Tahoka, Texas – Art on the Land

Painted on site: [7/17/2025]

Location & Moment

Tahoka, Texas – a wide open plain. I worked on this painting here, where wind turbines spin slowly under vast skies.

First Impressions

The turbines are modern and silent, yet this land whispers of long-gone motion—of riders, raiding trails, and ancient freedom.

Comancheria

• This area was part of the Comanche Empire, known as Comancheria.
• Raiding trails cut across these plains, connecting to Mexico and other regions.
• No battles occurred here, but the land was shaped by movement and survival.

Mackenzie’s Shadow

• In the 1870s, Colonel Mackenzie led campaigns to defeat the Comanche.
• Tahoka was not a battle site, but lay within the zone of military pressure.

Windmills & Rails

• After Comanche surrender, settlers brought windmills to draw water.
• In 1903, the Santa Fe Railroad reached the area, and Tahoka was founded.

Artist’s Reflection

I painted here, on the plains outside Tahoka. Wind turbines turned softly on the horizon— The land beneath remembered motion.

Once part of Comancheria, Comanche riders used these plains as raiding highways—swift, strategic, unseen.

In the 1870s, Colonel Mackenzie brought military pressure— sweeping across the plains, even here in Tahoka.

Then settlers arrived: first windmills, then railroads. In 1903, Tahoka rose beside the Santa Fe line— permanent, planned, fenced.

Today, turbines turn. The wind still moves. But the freedom it once carried has faded. This painting honors silence, and what once echoed beneath it.