Artist creates paintings to grieve brother’s death by overdose

LEANDER, Texas - A former Leander resident turned to art to grieve the passing of his brother who died of an overdose.

About four years ago, Preston Zeller was working when he got a call from his mother.

"I just hear my mom’s voice saying he’s died," artist Preston Zeller said.

Zeller’s older brother, Colin, died from an opioid overdose.

"I don’t think I realized how engrained he was in me until he passed away and just saying oh my gosh, I feel like a piece of me really, truly died," Zeller said.

Preston and Colin Zeller (Preston Zeller)

To cope with the grief, Zeller used art.

"I’m experiencing emotions on a breakneck pace that I don’t even know how to handle, and so perhaps if I do this regularly and on smaller canvases, I can kind of better understand what I’m going through," Zeller said.

Zeller painted every day for a year.

"It was really a time to, like, turn off all the analytical side of my brain and just feel what’s in front of me and be super present," Zeller said.

A mosaic of art made by Preston Zeller  (Preston Zeller)

Zeller turned his pieces into a mosaic that’s hanging in his home as a constant reminder of the power of art. He encourages others to use a creative process to cope with loss.

"Where words fail, where you’re stuck capturing an image in time, painting fills in those gaps because you’re not limited to anything to script," Zeller said.

Art therapist Lindsay Lederman said creating art has healing properties.

"Having a way and an outlet to express those really horrible, uncomfortable, difficult experiences can really help people in a way, I hate that term move on, but move through," Lederman said.

Now, Zeller is sharing his experience. He created a documentary, The Art of Grieving, which was filmed primarily in Leander and parts of Austin.

"I started to see very quickly people open up and share their own stories, like okay, this is resonating, let’s keep going with it," Zeller said.

Zeller said he hopes one day his mosaic will be in a museum to reach even more people.