TechIntersect

Over the years, I’ve developed a love of art and visual communication. When I am able, I love spending time viewing art in galleries and even creating my own small works of art. Yesterday I attended the opening of a new show at the Salina Art Center. I will write more about that in a separate post when I have more information to share, but let me just say that the current show has lots of kinetic sculptures with motors and electronics incorporated into the work. Very worth checking out.

I haven’t always paid attention to art. When I was in the Navy, I visited some of the most amazing cities in the world, but I was primarily interested in checking out the pubs, not the galleries. In fact, the only gallery I ever set foot in was in Hobart, Australia, and that was by accident. I was eating a nice Italian meal with some shipmates. I mentioned to them that I would really enjoy going fishing while we were in Tasmania. A gentleman at the next table spoke up, telling me that he knew of a young man who might like to take me fishing.

Over the course of the next couple of days, the gentleman (I’ve forgotten his name, this was back in 1991) introduced me to Josh Nester who at the time was around 14 and an avid fisherman. He also took us on a tour of the art gallery he owned. I’m sorry to say that I remember more about the fishing than I do the art. Josh & I each caught a nice lake trout at the Great Lake after freezing our bums off in the highlands of Tasmania.

Of course I took Josh & his family on a tour of my ship, the USS Missouri. Over the years, I had lost track of Josh and his family but I had never forgotten their hospitality. That is until recently, I reconnected with Josh through Facebook. Think whatever you like about the pros & cons of Facebook, some people are fleeing it, but for me it has been an amazing way to reconnect with people I have known in my life that I have lost touch with.

Even though I was only there a few days, Josh and his family provided me with an unforgettable experience in Australia through their kind hospitality. That is why I was pleased to reconnect with Penny, the mother of Josh who drove us to the lake where we caught those fish. I was especially intrigued to learn that she now operates an art gallery in Hobart called Detached. What is even more interesting is that the gallery currently has an interactive exhibit called 8 Months of War by Australian artist Brook Andrew. It is ironic that the 1991 Persian Gulf War was what brought me to Hobart in the first place.

I am continually amazed at this communications-based world in which we live. I was able to reconnect with people I met only briefly eighteen years ago through the power of the Internet, and now I am also able to interact with a new media artist half a world away. You can too. Why not check out 8 Months of War today?

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