Nancy Willis, What About Us?, charcoal and oil on paper,30 x 44” 2021
finding beauty after the fire
Commemorating the Glass Fire of 2020
September 25 – October 3, 2021
Nimbus Arts STUDIO 2
649 Main St, St Helena, CA 94574
Gallery hours: 12-5pm
(masks required in gallery)
Reflections: Artifacts from Daily Life
public art in Lyman Park
First Nation community blessing on
Sunday, Oct. 3rd, 4 PM Lyman Park
“My goal is to pay homage to the land, the wildlife lost, and help my community heal from the devastating Glass Fire of 2020. I want to create beauty from the devastation.” Nancy Willis
Approaching the anniversary of the 2020 Glass Fire, artist Nancy Willis will present a series of paintings that reflect her artistic response to the 2020 LNU and Glass wildfires. With support from the ACNV Adaptation Grant, Willis developed new work that tracks the devastation and renewal in the grove of trees around her home. Last winter, she created an intervention in the grove, with lights and chandeliers to bring hope and light back into the forest and her neighborhood.
In the aftermath of the fires, Willis collected items from several household remains, hearing people’s stories of loss. She created a chandelier sculpture: Reflections: Artifacts from Daily Life, made from burnt manzanita, detritus from the fires, crystals, and lights as a prototype of a future public art piece. The chandelier will be installed in Lyman Park for the duration of the exhibition as a place for the community to reflect and heal. Everyone is invited to attend a First Nation blessing for the land, the wildlife, and the community to be held on October 3 at 4:00 PM in the park.
In May, Willis participated in Ashes to Springtime, a fundraiser for Solano County farmers. With other plein air artists, she painted the landscape affected by the LNU fires in Pleasant Valley. And over the summer Willis worked with students at Nimbus Arts who created their own lighted “Tabletop Forests” some of which will be on view in the gallery at 649 Main Street. The exhibition is funded in part by a grant from the ACNV Community Fund and hosted by Nimbus Arts.
“Residents of the Napa Valley have suffered consecutive trauma as wildfire season impacts more territory every year. Art has the capacity to heal and move us through grief by connecting people to one another and to the land.”