GRIDLEY, CA (MPG) - In a salute to the lives of those who fought and survived the attack on Pearl Harbor, and those who did not, local artist Aaron Burks has dedicated nearly four years of his life to capturing their images forever on canvas.

Burks started “Sleeping Giants: Pearl Harbor Survivors Then and Now” in 2018. He estimates that he has traveled nearly 16, 173 miles across country to meet with surviving Pearl Harbor veterans. A majority of his travel expenses were paid out of pocket, but he has received a grant from the California Arts Council and the Yuba Sutter Arts Council to aid with the project.

To date, he has met with 42 Veterans, which he interviews and then takes a series of photographs of them that he uses for reference in studio. Burks has completed 50 drawings, one depicting his subject as they were in their youth and a contemporary drawing as they are now. They are black and white charcoal studies for the final portraits of the veterans, which will be in color on canvas. Burks says that the paintings will be the hardest and most time-consuming part of this project.

In 2019 he took his first trip to Pearl Harbor on Pearl Harbor Day and has visited again in 2021. “I’ve formed these personal friendships,” he says of those vets he has had a chance to interview and work with. He felt it appropriate to visit the historical site where they battled during WWII and would like to make it a yearly trek. “Even when they’re gone, I still want to be able to honor them and remember them, so I am hoping to continue that tradition.”

Of those Pearl Harbor veterans, he has been able to meet with, he says that more than half have passed on. Some he literally just misses, often making or receiving a call that shares the bad news. At this point, Burks does not intend to search out any others, but will continue his project if any other Pearl veterans reach out.

Meanwhile, Burks is hoping to finish the project, paintings and all, by December of this year. When asked why this project is so important to the artist and veteran himself, he says, “I am trying to bring their young character back to life. I want people to look at both these paintings of each individual and recognize them now as an elderly person, but then look and say, ‘Wow, they were actually young once’– bring their experiences as teenagers (in the service) rolling back to life. That’s the whole point of the project.”