor by introducing them to
this episode.
There's an opportunity throughthis episode for them to learn a
lot about navigating theuniversity process.
In these fields.
I'll stop talking and, uh, catchyou on the next episode of In My
(46:14):
Kitchen with Paula.
And as always, reach out to meat, in my kitchen.ca or Paula
at, in my kitchen.ca Send me amessage on Instagram at in my
kitchen.
Paula, I'd love to hear what youthought of this episode.
I am back with part two fromTaiwan to Canada, Pete's Journey
(00:04):
of Creativity and Innovation.
And in this episode, we reallydive into innovation and
creativity and also Pete'sjourney from Taiwan to
Vancouver, not just as a youngimmigrant, which we discussed in
part one, but also as a youngartist and how he then navigates
the university system a fewyears later.
(00:25):
And through that processdiscovers a need that needs to
be filled, and that is to help.
young artists navigate theuniversity process and develop
their portfolios.
So what does Pete do?
He opens up Young Gun Studios.
Through this conversation, Peteshares with us so many great
nuggets, lessons, information,different perspectives.
(00:45):
I really hope you love it.
I sure did.
(01:14):
Pete Shouh Young is a TaiwaneseCanadian artist and educator who
founded Young Gun Studios in2008 to create the supportive,
inspiring environment he wishedhe'd had as a young artist.
A graduate of OCAD's industrialdesign program, Pete combines
his own journey of challengingexpectations and embracing
creativity with a mission tonurture young talent with
(01:37):
agency.
Through Young Guns, he hasguided students to secure more
than 900 acceptance letters andover 8.
5 million in scholarships,fostering a community where
mentorship, curiosity, anddreams take root and flourish.
In part two, we continue wherewe left off and dive into Pete's
(01:59):
journey as a young immigrant anda young artist from Taiwan to
Vancouver.
audioPaulaMohammed21170806 (02:05):
What amazes me when I hear your
story, is your parents really,nurtured this innovation and
creativity that they saw in you.
Did you feel like You had to goto university.
Was there a path that you had tofollow or did your parents
literally lift you up and moveyou off that path and really
supported you in whatever youwanted to do?
audioPeteYoung11170806892 (02:26):
When I think about how my parents,
cultivated creativity andcontinuously nurtured that in
me, I think back to this oneepisode very vividly.
I do art classes, when I was alittle kid.
And this is back in Taiwan.
I remember learning from thisart teacher.
Mr.
Shu, for, for a little bit oftime when I was a little kid.
(02:48):
And then moving here.
My mom was trying to find an artteacher for me it was, this was
before email days, obviously.
I remember her writing a letterand I asked my mom, I'm like,
mom, like, what, who's thisletter to?
And then she's oh, this is toMr.
Shu is to ask him for advice onhow, to find a great art
(03:11):
educator.
Um, and also advice on how tonurture my creativity.
And that is so meaningful to mebecause looking back, I think
the young Pete really understoodhow seriously my mom took it.
terms of, oh, I could go downthe academic side.
(03:34):
But I could also, go down thisother path, that very few Asian
kids would go down.
Really, like, nurtured that sideof my development and she went,
full in on it.
I remember, know, taking otherclasses like piano, horseback
riding, even.
And it wasn't like I took a lotof classes, but I remember the
(03:56):
attention and care that she hadspecifically placed on, art
classes.
So, we went to, Granville Islandand Arts Umbrella when I was,
yeah, when I was very little.
And I just loved it therebecause Arts Umbrella, was
really, it gave me a lot ofspace and freedom to draw and
(04:19):
express in the way that I wantedto.
That's literally the best thingthat I could have, of received
in terms of art education when Iwas at that age.
One thing led to another, I wasin grade 10 and 11 and, you
know, art was always my thing,but It took on a bit of a
different meaning at that pointbecause on one hand, I realized,
(04:42):
oh, okay, art allows me to standout.
It's literally my tool for me tobe like really to find my
identity, to be this likepopular kid because of my
artistic talents and skills.
But on the other hand, itbecame, daunting in the sense
that, oh, I now have a to make,which is what do I do in
university?
(05:03):
Grade 10, grade 11, like myparents always ask me,
especially my mom, she wasasking me, son, what do you want
to do, as, as a career?
What do you want to study inuniversity?
Cause I had good grades, and Icould have applied to SFU, UBC,
but being the second, my sisterwas also really talented in
arts.
audioPaulaMohammed2117080689 (05:22):
Mm
audioPeteYoung11170806892 (05:23):
My sister's, four years older than
me, my parents had, alongside ofher, they had left it to go to
this, more typical path studiedat UBC.
When it came to my turn, I toldmy parents, after doing some
thinking, I'm like, Okay, thisis pretty easy, uh, in the sense
that I know I'm not going to doanything else but something to
(05:47):
do with arts.
That decision was easy.
The part that was the mostdifficult is didn't have any
resources.
My, my mom didn't have anyresources.
It was like, oh, okay, now thatmy son has decided that he wants
to pursue a career in the artsand design, how do we do it?
audioPaulaMohammed21170806 (06:04):
hmm.
audioPeteYoung11170806892 (06:05):
And we were all super lost.
I was asking, my high school artteacher, and he didn't know.
He didn't have any resources.
I went on the internet back,this was like 2003, right?
2002.
So the information is not likewhat we have now.
It's so easy to hunt copiousamounts of information nowadays,
but the internet isn't what itis nowadays.
(06:26):
And so it's still very limitedinformation.
I remember, of all the designs,all the arts, I don't know
anything about them.
I just know that I'm really goodat drawing and painting.
I was really, really intosneaker culture, uh, basketball.
And so one thing led to another.
I was like, okay, I was alreadycustomizing painting on my own
shoes.
audioPaulaMohammed211708068 (06:47):
Oh, wow.
audioPeteYoung1117080689 (06:48):
That's how I was able to stand out,
right?
That, other kids like boughttheir Shoes, their fresh
Jordans, Nikes, whereas, myparents, they didn't want me to
waste money like that, andthey're just like, you can go to
Payless Shouhe store and buy apair of Reeboks and you can do
whatever you want with that,right?
And your allowance is this.
(07:09):
So then I had to paint on theshoes.
And my friends really liked itand I thought, oh, okay, I love
basketball.
I love sneaker culture.
I was like, oh, could I dosomething with that?
I was reading this magazinecalled, by, uh, Slam.
It's called Kicks.
And so they were interviewingthis, sneaker designer.
Who's designing a pair ofsignature shoes for Tracy
(07:30):
McGrady.
this NBA basketball player.
Um, one of my favorite playersat the time.
And she talked about how, Oh, inorder for you to become a shoe
designer, footwear designer, youneed to have a degree in product
design or industrial design.
And I went, that's it! You know,that's my calling! That's,
that's exactly what I need todo.
(07:52):
Knowing nothing about it.
Uh, I then, uh, you know,applied to Emily Carr, and also
to OCAD.
Again, all that process was justvery difficult to navigate,
because I went and looked up,uh, Industrial Design and what
OCAD was saying about IndustrialDesign, what Emily Carr was
saying about Industrial Design,and they were saying something
(08:12):
along the lines of, Are you aproblem solver?
Do you like to solve problemscreatively?
And I went I guess, I don't knowwhat that means though, right?
So it felt very much like I wasdoing everything in the dark.
And when I was applying to theseuniversities, these two schools,
I noticed that, oh, you have toproduce a portfolio.
And I went, what?
(08:33):
What's a portfolio?
What does that even mean?
So then I was really developing,uh, everything in the dark.
I learned, I was, learning withthis Chinese art teacher, at the
time, but he was very, youtraditional.
He teaches me how to develop mycore skills, which is awesome.
but he doesn't really know howto, cultivate the more creative
(08:56):
side of words.
These schools are really lookingfor.
So I think that's also wonderfulin a way because he honed my
hard skills, but really lefteverything to me and the
creative side of how I want toexplore.
The storytelling in myportfolio.
I didn't know that it wasstorytelling.
I didn't know that it was aboutnarrative, but I just went,
(09:17):
well, okay.
How do I be creative?
Uh, I love basketball.
So I literally went and I gotsome of my old shoes and I got
this old basketball.
So I went, okay, I need to do asculptural piece.
And so I just like made aliteral basketball head out of
that.
And then I also went, okay,that's cool.
(09:37):
Uh, I'm now going to paint that.
So I painted, I did anotherpainting that was like, it's
comprised of all these likebasketball shoes and then again
the basketball head on the veryback.
I submitted my portfolio.
I put together my application.
It was back then, it was stillon paper.
You had to also submitphotocopies of your sketchbook.
audioPaulaMohammed2117080 (09:58):
Yeah.
audioPeteYoung11170806892 (09:59):
And submit like a colored photocopy
version of the sketchbook, andnone of it was digital.
It was, it was crazy because Iactually submitted, my
application to Emily Carr andOCAD.
But I was so confident in myabilities that I was like, ah,
forget about Emily Carr justsubmitted one portfolio to OCAD
(10:21):
and you know, luckily I, I gotin,
audioPaulaMohammed21170806 (10:26):
Now, Pete, for our listeners outside
of Canada, can you just, uh,just quickly a couple of
sentences about Emily Carr andwhat OCAD is?
audioPeteYoung11170806892 (10:35):
Yeah, if you're to apply to art and
design schools, uh, in Canada,in the, in the States, there are
a lot more options, most of theschools are either on the East
Coast or West Coast, and inCanada, there are a number of
choices as well, but, the mostpopular choices being, Emily
Carr, um, University of Arts andDesign in Vancouver, and on the
east coast in Toronto, it wouldbe Ontario College of Art and
(10:57):
Design at the time when I wentthere.
Now it's called OCADU, OCADUniversity.
So these are two of the most,like, popular, design schools,
art schools that students wouldattend.
audioPaulaMohammed211708 (11:10):
Great.
Thank you.
So you got accepted to OCAD.
You did your degree there.
audioPeteYoung11170806892 (11:15):
Yeah, and, you know, with dreams, like
everyone in school.
So I was at OCAD in Toronto, andeveryone in school, like my
peers, the faculty, myprofessors, they all knew that,
oh, there's this kid who wantsto go work for Nike in Portland,
because that's his dream, andvowed to himself that it doesn't
matter if he's working as acustodian there.
(11:36):
Whatever that it takes to gethis foot in the door.
Like whatever project I coulddo, I somehow dressed it up and
made it turn it into somethingrelated to sneakers.
As I went through the, theyears, like first year to second
year to third year, I started tolearn more and more about, the
power of design.
(11:56):
And what is, and that was areally massive transition
because the biggest differenceis I used to think that arts and
design, they're one in the same,that if I'm a great artist, I'm
a great designer.
It's totally different.
there's shared commonalities,but the difference is art is
really for the self.
as an artist, whatever youthink, whatever you say, like as
(12:17):
long as you hold true to that,okay, valid, right.
And it's, it can be sosubjective.
But on the other side, on thecontrary, design is, it has to
be objective.
Like you're designing to serveothers.
You're designing for others.
audioPaulaMohammed21170806892 (12:32):
I never thought of it that way.
audioPeteYoung11170806892 (12:33):
So that was my huge wake up call.
I was like, Oh, I, just causeI'm a good artist doesn't
necessarily mean that I'm agreat designer.
So as I learned more and moreabout design, I think it opened
up my mindset to understandthat, Oh, it's actually very
potent, very powerful, and it'swide ranging.
You can apply design thinking toa wide array of, industries.
(12:57):
It's not just.
Drawing shoes anymore.
It's not just designing a pairof shoes anymore.
There are two things thathappened there.
One was, I felt like, the, whatI had in terms of skill set was
not able to get me to, thatposition to be a a footwear
designer for Nike.
And I went, yeah, I could workharder to develop those skills
(13:18):
in the last year.
Or, what if there are otheropportunities?
Fortuitously, or as fate wouldhave it, my dad, um, so he used
to tutor English and he had astudent who wanted to apply to
OCAD.
I then co mentored her.
He was like, Hey, do you want tomentor her for a couple of
weeks, during, during winter?
(13:40):
During your, winter break.
So I did that.
I mentored her, her name'sFionn, and I helped her get into
OCAD because of that mentorship.
And I was like, huh,interesting.
Like, so, for the first time,it, I, I had a semblance, I had
a feeling of what it was like togive back.
Because all the way till then,it was like, oh, all about me,
(14:00):
all about what I want, what canI get out of this process.
But for that first time, I waslike, oh, this is cool.
Because I had walked throughthat experience and that
journey.
I felt like everything that Iwas doing was mostly in the
dark.
And I can then take myexperience, and what I learned
and be able to pass it on to Tothis person, and I then started
to realize, oh, there'ssomething, there's a superpower
(14:23):
in me that I have yet todiscover until then, which is
the superpower of empathy, thatI can really place myself into
that student's perspective,that, that, you know, Fiona's
shoes, and to really understand,oh, there are all these fears
that she must have, because Ijust went through that a couple
years ago.
So then one thing led toanother.
I was like, okay, this is thatreally crossroads, right?
(14:45):
Um, I either do this somethingnew that had no idea what it
would be Or that I wouldcontinue this path of being a
sneaker designer So aftercoaching the student, I didn't
think much of it.
My dad, um after four or fivemonths He approached me with
this idea.
He's like son if you reallydon't have it figured out yet
then what are your thoughts onfounding your own art school
(15:05):
starting shop So in fourth yearwe had a, a class and it was, I
think it's something about likecareer development.
So, I took my dad's idea and,synchronized it with this career
development class and was like,oh, okay, cool.
What if I did start my own artstudio and my own little art
program?
I called it at the time, it wasusing my parents company, M Pet
(15:27):
and Young, and it says PortfolioServices.
I tried to workshop this ideawith a couple of faculties, and
that's how I began the wholeprocess.
The first step was definitelydifficult, right?
I'm very grateful to my dad.
So my dad was the one who helpedme set up a Shop.
My parents, they found this likelittle studio space.
And my dad told me, he's like,son, I'm going to, help you pay
(15:52):
for the first two months ofrent.
And after that, you'recompletely on your own.
And he also did a second thing.
He was the person who helpedfind the first five or six
students of mine.
And it was, it ranged from gradethree to, grade 12.
Put them all together in oneclass and I'm like, wait, what
(16:15):
am I doing?
I'm babysitting on one end, butI'm also talking about portfolio
on the other.
So, um, that's how it started.
Um, but
audioPaulaMohammed2117080 (16:24):
Sorry to interrupt, but what year was
that that you started at thatyou launched Young Guns?
audioPeteYoung11170806892 (16:28):
so I launched Young Guns in 2008.
audioPaulaMohammed2117080 (16:30):
2008.
Okay.
Wow.
Now take us to what Young Gunsis today.
What does it look like?
audioPeteYoung11170806892 (16:37):
I think for the first couple of
years, it was Finding MyBearings.
My goal was in anything andeverything I do is like, as long
as I put my mind to it, I wantto be the best at it.
So that's been my goal eversince.
I really have this dream ofbuilding a program where
students can come through.
(16:59):
And we're not just helping themdevelop art skills, but we're
really helping them explorethrough art.
Because art can help you, tellso many stories.
But in order for you to tellstories, you need to first dig
really, really deep.
You need to, reflect.
You need to also embrace yourinsecurities and your fears.
(17:23):
You can get creative with math,I'm sure.
But unlike certain topics,subjects where there's a sort of
right or wrong.
I think in the arts, there's noright or wrong.
And so it's helping studentswalk through that process to
develop skills, but also todevelop confidence in
understanding who they are andto develop that agency for them
(17:47):
to do anything and everythingthey can to make that idea come
to fruition.
I think that's the most likeimportant part of the process,
which is to see the essence ofwho you are continuously.
like surface and that you canput your hard work out there and
(18:09):
it manifests itself as aphysical piece and others can
start to have a dialogue withyou.
I think that that journey tohelp a student go from, I am so
lost.
I know I love the arts to, oh, Ihave certain skill sets now and
I have a certain creative voice.
It just takes this process forme to like bring that out and I
(18:32):
can show it to the world.
And in seeing them develop theirvoice and their confidence, um,
I think it's the most wonderfulthing because I don't look at it
as helping them get into the artschool only, but I really want
to help them find the skills andto find that mission, to find
their core why, so that they cango very, very far in life, in
(18:54):
this, you know, nurturing andfostering of their creativity.
And that's the gift that I wantto give to the world because I
feel like in many ways, thoseare the things that I had
received, in my life when I wasa little kid.
Oh, this is magical, like, thatyou can do all these things with
the arts.
It's like these animators,Disney animators, they're
wizards, right?
(19:14):
They can bring something to lifethat almost feels, when I close
my eyes, it's even more fun andeven more real than, my
experiences.
Yeah.
audioPaulaMohammed21170806 (19:25):
It's interesting hearing you talk
right now.
I was thinking the exact samething, having heard your story
within this, short period oftime from start to finish is, as
you were talking about what youwant to give to your students,
helping them identify, right?
Be aware of their strengths assuch a gift in itself.
(19:45):
And then, Helping them explorethat and develop it is what your
parents did for you.
You're following that sameroadmap, I'm hearing you talk
about art and that's so muchlike the culinary arts, I find
my creativity in cooking andthen sharing that food with
family and friends brings me somuch, joy.
Want to come back to a littlebit more about food and culture
(20:06):
in Taiwan, but I also don't wantto lose this train thought I'm
on.
In terms of innovation, when, wewere chatting about this
upcoming, podcast episode, youhave obviously, spent a lot of
time And, Really developing howyou want to nurture innovation
in your students, in yourself.
(20:27):
And I found it reallyinteresting reading about, your
perspective on innovation.
Can you just talk us through alittle bit about innovation?
innovation from your perspectiveand why it's so important and
how you see it's changing.
I'm going to follow up withanother question on that because
I'm really curious about, whenyou were growing up in Taiwan,
(20:49):
did you, feel that the culturewas innovative at that time?
Or do you feel like that sparkstarted when you came To
Vancouver.
audioPeteYoung11170806892 (20:59):
I used to, I used to not think
about this so much.
I used to not think about likeoriginality, so much, because
Back in school, we were taughtthis, I think it was Pablo
Picasso that like, you know,great artists steal, right?
And so it's it's okay to steal.
There's only one you in theworld and you'll always create
something a little bitdifferent, a little bit more
unique.
(21:20):
So I kind of like put that torest.
But again, what we previouslytouched up on, which is.
I think in this world that we'rein now, the way that it's
shifting in the students that Iwork with.
I'm starting to see that,originality can be something
that is faked or fiend.
because there's so muchinformation out there, artists
(21:40):
are teaching other artistsexactly how to do something.
where.
Students can then, let's say ifwe're talking about portfolio,
could create a body of work thatlooks very exciting and new, but
that actually is not a processthat they've gone through
themselves.
It's not a process of trial anderror, that they've come to this
(22:03):
result, that they've come tothis way of thinking, this way
of working.
It's actually through copying aset of framework that has
already been created.
audioPaulaMohammed21170806 (22:12):
Hmm.
audioPeteYoung11170806892 (22:13):
I was talking to a colleague of mine
and she challenged me.
She's like, Pete, sure you guysdo wonderful works with the
students, but she's shechallenges me to be more
innovative with my approach toteaching and to thinking about
the programs.
And I was like, yeah, you areright.
I think about, innovation alittle bit, but I think about
(22:34):
thinking outside the box a lot,right?
In a way, they're not reallythat different.
When I talked to a mentor ofmine, he gave me, uh, literally
like one of the best tips thatI've received on innovation or
on creativity or on thinkingoutside the box.
He said, in order for you tothink outside the box, You need
to go back to the firstprinciples and think about how
(22:58):
things could be done or shouldbe done instead of how things
are currently done.
Love that thinking becauseoften, in anything and
everything that we do, it's likethere's a set way to do things.
There's a right way to do thingsalmost, and we become lazy.
And now even more so with myunderstanding of AI so far, with
(23:21):
what my students are doing withAI, it's so easy when we begin
learning these tools for us togo, Oh, we become very prompt
based.
audioPaulaMohammed211708 (23:29):
Right.
audioPeteYoung11170806892 (23:30):
We give it a prompt and it does the
work for us.
In a way it's then, if you don'tuse it correctly or effectively
to really nurture your ownthinking, you then become very,
very lazy.
Right?
audioPaulaMohammed211708068 (23:43):
the processing piece is missing.
audioPeteYoung11170806 (23:46):
Exactly.
We're not really processing howto do something because AI is
like really giving you thatanswer.
I've literally had a studentlast weekend.
We're working on this capstonesneaker design project.
And he was asking AI, what doyou think are the opportunities?
Give me the solutions.
(24:06):
And so he's not doing any ofthat thinking, right?
AI's doing all that thinking.
So, coming back to what I wassaying about, creativity and
innovation, I think even moreso, that's when students really
need to go, well, okay, how do Ithink outside the box?
How do I really be innovative?
(24:26):
How do I really be at theforefront of this when everyone
else becomes more copy andpaste?
that I have to really protect myindividuality, um, and I also
learned this other point thatwas really, really beneficial, I
hope, to the audience too.
There's this Japanese designernamed Rei Kawakubo, she's this
(24:47):
legendary female fashiondesigner and, she was talking
about this idea that I thoughtwas so, so compelling.
She said there's The primarysource, and then there is a
secondary source.
In my understanding of it, she'ssaying the primary source is
what you, again, as a humanexperience directly, and she
(25:08):
protects that, protects thatfiercely, right, because she's
like the secondary source.
audioPaulaMohammed211708 (25:13):
Sorry, Pete.
You mean she protects that inherself?
Like that prime, her ownprimers.
I've got it.
audioPeteYoung11170806 (25:19):
Exactly.
Uh, she protects that fiercelybecause she's that's the way for
her to be original, and for herto understand how she wants to
innovate in her ways.
Not necessarily going, oh, Iwant to study other fashion
designers and what they'redoing.
She's going, well, how do I livemy story?
How do I live my life?
(25:40):
How do I be the best fashiondesigner that I can be?
Oh, I'm not just living andeating fashion design.
I actually need to experiencethe world and through the
stories, through theconversations, that's where
they're going to inspire mewith, these ideas that I can
then inject into my works.
So I think, I think that's wherethe other point that I learned
(26:02):
about innovation, that is socritical, which.
is saying that it, it has tocome from a place of, to me, of
humanity, because that again,going to this conversation about
AI is something that I've beenreally thinking a lot more of.
We don't know, none of us, Iwould say none of us would know
where the future is going totake us in terms of AI.
(26:23):
But I do know that in everythingthat AI is, the things that
humans are, like the, you know,the humanity aspect, our
emotions, and our sentiments,and our, maybe even our, what
makes us human is that we'reprone to making mistakes.
Making mistakes parts isactually totally fascinating
(26:43):
because I really don't think AIcan make mistakes like that in
the way that humans can.
Where it's through thesemistakes, that's where some of
this innovation actually comesfrom.
That's where this like, in theart world, it's called happy
accidents.
These happy accidents.
are amazing because if youdevelop this mindset where
(27:03):
you're always open, right?
You're very open minded.
That's, you know, a core of whatI do with the kids is I want to
open up their mindsets, right?
To go, to accept that you mayhave a solution here, but when
you're doing an artwork, youprobably only know 30 percent
there is to know about thisparticular project, so you have
to really embrace theuncertainty of the unknown.
(27:27):
And I think that's the, I knowyour audience is some of, maybe
most of them are parents, uh,some of them are parents.
And that, like, the, the tipthat I have for parents now that
I'm a parent too, when I'mthinking about how to raise my
kid, is I want to give the kidsa lot of room for them to make
(27:47):
mistakes.
Like with my toddler, if he'smaking a mistake, quote unquote,
then I would go, my firstinstinct is, oh, I want to help
them fix something.
I want to help rectify this.
But then I go, actually, no, Ihave to actually hold back and
let him continuously do that andfigure it out.
And I think in cultivating that,it's, it's so important.
(28:09):
It's an exercise that I thinkabout.
It's a mindset that can becultivated.
In Stanford, D-School, theirdesign school, they have this
series of exercises.
so it's called Stokes.
So it's literally getting youstoked for, the actual activity
that you're about to do.
Let's say you're designing thisnew product or whatever.
And so the Stokes is a series ofexercises.
(28:33):
Let's say, one of them is getwith a partner.
And, you can't look at yoursheet of paper.
You can only look at yourpartner and draw.
And I think the idea to that islike, you're then trying to,
through that process, trying toreally unleash, the unbounded
creativity or the unboundedquality of Oh, your drawing
(28:54):
could be fun and whimsical.
It doesn't have to look exactlylike the human, like the person
that you're drawing.
But it's a way for you toreally, train your mind to go,
Oh, actually having a little bitof folly, a little bit of fun.
is really good, and you kind ofstart to kick that into an
overdrive into the nextactivity.
Let's say an exercise that Ithink would be great for parents
(29:16):
to do with their kids,regardless of their age, is to
talk about scenarios.
For example, what would theworld be like if, there were no
transportation devices, thereare only ladders?
audioPaulaMohammed211708068 (29:30):
Oh, I love that.
Yeah.
audioPeteYoung11170806892 (29:32):
What the world, what would the world
be like if there's no gravity?
What would the world be like, ifIt's whatever scenarios that we
want to paint, or would youchoose like there are these two
scenarios?
Would you choose this or that?
I think painting out thesescenarios like for, and to have
a discussion, with, with thekids about the possibilities is
(29:52):
helping them understand Oh,okay.
There's like this muscle that Ican exercise.
I can think about the unknowns,right?
I can think about thepossibilities and I can use my
imagination to, to do this kindof scenario playing into, paint
these scenarios where I don'tknow the answer, but, that's why
I'm training myself to be ableto think about these possible,
(30:13):
happenings.
audioPaulaMohammed21170806 (30:16):
When Pete and I first met, it was
actually at a Young Guns artexhibit it was a friend of my
son is a student of yours, andI'd never actually seen anything
quite like it.
So just, I'll quickly paint thepicture, no pun intended, for
our listeners.
It was outdoors and there was aphysical piece.
There is a car, and the car hadbeen, used as part of the art.
(30:38):
And the car was up against awhite brick wall.
And then there was projectionsput onto the car and the wall.
And the projections told astory.
So you had these three differentmediums that all came together
that multiple students hadworked on that told this story.
And I mean, that to me, I waslike, Oh, so okay, this is, this
(31:00):
is like a way different way oflooking at art and design that
I'm used to.
That, that goes to what you'retalking about is exercising this
muscle of using creativity in adifferent way.
I think you're, one of myquestions was what would your
advice be to parents?
I think what you're saying is sovaluable.
I also can't help thinking aboutin cooking.
(31:21):
I come across a lot of peoplewhen we do our virtual classes.
I always say our, we're notclasses, it's more experiences,
but people really want therecipe.
And often we're cooking with itused to be with our In My
Kitchen hosts.
Now it might be me sharing myrecipes, but people like your
mom, Pete, or your grandmother,or your wife, who I bet they're
not necessarily following arecipe.
(31:42):
This is like a pinch of this, apinch of that.
So it was always challengingbecause our participants really
want the recipe.
So we would recipe test, recipetest, recipe test to get the
exact measurements.
But I always had to say topeople, don't worry if Melissa
is not, if it's a little bitdifferent than the recipe you're
looking at.
And then I realized peoplerelied on those recipes so much
(32:03):
and I wanted them to throw themaway and do exactly what you're
saying, learn to cook and make,and I love this terminology,
make happy accidents or tastyaccidents.
It's that same idea ofdeveloping this, muscle of
creativity or, um, gainingconfidence and just, allowing
yourself to Make Mistakes.
(32:25):
And I'd never looked at AI andinnovation in this way until I
was chatting to you.
And now I'm thinking about it interms of cooking as well and
sharing meals together and how,AI can take that away if we're
not, if we're not careful.
If the next generation justquickly goes to, using AI
versus, strengthening andexercising that creativity
(32:46):
muscle of their own.
I wanted to ask you, you talkedto me briefly about it and I saw
it on your website and there's aprogram or something that you
offer with adults and it's thesketchbook prompt.
Can you talk a little bit aboutthat?
I'm quite interested inunderstanding it more and the
purpose of it.
audioPeteYoung11170806892 (33:06):
Last year we started, this.
where I thought, Hmm, I'veamassed, a large copious amount
of information or education andour niche just to work with high
school students.
But, I went, if, if my missionin my life is to bring, light
and love to the world, I can behelping more people.
(33:29):
And, I started to think aboutother populations like adults,
different age groups, And, mystaffs and I, we then went
through this process where, Istarted to field test these
ideas.
So I was like, okay, then who'sour target audience?
What are their needs?
What are their pain points?
(33:50):
We created a whole curriculum,like curriculums, and I
realized, oh, this doesn't workbecause adults are busy.
I mean, literally everyone'sbusy.
and so I had to scrap thatentire thinking and, I co
developed this curriculum withJulian, who's one of my past
students.
He's an excellent artist in hisown right now.
(34:12):
We then began developing thisframework around this idea of,
okay, if All adults are superbusy.
And what are they missing intheir life?
I feel like everyone iscreative, not I feel like I know
everyone's creative.
It's just, it depends on howthey're defining, how the
individuals are definingcreativity and how it manifests
itself in their lives.
So we're like, okay, it's thennot these courses for adults.
(34:34):
This particular class foradults, it's not really about
teaching the adult how to draw aportrait, right?
How to improve your hard skills,but it's actually to exercise
that creative muscle.
And so what we set out to do isto make sure that there are a
couple rules that are in check.
First, it's not going to take alot of time.
So it'd be like 15 minutes aday, maximum 20 minutes.
(34:59):
And second, we need to give thema framework.
We need to give them guiderails, right?
These guard rails are the thingsthat are going to help them go,
Oh, I'm a beginner, I'm anovice, or I haven't touched the
arts and two decades, but I'mgoing to take these guardrails,
these instructions, and to thenrun wild with it within these
(35:20):
boundaries, right?
The course is designed so it'sdripped into, the learner's,
inbox every morning.
And so the learners, thenaccessing this portal.
And then we will start withsometimes the day we'd like
start with a quick video ofJulian or I talking about this
new topic, or it would just bethis, like this PDF that's given
this instruction.
(35:40):
And, the third rule is we wantto make sure that no fancy art
lingo and no fancy art suppliesare necessary, right?
That like everyone can do this.
So that's this idea of thiscourse where it's two weeks.
why two weeks?
Because we want to make surethat, in my experience, so we
actually ran these classes,twice, with in person students,
(36:02):
in this past summer.
So in my experience, I think thehardest thing to do is, they'll
have a lot of fun in one class,but then they'll go right back
into, their usual pattern, whichis not working in their
sketchbook, or not havingcreativity manifesting that in
some small way.
And so we're like, okay, let'sdo this over the course of two
weeks where you do need tocommit to it.
(36:24):
15 minutes a day, it's Monday toFriday and then Monday to
Friday.
So we're hoping that because ofthe two weeks we can, start to
implement a bit of a ritual andthen to a routine and then
turning into a habit.
Yeah.
So that's the idea behind, this,sketchbook, class.
audioPaulaMohammed21170806 (36:42):
It's almost like journaling.
I'm somebody who, is not atalented, I know you're not
supposed to say you can't draw,but who is somebody who, can't
draw.
I love the feel of writing.
I love the process of, I'm verymuch a pen to paper person.
So get up in the morning, I domy Wordle, check my inbox, and
(37:04):
would this be applicable tosomeone like me who doesn't
have.
Any background?
audioPeteYoung11170806892 (37:09):
A hundred percent.
It's, Precisely designed forsomeone like you who doesn't
have a background in the arts.
We design it in a way where it'slike these little stepping
stones.
the first week it'll be, it willfeel like it's a breeze if you
commit to it.
And then the second week, itstarts to increase a little bit
in difficulty, but the ideathere is over the course of the
(37:32):
two weeks, you can then flipback and look back to your
sketchbook and the pages and go,Oh, wow, I see this development.
And I find that to be like oneof the best ways to excite a new
learner, which is when they seetheir progression and when they
see evidence of, theirlearnings.
There's this idea that I read ina book once that I found to be
(37:52):
phenomenal.
This author was talking about,how for children when they first
start drawing, the drawings area gestural sort of thing, right?
So that when you first startmaking marks as a toddler, as a
year and a half old, two yearsold, I think the fascination is,
oh, that's evidence that Iexist, because of the marks.
(38:16):
I think in a, in a compellingway, like what, that's what
we're really trying to do withthis course, which is, you know,
this conversation about AI andabout how do we become more
human in an increasingly inhumanworld?
Doing things like, journaling,sketchbooking, that's what it
does in kind of circling back tothe idea of, You know, nurturing
(38:38):
your primary census sources.
That's what I would hope to, youknow, impart through this course
to learners.
Yeah.
audioPaulaMohammed21170806 (38:46):
I'll put a link in the Shouhw notes
of how people can access italong with the daikon soup.
So we can have, I can just seehow my habits are going to turn.
It's going to be fantasticcooking and drawing and wordle.
Before we wrap up, I just wantto go back to you.
You said it briefly in, when wewere chatting, but I just want
to end on this.
your personal mission, yourpurpose.
You have a sentence that Ireally love.
(39:08):
Do you know what I'm talkingabout?
audioPeteYoung11170806892 (39:09):
Yes.
My mission in life is to bringlight to the world.
audioPaulaMohammed211708068 (39:14):
And on that note, you have brought
so much light into my world thismorning, would really love to
invite you to come to my son'shigh school and speak to the
students.
For anyone who has, kids who areinterested in design and art in
grade sort of 11, 12, is thatsomething that you would do is
come and speak to studentsdirectly in a school setting?
audioPeteYoung11170806892 (39:33):
Oh, a hundred percent.
I'd love to have thatopportunity.
Actually tomorrow morning, we'regoing into West Point Gray
audioPaulaMohammed2117080689 (39:39):
Oh yeah.
audioPeteYoung11170806892 (39:39):
and, we're going to be teaching life
drawing to, grade nines all theway to grade twelfths.
Uh, so that's, uh,
audioPaulaMohammed211708068 (39:45):
And
audioPeteYoung11170806892 (39:47):
love to, speak to parents, students,
just because when I talk todifferent art teachers, I think
the shared, common pain point isparents, even if they want to
support their children in goinginto the arts, their child to go
into the arts.
I think the biggest unknown,uncertainty, or maybe the stigma
(40:11):
is that they're going to be astarving artist.
Right?
That's literally the first thingthat pops into their head.
And rightfully so.
If I were a parent that knowsnothing about this field, I'd
probably think about, oh,there's no money to be made.
There's no future to be had.
And I really do want to make itmy purpose to be able to go into
these, environments and to beable to say, hey, that's
(40:33):
actually not the case becausecreative thinking is literally
the future.
If you don't have creativethinking in you, to me, you will
be very, very easily replaced.
I can totally speak about,Quieting these voices of the
noises of the uncertainties thatstudents, the kids or the
parents would have and to say,okay, then how do we cultivate
(40:57):
and nurture these tools in thestudents?
audioPaulaMohammed2117 (40:59):
creative thinking is, so important in, if
you're going to be in businessand entrepreneurship, in
anything, it's like you said, amuscle to be developed and
strengthened as much as wepossibly can.
If you could just give us aquick rundown on how parents, if
they want their children to be,or young adults who want to be a
part of Young Guns, how theycan, um, And if we want to
(41:22):
follow more of your projects andstories, what are your, social
media handles and I'll put itall in the Shouhw notes as well.
audioPeteYoung11170806892 (41:28):
Yeah, that would all be in the Shouhw
notes.
Our website is, uh, ygstudio.
ca.
and our Instagram is, oh,underscore ygstudio, And, uh,
yeah, just, you can also reachout to us, via email.
It's info at ygstudio.
ca.
Last thing to add to that is,,we are going to start to have
(41:51):
more, parent seminars and openhouses.
and in particular, I think inan, in a citing idea that I've
been planning is, an industrysocial.
So I, I don't know exactly wherethat's going to take us, but I
do want younguns to become, thishub, to connect, the industry
experts, the artists, thedesigners, and also, it's, it
(42:14):
can be a good opportunity downthe line for parents to kind of
tap into that as well, to tapinto that network.
So that's, that's in the works,that's in planning, yes.
audioPaulaMohammed2117080 (42:24):
Pete.
I've really, enjoyed this.
We sat down and chatted and itwas hard to end the conversation
because, synergies, but also,you just have such a great
energy about you and yourstudents, 900 successful
applicants and over Eightmillion in scholarships.
That's quite something.
And, I think your parents, I'venever met them, but what
wonderful people.
(42:45):
And it's so neat to see thatyou're paying it forward and
sharing these life lessons.
audioPeteYoung11170806892 (42:52):
100%.
Can we hang out sometime again,please?
audioPaulaMohammed2117080 (42:55):
Let's do it.
audioPeteYoung11170806892 (42:56):
Or can we, maybe can we cook?
Maybe, maybe I can invite youover and, my wife would, like,
we can cook together orsomething.
audioPaulaMohammed2117080 (43:03):
Check with her.
I I would love to learn, someTaiwanese recipes.
audioPeteYoung11170806892 (43:06):
This is, this is fun.
audioPaulaMohammed2117080 (43:07):
Good, I
audioPeteYoung1117080689 (43:08):
pretty nervous going into it and then
I'm like, ah, yes.
audioPaulaMohammed21170 (43:12):
Thanks, Pete.
It's been such a pleasure tochat with you this morning.
Okay.
I'll chat to you soon.
audioPeteYoung11170806892 (43:16):
Thank you so much, Paula.
audioPaulaMohammed21170 (43:18):
Thanks.
This conversation with Petereminded me how much I love
chatting to people, not justfrom other cultures, but also
from other generations.
Pete's a fair bit younger than Iam.
And a long time ago, I knewintuitively that it was going to
be important throughout my lifeto have friends who are at least
10 years older.
and at least 10 years younger.
(43:39):
And you know what?
I have.
And I know I've benefited fromit.
I really loved in this episodehow Pete brought up the use of
AI and how we're going to haveto be careful not to become a
prompt based society.
It reminded me when he talkedabout, creativity and innovation
and making mistakes.
(44:00):
I hadn't really thought about itthis way before, but yeah, that
process of coming up with theidea, it can be painful at
times.
But that's where the magic is.
That's where the innovation iscultivated and grows.
That's where we strengthen thatcreativity muscle.
Anyway, I hope this hit home foryou as much as it did for me.
Uh, it really did get methinking.
(44:21):
I am wanting to continue thisconversation and really want to
reach out to a couple of closefriends of mine who I consider
master educators.
One's currently a viceprincipal, with a God, an
impressive background ofeducation behind her.
And the other one runs a verysuccessful art and French
preschool here in Vancouver.
(44:42):
I want to reach out to thembecause I want to find out, are
we teaching innovation andcreativity and cultivating it in
our public school system rightnow?
How is Shannon cultivating thisin her French preschool?
And as parents.
Are they mindful of this andcultivating it in their children
who are now about to enter andare in the university stage of
(45:05):
life or post secondary?
There are so many synergiesbetween creativity and
innovation and how we strengthenthose muscles through the arts,
but also through everydaycooking, through doing different
activities, using those muscles.
I truly believe that usingthese, strengths of ours in a
different way every day or asmuch as we can will benefit us
(45:28):
in more ways than we canrealize.
I hope that when you finishlistening to this episode, which
obviously you have now, you'llfeel motivated to, to pick up
the phone and call.
Well, actually, let's face it,you're probably going to text
somebody, uh, but reach out tosomebody and continue the
conversation.
Reach out to me.
I'd love to chat to you moreabout this.
I just think there are so manygreat nuggets in here.
(45:49):
And actually, if you have achild or youth.
Who's interested in the arts andmaybe a career in art and or
design, or just design ingeneral.
I think you'd do them a hugefavor by introducing them to
this episode.
There's an opportunity throughthis episode for them to learn a
lot about navigating theuniversity process.
In these fields.
I'll stop talking and, uh, catchyou on the next episode of In My
(46:14):
Kitchen with Paula.
And as always, reach out to meat, in my kitchen.ca or Paula
at, in my kitchen.ca Send me amessage on Instagram at in my
kitchen.
Paula, I'd love to hear what youthought of this episode.
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