Ashes to Art Project to Benefit Poudre Canyon

Artwork featuring charcoal from the Cameron Peak and surrounding wildfires will be sold in an online auction May 10 – 15 to help fund the financially devastated volunteer fire departments that worked to contain and extinguish the summer wildfires.

The 2021 Ashes to Art Project, co-founded in 2012 by Lori Joseph and Tim O’Hara after the High Park Fire, asks artists across the country to donate various art forms — ranging from paintings to jewelry to sculptures — to be sold in an online auction for charity. Their art must feature charcoal from the wildfires in some way. All proceeds from this year’s auction will benefit the Poudre Canyon Fire Protection District and the Rist Canyon Volunteer Fire Department.

Items can be viewed and bid on at the Bidding for Good website: www.biddingforgood.com. Artwork from more than 80 artists from all 50 states is represented. Works created by artists from Columbia, South America, and Great Britain are also featured this year. There will be about 100 pieces of art available for bidding.

The Ashes to Art Project, founded in Fort Collins, Colorado, in 2012, is a way for the creative community to support the local firefighters who worked to protect the homes, lives, and families during the most devastating series of fires in Colorado history. Through the project, artists across the U.S. donate their submissions, including charcoal from the wildfire in some form. All forms of artwork are accepted. For more information about the project, contact Joseph or O’Hara at the email and/or phone numbers listed above. You can also learn more at www.facebook.com/theashestoartproject and view pieces from the 2012 Ashes to Art Project at https://www.instagram.com/theashestoartproject/