Wildfire Season Rages on at University Museum of Art

Bryan David Griffith, Broken Equilibrium and Reconstruction.

Tom Alexander, Courtesy of the University of Arizona Museum of Art

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Wildfire season has officially comes to a close, but it roars on at the University of Arizona Museum of Art's "Fires of Change" exhibit, featuring the work of 11 artists.

Before they started to work on their pieces, the artists spent a week with scientists learning about fires in the forests of Northern Arizona in what museum officials call a wildfire bootcamp.

Based on that bootcamp, one artist, Julie Comnick created a series of drawings with charcoal she got from the charred remnants of a wildfire site.

Curator Olivia Miller said that’s what the show is all about:

"The idea that you can take the remnants of this fire and turn it into something beautiful."

Miller said the exhibition doesn’t dwell on the destructive force of fire.

"But as a necessary part of the forest ecosystem that’s all part of the rejuvenation of the forest, and the more humans suppress fires, the more catastrophic they become," she said.

The 11 artists worked across a range of mediums: installation, film, sculpture, even quilting.

"And it’s so fascinating that all of these artists, they went through the exact same bootcamp, yet they each tell the story in a completely different way," Miller said.

“Fires of Change” runs the UA Museum of Art through April 3.

Jennifer Gunlock, Urban Interface.

Tom Alexander, Courtesy of the University of Arizona Museum of Art