How I Found The Gnomedex Magic Bus

A lot of people asked me two questions at Gnomedex:

How did I find the Gnomedex magic school bus for the road trip I put together for iterasi?

How did I find the cool art gallery for the Gnomedex Magic Bus field trip?

Just how I discovered the awesome photography of Geoffrey Ellis. I followed connections.

I was talking with Sarah Lacey at Gnomedex about going back to Portland with us on the magic bus. She did join us, btw, with wonder “girl Friday,” Olivia Hine. Thank you both for joining us.

Sarah said she makes it to Portland on occasion as her husband is an artist and has lots of buddies here. You know how things register in your head. All that chatter you hear swims around until you check Twitter or something. And so, this afternoon, I’m checking out Sarah’s Twitter page. She just had two “favorite” tweets. I looked and saw a tweet from @sadkids. Hmmm…interesting name for a Twitter page. I looked at the link and here pops up this blog with the cool photography of Geoffrey Ellis. He kept mentioning Sarah in his posts. Aha! Connection made. They are married. I immediately had a far better perspective on Sarah Lacy and a fuller connection to Geoffrey’s work. And now I know about “Mr. Lacey,” who Sarah mentions often on her blog.

Connecting Through Twitter: How I Found The Gnomedex Bus

It looked like every passenger van in Oregon and Washington had been rented out since March or something for Hood to Coast, a quirky, Oregonian-style group race from the top of Mt. Hood to the Pacific. RV’s? Those were almost sold out, too. What about a microbus? Possible.

I sent out a tweet:

iterasi will rent your vw microbus, your 12-person van or that school bus you never use anymore. ping me.

Jay Stewart responded on Facebook, saying to email Nat Taylor, the owner of the bus. Nat showed me the bus, explained what needed fixing and that was it. We had a deal. Again, the connection came through the people I know online. People for the most part I see just a few times a year yet converse with more than just about anyone.

How I found the gallery for the Gnomedex Field Trip.

Kris Krug had made a comment online that people in Seattle should go to the Bherd opening and see the work of Erica Falke. Erica is known for her striking art that shows women in particular as strong, not to be messed with folk. I posted an image of her “Girl With A Gun,” and she commented on my blog and Facebook. I told her about the road trip to Gnomedex, the bus and that I wanted to do a field trip. Perhaps, I said, we could go to the gallery and see her work.

She made it happen. Kris helped spread the word. Erica contacted the gallery owner and after Friday’s Gnomedex session, 12 of us boarded the magic bus for perhaps one of the best event experiences of my life. We drove up to the Ballard area, lounging on the couches and just having a hoot of a time. Kris took dozens of great photos. We arrived to a private reception at the Behrd Studio. They served us cheese and crackers. They treated us go beer and wine. The art was amazing. KK picked up Erica’s “Girl With A Gun,” tht he had previously purchased and Pete came back with a piece for the new iterasi office.

Once the connections came together for iterasi’s Gnomedex road trip, new ones formed. We met new people and I connected again with folks who I’ve met over the years.

Connections are the common thread here. And Gnomedex, thanks to Chris and Ponzi, is an event where people connect, interact and are happy to meet new folks. Our road trip worked in large part due to the event that Gnomedex has become.

All photos courtesy of Kris Krug.