If ‘Bear Witness’ helps to increase forest fire awareness in anyway, than I’ve done something to help the issue. As artists we have the power to use our voice in a more creative way. An image can spread a message without words. You look at this powerful image of a bear in the burning mountains and its a constant reminder that we need real change in order to protect our planet and to coexist with mother nature.

This summer wildfires burned thousands of acres of forest in the mountains to the East, to the West and North of the San Luis Valley where I live. Day by day, the fires engulfed more forests and even crept into one of my projects as I couldn’t stop thinking about all the destruction.

Originally, I set out to create a serene landscape that expressed my love of Colorado’s mountains. But what I ended up with was very different. My feelings and fears of the fires manifested themselves in my work. The peaceful scene I set out to create morphed into a bear walking through a burning landscape. He is an added voice to all those who are tirelessly fighting to bring the issue of increased forest fires to the surface as others are trying to quiet them and to deny that we are contributing to the problem.

‘Bear Witness’ is a metaphor for the reality and the danger that forest fires pose in the Mountain West every summer. Our landscape is fragile. Temperatures are rising. Forests are getting drier. All this makes for ideal wildfire conditions. We bear witness as forest fire numbers are on a steady rise and the fire season is extended from the summer into the fall.

All Images are Copyrighted to the artist Kasia Polkowsa.

More info: kasiamosaics.com

The Artist holding ‘Bear Witness’

Here Kasia is holding the finished mosaic with the sun lighting up the colors perfectly!

Detail of ‘Bear Witness’.

Detail of ‘Bear Witness’. The glass used to create the trees in the foreground is irridized so it shimmers in the changing light. See how it varies in all the photos below.

The glass is hand cut and arranged on the sketch.

Kasia draws out each shape and cuts it custom by hand with the tools seen here.

Mount Blanca (Sisnaajini) with the Spring Creek Fire looming to the East.

This is the view of part of the Sangre de Cristo Range I see everyday on my walks along the Rio Grande. Seeing the growing smoke from day to day was alarming. Eventually the mountains were fully engulfed by the smoke and were no longer visible until the fire was contained by the firefighters who tirelessly faught to save our forests and hundreds of homes.

The glass composition ready for gluing!

The light caught the shimmer in the iridescent glass.

Close up of mosaic prior to gluing.

See the difference in the trees in the foreground? Here the light does not catch the shimmer in that deep purple glass.

All set up to grout!

The glass is glued onto the custom shaped substrate. It is ready for grouting!

Grouting!

This final step adds a finished look while protecting the sharp edges of the glass. Once that’s dry, the edge is painted to match the grout for a clean finish.

I created stickers to help spread forest fire awareness.

These are vinyl stickers. One shows the shimmer of the iridescent glass while the other shows the deep purple hue of the glass. 5% of the Artist’s profit will be donated annually to Colorado State Forest Service‘s Restoring Colorado’s Forests Fund which “provides tree seedlings that will be planted on lands most severely impacted by wildfires and other disasters”.

“Bear Witness”

Here the glass catches a different light and shows some of the different characteristics – texture and shimmering.

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