The Fires of Change catalog is now available for purchase online! Use the options below to purchase your copy online, or visit or call the Coconino Center for the Arts. Click here to preview.
Fires of Change
September 3 – October 31, 2015 – Coconino Center for the Arts
November 19, 2015 – April 3, 2016 – University of Arizona Museum of Art
Click the image or button to view all art in the show:
Fires of Change explored, through the eyes of artists, the increase in severity, size and number of wildfires in the Southwest and their impact on the landscape. Fires of Change was funded by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Joint Fire Science Program.
In order to show art in the exhibition, the eleven artists in Fires of Change had to participate in a Fire Science Bootcamp, spending a week in the forests of Northern Arizona in late 2014. A team of top-notch fire scientists and managers provided the eleven invited artists education and training on the impact of wildfire in Northern Arizona in preparation for the exhibition.
The new exhibition, Starlight, featuring night sky photography by Stan Honda, was in the Jewel Gallery alongside Fires of Change.
Fires of Change was open from September 5 – October 31, 2015.
In November, the exhibition will travel to the University of Arizona Museum of Art in Tucson, Arizona.
The exhibition was curated by Flagstaff installation artist Shawn Skabelund.
The eleven Fires of Change artists are:
- Kathleen Brennan of Taos, NM: photography and film
- David Chorlton of Phoenix, AZ: poetry
- Julie Comnick of Prescott, AZ: painting, drawing, and installation
- Bryan David Griffith of Flagstaff, AZ: photography and installation
- Craig Goodworth of Newberg, OR: sculpture, drawing, installation, performance and prose
- Jennifer Gunlock of Los Angeles, CA: mixed media drawings
- Saskia Jorda of Scottsdale, AZ: drawing, installation and social practice
- Helen Padilla of Flagstaff, AZ: painting and installation
- Bonnie Peterson of Michigan: textiles and topographic maps
- Katharina Roth of Sedona, AZ: ceramics
- Steven Yazzie of Phoenix, AZ: video/film, painting, drawing, performance and installation environments
At the Fires of Change blog, participating artists shared their insight and experiences as they prepared work for the exhibition in September.
Click the image or button to view all art in the show:
The project is a collaboration between the Southwest Fire Science Consortium, Landscape Conservation Initiative, and Flagstaff Arts Council, with a supporting grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.
Fires of Change Links:
NEW: Click here to view all the artwork in Fires of Change
Arizona Daily Sun article about the Fire Science Bootcamp
Required Reading for Fire Science Bootcamp:
- Earth on Fire
- Grand Canyon Fire Management (which includes an extremely energetic video)
- Let’s Rethink How We Deal with Forest Fires an op-ed by Don Falk
- The West in Flames by Bill deBuys
- Burn, Baby, Burn—if We Say So by Steven Pyne
- The 1910 Fire: A Region Consumed by Jim Kershner, The Spokesman-Review
- Megadrought in U.S. Southwest: A Bad Omen for Forests Globally by Caroline Fraser
Rocky Mountain Research Station: http://www.fs.fed.us/rmrs/research/highlights/
Joint Fire Science: https://www.firescience.gov
Fire information system (fire photos, maps, and informations): http://inciweb.nwcg.gov
Active (and historic) fire perimeters (nationwide): http://www.geomac.gov
Spatial information for Kaibab National Forest: http://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/r3/landmanagement/gis/?cid=stelprdb5209305
Burnished Landscape: Part 1: http://www2.nau.edu/lci-p/index.php/expressing-the-future-p1/
Part 2: http://www2.nau.edu/lci-p/index.php/expressing-the-future-part-2/
Part 3: http://www2.nau.edu/lci-p/index.php/expressing-the-future-part-3