I've never met a Jack I didn't like and I've met a lot of Jacks in my life. In fact I've liked 'em all and some of them I've liked a lot, especially Jack Saylor. And if you don't know Jack Saylor like I know Jack Saylor, you need to get to know him.

When Susan and I were first married and back in Wilson, The Arts Council had a spring festival called Sunday in The Park. Located at the Wilson Recreation and Park, the Arts Council had the run of the whole place. Some of the art was "displayed" on the chainlink fence around the pool, hung with clothespins. It wasn't high tech, but it worked. The art, in spite of where it was displayed, was interesting. Wilson has always had an arty side and people here were interested in art in a way that was disproportionately high for what you might expect in a small, southern town.

On that partiular day I was browsing the student art from all the local schools. It was all the standard student art stuff-a dog or cat here, a rock star or movie star there and it was nice...but I saw several pieces by a young man named Jack Saylor, who was 13 or 14 at the time, and his work stood out....way out....from the others. I looked at Susan and said, "This kid has talent. A lot of talent." It's not that I had that great of an eye for talented new artists, it was just that Jack was clearly that talented.

As the years moved on, Jack's Sunday in the Park work improved and after he graduated from Barton, his career moved to furniture design and part time painting until it settled into full time painting, exactly as I would have expected. And just as expected, he was "discovered" and people started collecting his work and not too long thereafter he was noticed not only by collecters but by art publications and museums.

Now Saylor art openings often have long lines of people waiting to buy his work. Some have sold out within a short period of time and people have fought over one of his paintings. (If only it happened that way in the insurance business.) His career has been just as I would have predicted back at Sunday in the park in the 1980's. Like me, Jack is from Wilson County but now lives in Carteret County and his heart is very much in both places just as mine is. Unlike me, Jack has a natural artist's ability to bring detailed life to a canvas. I'm not sure how he does it, but he does and it's magical.

Susan and I enjoy collecting art every now and then and are grateful to have a few of Jack's paintings. We enjoy them every day and they each speak to me in a way I can't easily define. I may complain about inheriting the "big head gene" from my mother but on the flip side, I'm grateful to have inherited her love of art. Who knew those two genetic traits could be connected? Certainly not my father who was fascinated with the Civil War and World War II and would have hoped for a son who would also have been fascinated with wars, battles and generals as well. But God has a great sense of humor in how he passes genes around and he often teaches great life lessons to parents who wish for one thing in a child but get another. God has a great sense of humor in these matters although it might have taken both my dad and me a while to figure that out.

If you don't know Jack, he has an opening at Carteret Contemporary Gallery ( www.twogalleries.net) this month in Morehead City and if you're in the area and have time, go by and see his work. Or better yet, buy a piece of his art - you'll enjoy looking at it and living with it every day. You can also go to his website ( www.jacksaylor.com) as well as his Facebook page to see what else he's working on and to learn more about his work and his life. Below are some of his pieces in the Carteret Contemporary Show without any words to accompany them-because they all speak for themselves. You need to know Jack.