04/01/2026
So many things make it feel like the world is on fire right now. I think this piece definitely captures the chaotic nature of fire.
This is an entry for the 2026 Art 4 Trees auction. This charity event helps further GATEโs initiatives to raise funds for damaged urban and wild trees to repair, reseed, and renew.
I wanted to challenge myself with the sensitive subject of wildfire in Kern County. Two years of my life were spent living off grid in an area that had been devastated by a manmade wildfire. Hearing the devastation it caused so many of my neighbors was heartbreaking, the land was reduced to sand and ash for years. However, at the same time, the area had spent ten years regrowing, becoming reforested. Each year, I would watch the young trees grow taller, new native plants pop up in patches of wild roses, sage, pines, oaks, lupine flowers, and more. The fire cleared space for new plants to thrive in the place giants once stood.
The subject of wildfire in CA is a bitter one. Many of our residents have lost everything to rampant fires, both natural and human error caused. The original inhabitants of this land had the knowledge of centuries of land management and would conduct controlled burns to maintain the health of the forest. This was a baffling practice to Europeans and the ban on prescribed burns over the last couple hundred years of Californiaโs history has created dense forested areas that are prime powder kegs for disaster.
Fire lives a strange dichotomy, it brings both devastation and healing.
This yearโs theme was โTrees of Kern Countyโ and with so many directions to go in, it was difficult to narrow my entries down to two pieces. This one you see pictured and one I will be sharing soon that addresses the citrus groves.
I am curious to see who will bid on this piece, maybe someone associated with , ,