Here is another example of an unusual client.
I had studio space and was working by the hour at Barnum Communications, (medical advertising) at 560 Pacific Avenue. This was just a few blocks away from Bowne & Co., Inc. which was creating an souvenir brochure for the British Petroleum’s accounting team for their part in the constructions of the Alaska Pipeline.
On March 12, 1968. on the “North Slope“ at Prudhoe Bay, there was the largest oil discovery in North America. Originally, eight oil companies owned the rights to the oil.
In 1970, there was a lawsuit to stop the project, delaying work for almost five years due to legal and environment issues.
The 800 mile pipe could not be buried, because the hot oil would melt the permafrost turning the ground support into mud where the pipes could bend and break open. So all had to be on platforms.
The oil began to flow and from 1977 to 1979, 1.5 million barrels of oil went down the Trans-Alaskan Pipeline System.
After 60 years, (on 8-27-2019) BP sold all of their Alaskan property for $5.6 Billion to Hilcorp Energy Co.
By law, Alaska is required to remove all traces of the pipeline after oil extraction is complete. No date has been set for this removal, but plans for it are being updated continuously
This information and these photos are courtesy of Wikipedia which offers a very good coverage of this subject.
My connection to this assignment was from my co-worker (another free-lance artist there at Barnum Communications). Her friend at Bowne & Co., found out that I could do cartoons.
The first step was to (roughly) plan their booklet. I was given their instructions as to the details in each of my full page cartoon / illustrations. All were to be a reminder of the years of work required of the BP accounting departments.
There were to be 26 photos of the BP teams. This thumbnail plan was pretty close to the final arrangement.
The heavy use of black was an easy answer in suggesting oil.
The letter, on the “Forward” page says:
“During the final days of negotiation and drafting of the Unit Operating Agreement for the Prudhoe Bay Unit, when tempers grew short — -and intellectual capacity and understanding even shorter — -various participants resorted to the cartoon as a means of relieving the overwhelming tension and fatigue…this was not the best of all possible worlds”.
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Tuesday, May 3, 2011,
from the:
Office of Public Affairs, U.S. Department of Justice:
BP Exploration Alaska to Pay $25 Million Penalty for Alaskan North Slope Oil Spill
WASHINGTON – BP Exploration Alaska, Inc. (BP Alaska) will pay a $25 million civil penalty and carry out a system-wide pipeline integrity management program as part of a settlement for spilling more than 5,000 barrels of crude oil from the company’s pipelines on the North Slope of Alaska in 2006, the U.S. Department of Justice, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department of Transportation’s (DOT) Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) announced today. The penalty is the largest per-barrel penalty to date for an oil spill.
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When I accepted the job in 1977 (design and finished art) for the booklet, i had already read of the environmental controversy. Who could have known anything close to what there is to know, now?
Ann Thompson