HOLLAND, Mich. — Their pristine forms preserved in paper by a fine-point pen, a number of homes lost in the California wildfires are being drawn by a Holland artist and sent to the families who lived in them.
"My imagination goes wild with all this beauty," said Carolyn Stich, the owner of her own art studio in downtown Holland.
For the past few weeks, Stich has been participating in an art project created by Los Angeles-based artist Asher Bingham, donating her time and artistic skill to those who lost not only their homes but in many cases their cars, clothes and family heirlooms in the deadly California wildfires.
"There's just nothing left. Just nothing," Stich said. "Being an artist, I don't have a lot of funds, but I do have a talent of drawing homes."
A former architectural illustrator, Stich heard of the project while watching the news. She reached out to Bingham on Instagram and got to work, taking time out of her daily duties as an artist and small business owner to capture the memory of Southern California neighborhoods.
Now, 17 total artists from across the country are working through a spreadsheet of more than 1,000 requests from LA-area residents.
"In today's world, I think we all have to step up," Stich said.
A home in the Palisades
For 40 years, Katie Bergin Mankiewicz lived with her family in a two-story home in the sunny Palisades neighborhood. She lost it in the fires, along with her grandmother's silver, the china from her wedding and all the art that hung in the house.
Bergin Mankiewicz wanted to be able to remember the home and all the memories it held. She reached out to Bingham, who handed over the drawing duties to Stich.
"It gave me chills," Bergin Mankiewicz said. "She really captured the energy of the house."
The Holland artist's illustration will be the first piece of art in Bergin Mankiewicz's new house.
"It really means so much to me that somebody who doesn't even know me and my family decided to do this for us," she said. "Now we have this piece of art, and it's from Michigan. That means a lot."
