The Conversation That Changed Adam Savage's Life 

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My dad wanted be an astronaut as a little kid in the 60s and was laughed at by his grade school teacher and never tried in academics again. Soul crushing to hear about. Cruelty can shape people in the same way kindness and encouragement can.

I was 12 *now 52* and my grandfather (WW2 aircraft mechanic, neon sign maker, electrician) got annoyed that I was yawning on a Sunday afternoon visit. I said I was bored, and he retorted with this valuable sentence "Boredom is an insult to your intelligence". That might have been the last time I ever got bored.

Adam Savage is a national treasure.

Adam. I truly think this video is my favourite of yours. It not only taught me something valuable of you but it also left me with this powerful feeling of wanting to be a better father to my soon to be 3 year old daughter. Positive reinforcement with regards to the arts is so vital at an early age and the repercussions can have massive impacts on several areas of one’s life in the future. All the best my friend! ❤️

I have a voice that people regularly say, “You have a great announcer voice. Do you narrate things?” No. I was singing along with everybody else around the campfire when I was told, “If you can’t sing on key just shut up.” From that point I suppressed my “voice” so that I wouldn’t offend someone’s ears. How much better might it have been if the person had said something encouraging?

Most of my curiosity and artistic traits were snuffed out as a child. Later in life, I've tried to bring aspects of this back, but to no avail. We REALLY need to be mindful of what we say to children. Even the little things matter.

Adam! A friend of mine works at the Elephant Sanctuary in Hohenwald, Tennessee. I’d be happy to get you in touch with her. 🐘 🙂

The ability to acknowledge that you will be surprised by yourself at any point in the future is a genuinely important one.

I had a Computer Science professor who had to fight the university to add a software maintenance course in the early 90's. It illustrated how important it is in the industry to understand someone else's code. So many engineers do not have that ability and just start over from scratch, creating all new bugs and prevents them from understanding someone else's logic. That has been vital to my career, building on the shoulders of giants instead of tearing down and losing the ability to learn from someone else

As an artist who just recently reinvented myself at an age past 50 it is important that encouragement never end throughout our lives. Not just when we are young!!!!

It feels to me like Science is the process of shrinking the universe to a scale that you're mind can comprehend, Art is the process of expanding our mind to a scale the universe can comprehend.

I was in my early 20s trying to figure this whole _adulthood_ thing out when my grandfather (who raised me) said off the cuff "the only constant in the universe is change" and it's stuck with me ever since.

Huh. You jiggled a memory loose here. It was the early-mid 80s and teenage me was babysitting the kid of some of my parent's friends while they went out. Never met the kid before or since, but I remember her being curious about drawing and we spent most of the evening with me encouraging her along. I remember her delight when she produced something coherent that she liked and how great that made me feel. I hope that kid did well in life and kept that delightful spark of creativity.

That fire analogy is beautiful! Criticism feels like a heavy log in this case, where it would help a mature, roaring fire but would crush the kindling sparks. That's why I try to only give critique when it's asked for, it's so much important to assure the young artist that they're growing and doing the right thing by playing around and experimenting! Helps people create out of love & curiosity instead of expectations of what they ought to be.

Know exactly what you mean. Not Trying to make it a sad story because it's in the past and I'm over it but when I was around 9, I realized I liked working with my hands. I found an old rusty knife on a dirt road. No handle. I took it, did my best to clean it with tools my dad had. Put a new handle on it. Was super proud and I showed him. He took it from me. Never said a word. That discouraged me from doing something like that again for years until after the military and had kids. They essentially kick started that again. I have worked on machines for 25 years and have been woodworking for about 18 years. I always tried to make sure I encouraged my kids if they were interested in something. You never know what they will do with it.

I have an extreme amount of troubles going on in my life right now but to hear your nostalgic voice makes it go away a little 😚

I'm so excited to learn that Adam also watches primitive technology. Easily one of, if not my favourite channel for so many reasons

My daughter (7) takes after her dad, and is really good at drawing. My son (10) has our interest in music, and is playing an instrument in band. We do our best as parents to encourage all that they do, but especially things they are passionate about. Thanks for this.

The summation in the last two minutes was relatable. Due to past experiences, I tend to keep things to myself until I'm good and ready, or until I've ceased caring about the opinions of others. Whenever I'm in a position of delivering criticism, I try to keep in mind how counterproductive poorly-delivered criticism can be. I try to consider what will foster growth rather than focusing on precision or quantity of faultfinding.

I had a similar formative experience to your family friend the potter. My grandad was a mask maker (old school latex and papier-mâché) who had a workshop in London in the sixties. After he had retired to the countryside I used to spend summers helping him with his projects and trying a few of them myself in his garden studio. I remember just quietly making stuff side by side in his tiny shed listening to the radio. When eventually I became a professional model maker I always took photos to show and talk about whenever I visited. A lovely man and a quiet influence I only really appreciated after he’d passed. Edit: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-QzkUyTEQf9s.htmlsi=OoObyVi0miUjFmPi - This was him.

The first piece of advice I have for people starting out sketching is to draw as often as they can, even if only for a little bit each day - 30 minutes a day will help you develop far faster than 3 hours on each Sunday. The *second* piece of advice I give to people starting out sketching is to keep a notebook with them at all times, and develop a habit of writing down ideas so they don't forget them... but the third piece of advice I give, relates to what you're saying. Find someone you like, and ask them if they're willing to be your critic. You want someone who's prepared to look at everything you do for 5 minutes, and give their honest thoughts. Let them know that you want them to point out where things look weird or odd, but *also* that you want them to tell you what they like about each piece - where they think you're improving. Both the critical feedback and the positive feedback are vital. That's all the advice I have for new artists, everything else is variable, works for some people and not for others.

Artist in Residence story: At the Minnesota State Fair every year, there is a competition among practitioners of seed art (pictorial and sculptural imagery made entirely of seeds glued to a substrate). One of the regular contributors (also a local graphic designer) became an artist in residence at a grain elevator in Minnesota. Her work from that period was extraordinary.

I would love to see a series of videos on Artists in Residence on Tested. Just sayin'.

Huh, I spent several years as an artist in residence. It was interesting, I must say! But not quite as revolutionary an experience as you might think; I mostly remember how hard it was to come up with multiple ways to depict the same abstract concept! Very glad to have done it, though; it was a blessing. I only stopped because they couldn’t afford to keep me on staff anymore, sigh, but it was years of great exercise.

So much of what we know of ancient civilizations we know of because of art. Art is incredibly important to telling the human story.

That's my goal as a (math) teacher. There's enough evil in the world telling us all how wrong we are, especially by the time I see them as students (18ish year-olds); I try my hardest to find and encourage each spark. This video may have inspired me to start each semester with a writing assignment. "What conversations have been most impactful to you, and how have they shaped you?" is a fantastic way to get to know someone on a deeper level.

This was really beautiful. Thanks for sharing.

People won't remember what you believe, what you say, or what you do. People will remember how you make them feel.

Hey Adam, I’m a piano restorationist in Omaha Nebraska. Before I moved here I worked for Steinway and did much of the belly (soundboard and pinblock) work on around 250 pianos. If you’re ever in Omaha, you should reach out and I’ll give you a tour, show you some fun piano specific tools, and answer any questions you might have on the process. Just send an email saying you you are to Great Plains Piano Company. My name is Louis and I’m the head rebuilder there and would love to show you around.

I continually love the reflection and wisdom of your experiences. Having been both an artistic and scientific person myself, it’s not often that I hear people speak about the disciplines the way you do, at least not publicly. Creativity is indeed a flame to be nurtured and with the right encouragement, will rage on forever.

I experienced the opposite, constant critics and discouragement, that's why tried to be a source of confidence to my children, now i'm 60 and look up to my children, they are awesome human beings!!....but wait, now i'm a grandfather and my grandchildren ,8 and 3 yr, they are way more awesome!!😊

Man I love that idea of letting new artists know that their experience is *worthwhile*, while simultaneously letting them know there's more they can learn/add. It's a perspective I definitely lacked as a young artist, and absolutely something I would have benefited from.

While working at the Skelly Truck Plaza in Omaha, NE as an island boy back in the mid '70s, a truck driver mentioned in passing that he had an extra channel wired into his CB. I asked a bit more about that and this led me to looking into the schematic of my own CB at home and working out how this was done. This was the first step in what has been almost a 50 year career as an electrical engineer working in the satellite communications field. There is a very high probability that you (the collective readers of this comment) have benefited from work I've been a part of. All because a 16 year old kid was interested in something a truck driver mentioned in passing. Definitely changed my life.

Wow you had a truly incredible upbringing. I don't think there is anybody that I know who was talked to at that level in their early years and even as an adult no one has ever said those types of thoughts to them.

Love these videos, Adam. Thanks for being you.

Wow, you are so lucky to have had 3 different incidences in support of your passion before you were 20! I wish I had even one.

"well that went farther than I expected it to" 🤣 Adam is such a boundless reservoir of anecdotes and advice and he doesnt even know where an answer will take him.

Wow that blowing on the small flame metaphor is so beautiful Adam. 💛 Thanks for sharing!

Thank you. I remember these conversations in my life as well, and how much they meant to me as a person and a maker, but it's really sweet to hear somebody say it out loud.

The most influential thing that has been ever said to me comes from my Father. He always said wjen growing up and even now that no matter what I do I will be successful. This has given me the confidence to walk into the unknown.

Encouragement is so important for learning. We all need loving support, such as the one we give a child

LOVE JOHN PLANT!!!! been following that guy since his second or third video!!! what an amazing channel, the restarts, and then the change in direction after covid! love his work!!!!

Never before heard of an artist in residency. Perhaps Adam will hire such a person on. Sounds like a pretty great venture. Love the idea of seeing people's ambitions as an ember that should be treated with that much gentle care.

You always have a great way helping to present your reflections in a way that helps us all come to a common understanding of your thoughts and points. With that said, I think this one was an exceptionally great video with a very valuable idea that you've shared with us. Thank you Adam!

aww man, hearing about these conversations of encouragement makes me emotional. Cause I definetly had some opposite experiences, which led my teenage self to save guard my creative passions. Almost 10 years later i'm still slowly peeling away at how cool I was in my teenage years - but barely showed it

Thank you. As a kid, I didn't really ever have that. My ideas and art were mainly just criticized and thought as weird and why. Well, thank you for your video. I love your channel, and thank God the time I get to watch you. PS I met you once kinda 😅 you went to eat brunch with your family and I was one of the persons attending your table.😊

Your story just caused a fundamental shift in the way I encourage and teach my children. Thank you for sharing!

oooof, you got me in the feels. When i was 8, someone I adored did NOT give me oxygen, and it shoved my life in one direction vs another. At 48 I am only now trying to get that flame back (and waiting on pins and needles to hear back from my first ever audition for a principal role in a play - fingers crossed)

I started drawing quite late in my life, around 20+. The first person who discouraged me was a "family" member. Specifically the one who contributed sperm to my birth. After repeated discouragements, plus the general lack of support (in my life, education), and general shitty treatment, I cut contact with him.....and everyone else who sat by and watched it happen without doing anything. That could have been prevented if there wasn't any discouragement to my interest - some encouragement and support would probably have caused me to go "yeah well, he wasn't exactly great but he'd helped me in what I needed so I'll stick around and give him some support even if I don't make it in art".

LOVE the emphasis on encouraging the flame rather than killing it!

I really love it when adam name-drops content creators I love! I know its not that unique or anything but I cant help but feel happy that we watch similar things and hold them in high regard.

Thanks 4 the sharing

Thank you going farther than you expected! I'm sure most of us get so busy and not take time to reflect on those transformative moments, sn now I will take the time to look back and truly appreciate those gems that people gifted to me and to understand how I've arrived to my current position in the universe.

Not many videos touch me. But htis one did. Thank you, Adam.

The "toss to membership" is amazing ... how Adam manages to exactly match everything about the new one he did yesterday to the new one he did today and the new one he did the day before is indicative of the level of skill he has in front of the camera! :)

You are an artist in residency. You are humanity’s artist in residency. And thank you!

Acknowledgement and engagement is so key -- or as I heard put once, "presence, not praise". Validating someone's interests as their interest, and their practice as their practice, and engaging with them authentically into why it excites them and what does it mean to them, that's the greatest gift we can give, I think. And definitively "presence, not belittle." I can remember more than a few moments of that in my past, where my work was blasted or my interests laughed at, and they all threw me for a loop and shut down my self expression in ways that has taken time and work to complete and to recapture those sparks and little embers. Thank you Adam.

Super cute stories. Im so glad you had those people so young

What a wonderful story.

I am reventing myself every day after two years of retirement. Boredom is not an option. greetings from Yonkers, New York. Keep up the good work.

This is an incredible video with some amazing quotes to take away. Much appreciated at my point in life.

11:41 Still looking for that safe place. But I cannot put into words how much it meant to hear you talk about it. Thanks Adam!! Thanks Tested Team!!

adam has amazing videos that I enjoy all the time, Thanks Adam for the amazing videos. I enjoy it all.

Wow. I love what those women said to you & made you feel. Very inspirational. I will try to do that with the “kids” I mentor at work.

I was working in film and theatre through the mid 80' to the late 90's and was offered a residency at a production co-op. It changed my life in a weirdly and positive way. I was a professional in my field and after a while in the residency I felt comfortable enough to upgrade my status from professional to amateur. Being an amateur is a higher calling, the name alone combines Amat (which is French for "the love of") and Ateur (which is French for "one who does") I went from doing things in a business style to creating work out of a love for the craft, for the love of the moment. It altered the manner in which I did my work ( the money thing) and people who contracted me saw the difference. I rose in standing to an Established Canadian Artist, which is a big thing in my world. I stayed as an Established through out the remainder of my career, and hold the same views into my retirement (which has freed me up to do even more of the things I like) What I do is for the love of the art, which you do too. Keep doing what you do, become an amateur, and do it for love!

You can't criticise someone for what they are doing, good or bad, unless you can do it yourself. I like your creating fire analogy. It's nurturing the ember, encouraging it to become a flame.

The fire making bird’s nest analogy was beautiful and profound. Thank you.

I love when the topic takes you on to tangents that feel super-genuine and like they're coming from a place in your real heart. This "conversation" changed my life (even if only a para-social youtube way). Thank you. *high-fives*

“A safe place to experiment.” That should be the mantra of every educator everywhere.

Awesome commentary about teaching and mentoring wrt encouragement that can be life guiding/ changing to a young person. Thank You!

another great one Adam!!

The name "Poison Ivy" reminded me of the species "Edible Frog" being a similarly niche articulation of a very human-centric relationship.

probably my favorite Q&A clip by far.

Wonderful perspective. I have survived as a maker because of the few who embrace my wild ideas and I get tremendous satisfaction when I gently feed the tiniest of creative flames when I encounter then - especially in the darkest of places. Thanks!

Primitive Technology has the best videos. I love watching them before I go to bed, because it's so calming. I like looking around in the environment for critters, cause I used to live in Queensland - where it is filmed.

Encouragement = to put courage into someone.

Wow! You knew William Steig? What an honor. He wrote one of my favorite books, "Dominic".

I also spent time with a friend of my parents' as a kid, who was an artist. She painted and sculpted and her husband did graphic design on his computer. Being in that environment confirmed that I had an aptitude for it. The painting I made there still hangs on my parents' wall today. I think I was around 8 years old when I created it.

I love your brain, Adam!

I always loved this quote from French scientist Claude Bernard: "Art is I; Science is we."

Creating art (in all senses of the word) for a fandom can be a great way to have that safe space for experimentation. I started learning to write and draw that way, and while there were certainly moments of harsh criticism (and some harshness lacking any useful critique at all), there were also many moments of love and positivity. Both for the shared fandom and the stuff I'd created. I would not have been able to continue honing those skills for years without the extra enthusiasm of the fandom driving my desire to create, so I'm really thankful for that now that I'm at a place where I'm more able to make things myself and branch out into new things.

Love Primitive Technology channel, and I love the anology. Much love Adam!

In five years time we shall have an interview together, good sir!

Ngl I thought these were just a bunch of crazy guys in a garage as a kid. (Now finding out how smart they had to be to do these tests I'm genuinely impressed)

A great Q&A with Adam thank you for being a little parasocial ember for us

I always try my best to be as encouraging to others as I can in those kinds of situations, specifically because I had so few moments of that kind of encouragement growing up, and unfortunately also had countless moments of discouragement. I know exactly how debilitating it can feel when someone flat out shuts you down, tells you to give up, or that you aren't good enough. Nothing crushes you in quite the same way. So I make a point to be the exact opposite, to share what I know and offer whatever kind word I can.

Point about art and science being related... I was speaking to an artist friend of mine who pointed out that her process as an artist (and several others) very much looked like the scientific method and/or the engineer's design process. Science and art are problem-based and iterative in finding solutions... This thought brings me much joy.

Your art and science comparison reminded me of something I heard a few years ago. It might've even been from one of your videos Adam lol. But it was the idea that despite the conventional notion that art is about creativity and science about hard work, the biggest breakthroughs/successes in both cases often comes down to hard work done on art and creative thinking to solve a science problem. This re-contextualized both for me.

It’s funny to hear this in my 50s, noticing how the opposite happened to me in my early twenties. A series of conversations that killed my creativity.

Well that went farther than I expected it to. 😄😄😄👍

The parole scenes in shawshank taught me to answer interview questions honestly in stead saying what i think they want to hear lol

Finding out that Adam watched Primitive Tech really amuses me. His metaphor about the blowing on embers being important for kids to be able to grow an interest or talent is why the arts and sciences are so important in schools and for parents or other family to provide for children. As are good mentors that encourage exploration and treat the children with respect.

If someone tells me what I'm doing is dumb I don't let it affect me. My efforts are self-directed and will remain so.

Great video sir

Art and Science two wings of the same bird.. We won't fly if we only use one..There that's me being profound for once..🙂

I consider myself even according to my proven experience in curriculum also and, a graduate. Life is amazing so be a safe specialist in a variety of ways. It takes a team ✌️😎👍 team earth

I got to be an Artist in Residence and Instructor at the Gnomon School of VFX

Watched The Fabelmans yesterday ✌️😎👍 🎥

I made my first comment before the end..Adam you are such a good soul…I’ve had more adults in my young life (young me) that put me down rather than encourage me…almost with glee…really weird…I had some teachers that were straight up bullies