Wesleyan students are interesting and interested, known for their intellectual curiosity, conversations and collaborations. Please tell us about an interesting conversation or collaboration in which you’ve recently taken part (250 words or less).

I’ve worn glasses my whole life, but only recently learned to see. Ms. Chick watches me hover over the palette, in search for the most realistic hue that will recreate the egg in front of me. Before my brush even kisses the tawny brown paint, Ms. Chick says,

“What’s the first color you see when you look at that egg? Don’t use your brain!”
I pause for a moment, unaware that my silence has already answered her question.

“I can hear you tweaking what your eyes saw just a moment ago,” she says, “and the trick is for the paintbrush to get to the palette before the brain does. As soon as your eyes see a hint of green in the egg, run with it; otherwise, that brain of yours will saturate it.”

“It wants every egg in that bowl to be the same shade of orange,” I say. Ms. Chick lets out a hoot. Her deep laugh is with years of experience in separating the head from the heart.

“The only way to see color is to look away from it. That fuzzy peripheral vision is where the object will present itself in its most sincere form. And your brain HATES that - but it’s true.”

In color theory and in everything else, we must will our eyes to see things as they are. Perception is fragile and easily distorted by the peanut-gallery of our surroundings. Every ‘egg’ in the bowl is different. That’s a good thing.