“Growing up in Oklahoma, U.S.A., my upbringing was saturated in the rural. Rolling hills and wide open plains punctuated by dense forests frame some of my dearest memories and are home to many of my loved ones. Living in and with ‘flyover country’ moulded me into the person I am today. It exposed me to positive aspects of staying in the slowness of beyond-urban life. The rural is restorative, even as it erodes. The wind rushing above red dirt carries silent histories. The words passed down on the front porch gave my life context as cicadas droned and fireflies replaced street lamps.”
— Erick Fowler
We feel lucky to have had the opportunity to spend time with Erick and will remember him with great fondness – he was an incredibly playful, beautiful, funny, creative and talented spirit and we thoroughly enjoyed his company. Erick had the rare ability to make those around him feel valued and seen. We are devastated that the world will have to go on without him in it.
The way he always started his emails with “Howdie all!” invariably made our day a little brighter, and his creative talent shone through in everything he did. Besides being very active within the faculty and department of Arts and Culture, working for the Amsterdam University Press and as part of the IMAGINART Project, Erick also created the beautiful design of the program booklet for our conference, did an amazing job in organizing that conference and took such great care of our social media outlets.
It is unimaginable that Erick is no longer among us, but our memories of him will remain.
