Young adults occasionally feel a tug toward a future career path, whether that direction comes from circumstances – or beckons from within.

As a teen in high school, graphic artist Mitch Griess felt the tug. He could sketch or draw things with clarity — realistic representations. The talent was there, but the timing wasn’t right. He chose employment working in the oil fields. He focused his energies on learning everything he could about drilling. From well drilling to certification in diesel mechanics, he spent 13 years immersed in the technical workings of the oil industry.

He wasn’t surprised when his tug came back.

“This is where art meets experience,” Artech Design & Advertising owner and graphic artist Mitch Griess said. “I knew I’d leave the oil field one day, but had learned all the details and wanted to take something with me.”

He brought mechanics and art together, diligently building a replica of an oil drilling rig. Snapping pictures and sketching rough drawings on scratch paper, he rendered plans for a drill rig location completely fabricated from raw materials — every detail and measurement exact.

Physically, the model grew. And folks started asking to see it. Griess remembers the day the governor’s office phoned and asked if he’d mind donating the finished project to the North Dakota Heritage Center.

Honored, he focused on a deadline and sought funding. A variety of sources agreed to financially sponsor the project, each with differing expectations. Each company outlined how they wished to be represented on the finished piece.

“For instance, GL Trucking wanted two crane trucks and tanks – exact replicas,” Griess said. “Each funding company has equipment represented, complete with branding or logos, just as you’d see on location.”

Essentially, viewers will see this oil drilling site reproduction, in miniature. Actual oil rigs can vary in size, anywhere from 150 to 200 feet in height above the ground. After reducing components to a 1/48th scale, the entire model and grounds sprawl out on a fabricated landscape, measuring 9 feet across the back, and tapering to a 4-foot area across the front.

“This oil drilling rig will educate viewers on what a drill rig and location is, and will give people an idea which sorts of companies are involved,” Griess said.

Besides being visually accurate, Griess also expects to provide the story of the process of recovering oil using a drilling rig to bore down into the earth – in most cases down an average of 10,000 feet and again another 8,000 feet horizontally.

“On staff at the North Dakota Heritage Center are writers and editors who will build upon his written compilation,” State Historical Society of ND Curator of Exhibits Genia Hesser said. “We work closely with the experts to clarify the information – then we edit, and if necessary, rewrite it, to give it a ‘museum voice’ for continuity in the museum.”

While Griess’s story describes the process in words; his replica describes the process visually. The drilling rig is installed on site, rising above the ground as much as 200 feet in height. The oil drilling rig then bores down an average of 10,000 feet and again another 8,000 feet horizontally.

A drill bit turns into the ground (through soil, sand, stone, and rock) until reaching the pay load (location of oil). Using 30-foot sections of pipe, stood upright within the derrick, the boring continues downward. In the early days, the drilling was limited to downward, vertical drilling. Today, however, the horizontal drilling takes place at the same time, using the same overhead equipment.

Drill bits are each 8 3/4” in diameter, with diamond, black diamond, carbide buttons, or button bits specializing for varying rock formations. And the drilling takes time. Steady, cautious time.

“It can take about six weeks or so to drill 10,000 feet down as needed, for example, in the Bakken formation – including the horizontal leg,” Griess said.

And the oil doesn’t just lie around in pools. Rather, it is found within the porous rock or sand formations.

In order to extract the oil, the well is ‘frac’d’, which basically means blowing it all up, underground. Sand is pumped in to not only fi ll up crevices, but to fi lter the oil back out.

Once the hole has been drilled, and the casings installed, the well is developed and tested. Another crew arrives to set up the pump and tanks.

Everything used in an actual oil field, from the pumps and tanks to the trucks, pipes, and derricks are displayed in Griess’s replica, which will be revealed during the month of December at the Heritage Center. The grand opening is scheduled for Jan. 7, with the opening of the legislative session.

“The finished result will be part of the ‘Corridor of Time Exhibit’, which explores the paleontology of North Dakota,” Hesser said. “The drill rig location will be installed within a larger exhibit piece that makes connection with the oil fi eld activity we see and hear about today with the past. The oil-rich ground beneath our feet describes North Dakota’s past, reminding us that rocks and soils were formed hundreds of thousands or even millions of years ago.”

The SHSND worked with Split Rock Studios, of Minnesota, to design and develop an accurate depiction of a ‘cutaway view’ of these rock and soil formations.

Since the oil field site model was such a success, it wasn’t out of the ordinary for Griess to be asked to provide another model; this time of a work-over rig. It’s portable, for classroom use for workforce training. Griess spent two months meticulously building the educational model.

Using plastic and brass tubing, he utilized the same steady process to provide another exact replica. It measures about 2 feet across and in height.

Again, depicted, are vehicles and tanks – reiterating the various companies and entities needed to drill a single well. Fresh water or sand delivery and specialty tools or products are a common sight on the fi eld.

Griess’s mechanical understanding of an oil field, coupled with his ability to express himself through art mediums – with the utmost attention to the details and accuracy – has given both the Heritage Center and Workforce Training a visual representation of a working oil fi eld site. He looks forward to building additional replica models at Artech Design & Advertising. For more information, contact Mitch Griess at artechdesignusa.com.

✧ Story by Tina Ding ✧ Photos by Mike McCleary ✧