My name is Kevin Oestenstad and I bury my art in the ground. For ten years I’ve been putting my skills as a wood worker to use by making Japanese-inspired meditation benches. It’s a way that I honor my mindfulness meditation practice. Last October, in the spirit of curiosity and called by something I don’t yet fully understand, I buried one of those benches. I buried it in the pasture of my significant other’s family farm, in a valley that’s visited by deer and red-winged black birds. Prior to this experiment, I was an actor in LA for over a decade acting in television and film. I spent my days and nights telling other people’s stories. Through this project I call The Buried Bench Revival, I’m telling my story. It’s one involving mystery and wonder, awakening and the earth. It’s fueling the letters and poetry I write. It’s influencing how I relate to the voice of my own soul and it helps me listen to the voice of time and of letting go. In October of 2024, one year after I buried the bench in the ground, I will exhume it. Then it will be time to tell its story. Here’s to us all telling the stories we need to tell, when it’s time to tell them. Here’s to the courage and grace that helps us do so.