Category: Visual Art

I am running behind- in my self imposed schedule- on my community post, so I am posting my Friday Fractal with some thoughts about the community that made it possible. Most of my fractal art uses only fractals themselves, although I enjoy layering related fractals. This one, that produced a series of darkened circles against what became the background, needed something more. Where that something more came from is part of the story of The Space Program, the promise of the early internet, and a man who understood the potential of both.

Eugene F. “Gene” Kranz is best known as lead Flight Director for much of the Apollo Moon Landing missions, but was also a driving force in shaping what the internet could be. In the early days of the worldwide web, Kranz understood what this tool could mean for humankind and pushed NASA to make as many resources as possible available to the public. The NASA Image and Video Library serves the public as an archive of the history of spaceflight, but also makes the vast collection of astrophotography available to the world to be used by researchers, classrooms, and yes, even artists. Gene Kranz, like many in the space program, was first a veteran (USAF). About a third of the United States federal workforce still are. Most workers in scientific and service fields in the federal government are not there for transactional reasons. They are not trying to sell the skies- and the people who are trying to sell our scientific heritage can’t grasp why workers show up daily “tough and competent” as defined by the Kranz Dictum. Gene Kranz is still motivating people with his speaking engagements at age 91.

 

A fractal flame image using Chaotica and GIMP