Blog Post 8/10/26
I live in the Rogue Valley in the city of Talent, Oregon, about twelve minutes northwest of Ashland. We’re situated along the I-5 corridor where the Almeda Fire of September 2020—the 8th through the 15th— consumed 2,600 buildings—including our neighborhood, our home, my studio.
We have four seasons in the Rogue Valley—Fall, Winter, Spring, and Smoke. We’re in the middle of smoke season—the season of threat.
Today the current fires around our home are contained. The air quality no longer registers in the dangerous zone. The sky is blue again, mountains visible again. Breathing easy. Until the next fire breaks out—the season of threat.
Friends offered us their furnished home to live in while the fire debris was cleared, while we hunted down a contractor with reasonable rates, made lists for insurance of every item lost and their replacement value, planned our new residence, new contents, the build-out. The ordeal lasted seventeen months.
I felt the ghost of my cat jumping on the bed at night, ghost sounds of her pawing cat litter over her business. Thoughts of her pouncing down the stairs to greet us when she heard our car drive up.
We lost everything in that fire, not just my cat—my artwork, manuscript drafts, photograph albums, favorite hand-written recipes my grandmother passed down to my mother and then to me. Images covering forty years of my work.
The threat of another fire pinches me during smoke season, but through artmaking I’ve developed a different relationship to fire, earth, water, and air—maybe because I was born in a fire sign or maybe because I’ve been a long-time meditator or maybe because I love to cook, to write, to make art, and dance Argentine tango.
The Almeda Fire was my pivot point. It transmuted into my day of reckoning—forced me to let go of the past, to face my illusions and delusions, and open me to renewal through creative expression and gratitude.
While the earth is burning, it brings death. When the earth stops burning, it brings rebirth—its own renewal.
“Set your life on fire and seek those who fan your flames.” – Rumi
ILLUMINE
C. Ovenburg
12” x 12” Print on Archival Paper, 2024
Limited Edition – 20
Priced at $250 each