Oil Fields & Memory

As a pastor, I’ve been called upon many times to commemorate the life of a stranger at a funeral. It’s hard to explain why and how that happens. Ask your pastor to explain it to you. 

As an artist, I’ve been called upon to do the same a few times–to create a piece that tells a life story of a person I’ve never met, so that people I will never know can reflect on it and say “Remember when…”

“Oil Fields and Memory,” is one such piece. It tells the life story of a Texas oil engineer, the father of an old friend, who died the very night this piece was finished. It isn’t easy to tell the story of a whole life in a single piece of artwork-let alone someone I never met–but it’s an honor to be invited into those stories and to be a voice that helps tell them. 

You find a strange connection to people when you tell their stories. It’s like your mind turns a dial to tune into their narratives, and you start to notice things you probably would have ordinarily overlooked. You also find yourself looking for inspiration in places you’ve never looked before. Office supply stores, books on engineering, geography textbooks. 

When it’s all done, you hope you’ve done justice to the story. I’m told that I did. I’ll take it.