From Fire, Love Rises: Stories Shared from the Artist Community

ABSTRACT In this essay the author recalls the process of organizing and interpreting an exhibition of art and language made in response to a catastrophic fire that devastated California’s Sonoma and Napa counties in late 2017. The Sonoma Valley Museum of Art invited a group of artists and writers to be part of its small exhibition planning team to help establish the exhibition’s focus, compile the checklist of artworks and writing, compose the interpretive labels, and participate as presenters in the public programs. What follows is a reflection on the process that resulted in unique approaches to organizing, presenting, and interpretation as the artists, writers, and museum staff collaborated to engage the audience directly through first-person stories, with the intention of honoring their shared experience and healing their community.