Meet Patrick McNicholas

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Patrick McNicholas. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Patrick below.

Hi Patrick , thank you for being such a positive, uplifting person. We’ve noticed that so many of the successful folks we’ve had the good fortune of connecting with have high levels of optimism and so we’d love to hear about your optimism and where you think it comes from.
I find my optimism comes through greater understanding of the world around us. Despite the problems we face in our ordinary life, I’m always looking to see the bigger picture in these challenges.

Being a lifelong learner, I am constantly asking questions and introducing myself to new ideas. I believe it is important to exercise the mind just like the body.

Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
I grew up just outside of Tulsa and knew some of the history but the city itself wasn’t a city that we know today. During my youth the city was in flux and lacking major developments in decades. I left to attend college in Tennessee and returned to Oklahoma in 2014.

I started Tulsa Past to Present (now Time-Travel Tulsa) in 2018 as a hobby project but it soon became my main focus. At the same time, I was studying and researching the history of Tulsa and Oklahoma. Today, the project’s goals are to spread art and education that examines our shared history in great-depth.

The process involves combining two images, typically decades apart, to show the differences between the past and the present at a particular location. However, the project is really much more than that. The works involve hours of research and investigation to tell a compelling story that accompanies the piece of artwork, and giving the viewer historical context.

I work as an artist, historical consultant, and videographer/photographer. On the side, I am a collector, archivist and preservationist.

All of these skills will be combined in an upcoming presentation on the history of street signs in Tulsa and the preservation of “Tulsa First Street Marker” monument that was damaged in 2023, but has since been repaired. We plan on unveiling the restored monument during the presentation with all those responsible for its improvement.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
It is important to be flexible when finding who you are. While some people may find one thing that they love and stick with it for the rest of their life, I have had many different interests over the years. It has led my life in different directions but none that hasn’t been beneficial, in one way or another.

Being understanding and forgiving, realizing that we have no innate enemies. Life is a series of unpredictable experiences many times out of your control. Like you give yourself, give others the benefit of the doubt when bad decisions have been made.

Many people take things for granted, I know this all too well from the historic lens, but one of the most important things to me is, to learn to appreciate and be grateful for what we have now.

We’ve all got limited resources, time, energy, focus etc – so if you had to choose between going all in on your strengths or working on areas where you aren’t as strong, what would you choose?
I think both strategies are equally important to our world, however, from my perspective I would lean in toward being more well rounded.

The cliché “everything is connected” becomes more apparent after one has broaden their horizons, they begin to realize strange connections and notice synchronicities that they wouldn’t have before. I think the more knowledgeable the person, the far more dynamic the individual. More entertaining and introspective than others with a narrower focus on general ideas. However, like I mentioned both I believe are equally important.

Contact Info:

Image Credits
All images by Patrick McNicholas

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