My guest today for the season finale is Taylor Gallegos. You may know Taylor from episode 5. He is my mentor, coach, friend, inspiration, muse, and so much more. Taylor is a painter specializing in murals and studio painting.  His work focuses on unity, connection, love, environmentalism, and creativity. He’s particularly talented in portraiture with an uncanny ability to capture the essence of people deep within the artwork that he creates. His creativity knows no bounds. As a professional artist his work has ranged from large-scale murals to portraits like I mentioned to abstracts in the studio to live art, mostly in the fields of painting and drawing with acrylics and oils. 

Taylor and I come together for a joint season finale, with me wrapping up Techawat and with him wrapping up Art and Life! This one has it all, we talk about travel, art, 2022, and so much more as we get ready for a fresh start in the new year. Enjoy!  

To get in touch with Taylor, connect on Instagram, Facebook, visit his website, and listen in to the Art and Life with Taylor Gallegos Podcast.

• Instagram: @taylorgallegosart
• Facebook: @taylorgallegosart
• Website: Taylor Gallegos Art
• Podcast: Art and Life with Taylor Gallegos

Elly Daftuar is a musician and multimedia artist from Ypsilanti, Michigan. She performs with many musical groups in southeast Michigan and has a long history of designing online experiences for universities, small businesses, musicians, and artists. 

In today's conversation, Elly treats us with a live performance of "Burn Out the Night" from her 2018 Album Hz Donut with the band Tanager. After this sublime intro, we explore the topics of community, connection, artistic pursuit and international travel. Elly is one of the those artists that is extremely talented across an array of artistic mediums and someone who I have the utmost admiration for. I hope you enjoy this one! 

To connect and support Elly: 

Bandcamp: https://tanager.bandcamp.com

Instagram: @elecaster

Support the Show:

• Visit: www.techawat.com 
• Instagram: @techawat_with_benjamin_morse, @benjamin_august_blair  

Original Music by Elly Daftuar, connect on Instagram: @elecaster

Logo by Jeff Butler, connect on Instagram: @butlejef2

Today’s guest is Marcus Hall. Marcus is a stunning and eloquent storyteller, who has used travel and connection as a means to understand himself and the world around him. I had the opportunity to work with Marcus at the University of Michigan, and it has been an amazing learning experience for me to unpack his story and continue to learn from him each time we connect.

In this episode Marcus opens up about his journeys abroad, starting at the age of 17 and building from there. We discuss second language acquisition and different ways people can learn a new language   and dive deeper into new experiences along the way. Marcus offers insight into the concept of intersectionality, which is ostensibly a analytical framework for understanding how aspects of a person's social and political identities combine to create different modes of discrimination and privilege depending on the context.

Marcus spent the past 15 years engaged in international travel, with his first trip abroad to Eindhoven, in the Netherlands in 2007. Since then, he’s either lived in or travelled to an array of countries around the world, be it Argentina, Uruguay, Peru, Portugal, Italy, the UK, France, Germany, Denmark, Spain, Canada, and South Africa. We dive into a few of these chapters during this conversation, and unearth the particularities behind these experiences.

Marcus is the first in his family to attend higher education, both for undergrad and graduate school, and the first in his immediate family to travel internationally. Marcus dispels myths of travel and offers any eager explorer a roadmap for adventure, self-growth, and transformation. This episode is a bit longer than my typical show, but I’d encourage each of you to see this one through, whether you break it up, or listen in one go, Marcus certainly has a lot to offer!

Connect with Marcus:

• Instagram: @marcusdelmundo
• LinkedIn: Marcus Hall

Support the Show:

• Visit: www.techawat.com 
• Instagram: @techawat_with_benjamin_morse, @benjamin_august_blair  

Original Music by Elly Daftuar, connect on Instagram: @elecaster

Logo by Jeff Butler, connect on Instagram: @butlejef2