Transformation: Fire in the Forest, Reflections on the Rebirth of Big Basin.
One-of-a-kind book by Donna Thomas. 2023
Peter and Donna Thomas: Santa Cruz

Transformation: Fire in the Forest, Reflections on the Rebirth of Big Basin. (2023) Donna Thomas, Emily Dickinson, Asa Gray, Martin Rizzo-Martinez, and Carrie Stevens Walter. Donna Thomas, Santa Cruz. 11.5 x 10 x 1.25 inches. 18 accordion folded pages. This book is the prototype for a larger version made for Big Basin State Park $1900.

Binding: Full bound, brown leather spine laced to cotton/linen cloth covered boards printed with redwood leaves. Carved redwood panel on front cover. Inside cover paper, handmade by Peter Thomas with redwood leaf prints. Text block: grey paper handmade by Peter Thomas. Text is hand lettered, 17 watercolor illustrations stitched to cutouts in paper. Paper: Handmade by Peter Thomas. Clamshell box: Paper over boards using Trader Joes shopping bag paper.

Notes: This book is the prototype book for a larger format book of the same title that Donna created for the Big Basin Art About, a program of the Mountain Parks Foundation which awarded artists grants to create art in response to the 2020 CZU Complex Fires and to celebrate the subsequent re-opening of Big Basin Redwoods State Park. Works created for this program will be on display in the new Big Basin State Park Visitors Center. The illustrations in this prototype are hand re-painted laser print reproductions of the original watercolors, which Donna painted on site in Big Basin State Park as an artist in residence. Quotes from six of the Big Basin Art About artists are included as text in the book, along with historical texts from Emily Dickinson, Asa Gray, Martin Rizzo-Martinez, and Carrie Stevens Walter.

Artists Statement: In June 2023, I joined 15 other artists in Big Basin Redwoods State Park, three years after the catastrophic 2020 CZU lightning complex fire. We toured the park with rangers and naturalists who told us of their experiences. They saw over 97% of the park burn, some lost their homes in the fire, and more importantly, they all lost the forest they knew. Over two days, the artists listened and hiked through the burned forest. This is a collection of their words with illustrations showing the state of the forest as it is presently going through a transformation like it has never before. We experienced the deep sadness of seeing heavily scarred giant redwoods and grieved the loss of historic structures. We sighed with relief seeing the bright green regrowth everywhere, including an abundance of flowering shrubs in the newly opened canopy. It hasn’t been easy to express our feelings. Here is a glimpse of our impressions at this point in the lifetime of this beloved place. This book is a record in words and paintings of the post fire pre-rebuilt Big Basin State Park.