{"id":402,"date":"2009-08-21T11:59:00","date_gmt":"2009-08-21T15:59:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=402"},"modified":"2009-08-21T11:59:00","modified_gmt":"2009-08-21T15:59:00","slug":"man-of-the-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=402","title":{"rendered":"Man of the Year"},"content":{"rendered":"
I view Garth Thornton’s recent resignation<\/a> as a judge in the Benoit Mandelbrot Fractal Art Contest 2009<\/a> as a cause for celebration and renewed hope in one’s fellow man.\u00a0 I know that may sound rather lofty and glorious, but what Garth has done is definitely the most encouraging event that I’ve seen in the fractal art world this year.<\/p>\n

As an editor of Orbit Trap for the last three years, and as a silent observer of the fractal art world for more years than that, I’ve seen a lot of self-interest, self-promotion, self-indulgence and just plain self-ism<\/i> (it’s becoming an art form).<\/p>\n

Although I have no window by which to look into Garth’s mind and know exactly what his reasoning was, or to speak on his behalf, the initial trigger appeared to be a debate on Fractalforums.com<\/a>.\u00a0 The mere fact that Garth was willing to participate in such an open and extremely frank discussion immediately suggested to me that this guy was different from the rest.\u00a0 I got the impression that it was his nature and everyday way of doing things to be open and responsive to the opinions of others and to be much more community minded than most are.<\/p>\n

That alone was enough of an improvement in the area of leadership in fractal world in my opinion to be noteworthy.\u00a0 But then, to see someone of Garth’s status in the fractal art world actually change his mind about a controversial issue and express it publicly was simply awesome and honestly, left me stunned.<\/p>\n

Most forum discussions don’t accomplish much.\u00a0 You get the usual posturing remarks and the “me versus you” mentality arising, again and again, as the prevailing pattern in online forums.\u00a0 My opinion is that forums are where people go to commiserate and to build up a network of people who agree with them –they’re looking for a place to relax, not wrestle with ideas.\u00a0 Few people honestly debate the issues raised and truly give any serious consideration to\u00a0 the ideas (if any) that are presented.\u00a0 Garth, evidently, happens to be one of those few people who do.<\/p>\n

I think it’s important, for those of you who may not be aware, that Garth has paid a price for his decision.\u00a0 It cost him something to do what he did.\u00a0 He’s given up a privileged position that would have given him extra status in the fractal world.\u00a0 I don’t think I’ve ever seen this happen before, but I hope others who are in positions of leadership in the fractal art world will take this example that Garth has made of acting according to principles of community building and not just short-term self-interest.<\/p>\n

The year isn’t anywhere near over, but I doubt I’m going see anyone better or more worthy than Garth Thornton to receive an award like this.<\/p>\n

But who knows?\u00a0 I’ve certainly found Garth’s actions to be inspiring.\u00a0 Maybe someone else might too.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I view Garth Thornton’s recent resignation as a judge in the Benoit Mandelbrot Fractal Art Contest 2009 as a cause for celebration and renewed hope in one’s fellow man.\u00a0 I know that may sound rather lofty and glorious, but what Garth has done is definitely the most encouraging event that I’ve seen in the fractal … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-402","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":688,"url":"https:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=688","url_meta":{"origin":402,"position":0},"title":"Selected Shorts","author":"cruelanimal","date":"10 January, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"[Photograph seen on Manshion.] Here are some selected shorts. Apparently, I have no grand vision to impart to start the New Year. ~\/~ Orbit Trap has published several recent posts exploring the nature of fractal art, and Tim explicated an image by Guido Cavalcante and analyzed its artistic expression.\u00a0 In\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"The Google Search Engine by Garth Thornton","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/orbittrap.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/TheGoogleSearchEngine_sm.jpg?fit=450%2C360&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":403,"url":"https:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=403","url_meta":{"origin":402,"position":1},"title":"Will the Benoit Mandelbrot Fractal Art Contest Do the Right Thing?","author":"cruelanimal","date":"22 August, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Do the right thing. It will gratify some people and astonish the rest.--Mark Twain Image seen on afgc.org. I wanted to pop on briefly and second what Tim said in his last post. I've known Garth Thornton since I helped test early versions of Xenodream years ago. I always found\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"No easy button...","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/orbittrap.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/08\/dotherightthing.jpg?fit=450%2C505&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":166,"url":"https:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=166","url_meta":{"origin":402,"position":2},"title":"Mysteries of Faith and Art","author":"cruelanimal","date":"5 March, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Why did the fractal cross the road?To travel back in time?Compare this image: The familiar Mandelbrot Set form. With this image:An Ottoman illustration of the sacrifice of Ismael (1583). The resemblance should not be a surprise. We've all seen fractal forms embedded in nature -- trees, river currents, lightning, cauliflower,\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 1 comment","block_context":{"text":"With 1 comment","link":"https:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=166#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":401,"url":"https:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=401","url_meta":{"origin":402,"position":3},"title":"Is It Official?","author":"Tim","date":"18 August, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"The rules page on the official website for the Benoit Mandelbrot Fractal Art Contest 2009 was changed overnight.\u00a0 The list of the Selection Panel Members (judges) has been abbreviated and now no longer includes the name of\u00a0 Garth Thornton who yesterday announced his intention to resign on Fractalforums.com.New Page (above)Old\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":411,"url":"https:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=411","url_meta":{"origin":402,"position":4},"title":"Phase Two: A Real Fractal Art Exhibition","author":"cruelanimal","date":"17 September, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Swine Flu by Luke Jerram I think Tim's recent observations that fractal art is about to undergo into a new Phase Two paradigm shift are on target. Fractal art will never evolve beyond a curious, trippy, decorative craft until it moves away from being defined by software and instead starts\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 2 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 2 comments","link":"https:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=411#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/orbittrap.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/09\/JackieJokers_recursion.jpg?fit=337%2C500&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":339,"url":"https:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=339","url_meta":{"origin":402,"position":5},"title":"Benoit Mandelbrot Fractal Art Contest 2008 Cancelled","author":"Tim","date":"20 August, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"How could this have happened?I really thought this was going to become a regular part of the Fractal Art world, but I guess that was too much to hope for.What could have gone wrong this year? How did this happen?Let me count the ways...Artistically Anemic: I guess when you make\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 6 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 6 comments","link":"https:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=339#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/402","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=402"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/402\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=402"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=402"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=402"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}