“I think that curiosity is maybe the most important tool that humans have–and I think it’s a tool that lasts a lifetime.” ~ Jason Logan

I had a pile of germanium blossoms drying on the counter and another of crazy-looking, spiky acorn caps. A bowl of rusty nails and pipes soaked in vinegar and salt on the balcony.

That’s where curiosity and Jason Logan had taken me.

Jason is an artist and ink maker. But he doesn’t just make ink. He concocts magical potions from found ingredients. He forages, often in urban environments, everything from the berries you might expect, to scrap metal, cigarette butts and dry wall.  

It’s as if he looks at the world with one big “What if…?”

I don’t know if his book Make Ink: A Forager’s Guide to Natural Inkmaking (2018)  is an art book with recipes or a stunningly illustrated cookbook; I do know it is a manifesto for taking note of the smallest of things and playing with their properties, in service of a kind of living alchemy.

Now he’s brought his ink adventures to kids. How to Be a Color Wizard (2024) is dedicated to “any kid who was told that it’s just impossible and did it anyway….to any adult who’s learned how to say ‘Let’s try it!’– and to his family who did a bit of both…. “

I think the most significant job that I have is to help people see with new eyes.

Listen to Choose to Be Curious #261: How to Be a Color Wizard, with Jason Logan

Learn more about Jason Logan. Check out Toronto Ink Company and his books: Make Ink and How to Be a Color Wizard.

I got very hooked on Jason’s mantis shrimps and hula hoops, but found my own “shrimpy hoop” was more portable and, in its own way, an even more wonderful way to look down.

If this curiosity conversation caught your eye, you might enjoy these C2BC Classics: #MyCuriousEyes with Karen Ward; Dynamic Equilibrium: Curiosity & Color, with Bryan Jernigan; and The Art of Noticing, with Rob Walker.

Photo of Jason Logan credit to Sian Richards, used with permission.

Theme music by Sean Balick; “Come As you Are” by Cauldron, via Blue Dot Sessions.

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