On September 8, 2020, at 11:04 a.m., a fire started in a dry field along Almeda Street in Ashland, OR. Resulting in the most devastating disaster in the history of Jackson County, the Almeda Fire left a scar across the rogue valley; during the creation of this work, the collection of ash, iron oxides, and wild clays that had been scorched during the fire had been harvested for the use in slips, glazes, and stains.
I looked at the examination and the process of sifting through the ashes and finding small pieces that had survived and had been touched by this destructive event. And how this process would transform them through the process of ventification.
