1000 Voices Altadena Mosaic
Recovery and Rebuilding After 2025 L.A. Wildfires
1000 Voices Altadena Mosaic
Be part of Altadena history through your art, your story and your voice!
In collaboration with Artists at Work, the L.A. County Department of Arts & Culture, and the Los Angeles Conservancy
Workshops Are Now Open for Registration
Altadena residents are invited to attend workshops and help sort and clean shards, create with clay, and make new tiles toward the 1000 Voices Altadena Mosaic. Leave your mark forever in Altadena! There is no fee to participate. Priority for to Altadena and Pasadena residents who were directly impacted by the Eaton Fire.
Come up to Zorthian Ranch Saturday, March 14, for a 1000 Voices Volunteer Session! We will be preparing shards for use in a mosaic–learn how to polish and clean them safely.
Zorthian Ranch is a fire-impacted site, but we will work in an area that has been remediated, at Side Street Projects. 18 and over, please. Bring a hat, sunscreen, and water bottle. Snacks will be provided.
For more info on the project and location, please register below. In case of rain, the workshop will be moved to an indoor location–so check your email for updates!
Date: Saturday, March 14, 2026
Time: 1-4:00 p.m.
Location: Side Street Projects @ Zorthian Ranch, 3696 N. Fair Oaks Ave., Altadena, CA 91001.
1000 Voices Altadena Clay & Storytelling Workshop with Amy Shimson-Santo on March 21st
1000 VOICES ALTADENA MOSAIC / 1000 VOCES MOSAICO COMUNITARIO
Clay & Storytelling Workshop / Taller de Ceramica y Contar Cuentos
with/con Alma Cielo & Amy Shimshon-Santo
Thank you for your interest in the 1000 Voices Altadena Mosaic Workshops!
A hands-on art and storytelling workshop for people impacted by the Eaton Fires. Shape clay and share stories in a space of care and creativity. Get your hands in cool, soft, natural clay and share about what you love in Altadena through creative writing and spoken word. Make a tile for the community mosaic and add your voice to local history.
Un taller de arte y cuentacuentos para personas afectadas por los incendios de Eaton. Moldea arcilla y comparte historias en un espacio de cariño y creatividad. Experimenta con arcilla suave y natural y comparte historias sobre lo que amas de Altadena a través de la escritura creativa y la narración oral. Crea una pieza de cerámica para el mosaico comunitario y añade tu voz a la historia local.
Families welcome! ¡Familias bienvenidas!
No experience necessary. No se requiere experiencia previa.
All clay materials will be provided. Se proporcionarán todos los materiales de cerámica.
Bring a journal & pen or pencil. Trae un cuaderno y un bolígrafo o un lápiz.
Date: Saturday, March 21, 2026 / sábado, 21 de marzo de 2026
Time: 1-4:00 p.m.
Location: CORE/hub, Altadena, 2333 Lake Ave #2a, Altadena, CA 91001
1000 Voices Altadena Clay & Storytelling Workshop with Amy Shimson-Santo on April 12th
1000 VOICES ALTADENA MOSAIC / 1000 VOCES MOSAICO COMUNITARIO
Clay & Storytelling Workshop / Taller de Ceramica y Contar Cuentos
with/con Alma Cielo & Amy Shimshon-Santo
Thank you for your interest in the 1000 Voices Altadena Mosaic Workshops!
A hands-on art and storytelling workshop for people impacted by the Eaton Fires. Shape clay and share stories in a space of care and creativity. Get your hands in cool, soft, natural clay and share about what you love in Altadena through creative writing and spoken word. Make a tile for the community mosaic and add your voice to local history.
Un taller de arte y cuentacuentos para personas afectadas por los incendios de Eaton. Moldea arcilla y comparte historias en un espacio de cariño y creatividad. Experimenta con arcilla suave y natural y comparte historias sobre lo que amas de Altadena a través de la escritura creativa y la narración oral. Crea una pieza de cerámica para el mosaico comunitario y añade tu voz a la historia local.
Families welcome! ¡Familias bienvenidas!
No experience necessary. No se requiere experiencia previa.
All clay materials will be provided. Se proporcionarán todos los materiales de cerámica.
Bring a journal & pen or pencil. Trae un cuaderno y un bolígrafo o un lápiz.
Date: Sunday, April 12, 2026 / domingo, 12 de abril de 2026
Time: 1-4:00 p.m.
Location: Armory Center for the Arts, 145 N. Raymond Ave., Pasadena, CA 91103
Soul Force Earth Day Celebration, 1000 Voices Clay Tile Pop-up on April 19th
Join us in the 3rd Annual Earth Day Altadena, sponsored by Soul Force Project! Join us in a pop-up clay workshop. No registration needed–first come, first served. Make a tile and leave your print in the 1000 Voices Altadena Mosaic. Enjoy a day of music, food, speakers and community!
Location: Private Home in Altadena
280 Crosby St.
Altadena CA 91001
Street parking for overflow, utilize the surrounding lots.
https://maps.app.goo.gl/FyCWxsQ4TNDJs7o38
Time: TBA
A Reflection One Year After the Fires
In June 2025, the Artists at Work Program selected the Los Angeles Conservancy and artist and Eaton Fire survivor, Alma Cielo, to embark on an 18-month collaboration in Altadena to celebrate resilience and cultural heritage in the wake of the 2025 January wildfires. Alma and her husband, Paul, lost their home in the fire and currently live at Zorthian Ranch. One year later, as we acknowledge the anniversary of the tragic fires, Alma shares her reflections on her community and special project:
“As we come to the year anniversary of the fire and sitting on this mountain at Zorthian Ranch in Altadena the loss is so deeply felt. I’ve learned that the community really spans the gamut from the working class families just trying to make it day to day, to very wealthy families with palatial homes. But the sense of HOME and what it means, is so dear to all of us, no matter if we lived in an apartment, rented a room, or had a multi-million dollar house. Home meant a sense of safety, comfort, gathering place for ourselves, our families and our communities. Having friends and family welcome us into their homes was a great blessing.
The folks who had multi-generations in Altadena, those roots run deep and are important, like great oak trees on the mountainside, to keep living to hold down the ground for the sake of everything else in the ecosystem.”
Alma is working with Altadena community members to create a mosaic mural from ceramic shards that Altadena residents have collected from the rubble of their homes. The project is titled “1000 Voices Altadena Mosaic,” and is inspired by a quote from an unknown Native American tribe: “It takes a thousand voices to tell a single story”. Alma shares:
“Through the 1,000 Voices Altadena Mosaic, we are definitely processing a lot of emotions– before we clean the shards we circle up and we reflect on the fact that these broken pieces are often all that people have been able to save, of the physical remains of their home. We hold these pieces with care, like memories– brushing off the dirt, the depression and bringing back some shine– reflected light. By the end of the workshops, I hear voices talking excitedly– this is community holding space for each other, sharing stories. It’s all the smiles that show me that we are going in the right direction.”
Click below to read Alma Cielo’s reflection in its entirety.
A Reflection by Alma Cielo
January 7, 2026
As we come to the year anniversary of the fire and sitting on this mountain at Zorthian Ranch in Altadena the loss is so deeply felt.
I’ve learned that the community really spans the gamut from the working class families just trying to make it day to day, to very wealthy families with palatial homes. But the sense of HOME and what it means, is so dear to all of us, no matter if we lived in an apartment, rented a room, or had a multi-million dollar house. Home meant a sense of safety, comfort, gathering place for ourselves, our families and our communities. Having friends and family welcome us into their homes, was a great blessing.
The folks who had multi-generations in Altadena, those roots run deep and are important, like great oak trees on the mountainside, to keep living to hold down the ground for the sake of everything else in the ecosystem.
The experience of the work has been shifting since I began collecting the shards in June, and through the 3 months of holding workshops. We’ve had to shift from different locations, figuring out different methods of creating, but I think most importantly, of how we hold space for each other in a sacred way. We are definitely processing a lot of emotions– before we clean the shards we circle up and we reflect on the fact that these broken pieces are often all that people have been able to save, of the physical remains of their home. We hold these pieces with care, like memories– brushing off the dirt, the depression and bringing back some shine– reflected light. By the end of the workshops, I hear voices talking excitedly– this is community holding space for each other, sharing stories. It’s all the smiles that show me that we are going in the right direction.
I’ve found that we need privacy to process, especially when someone is just holding a piece of clay/earth and thinking of what mark they want to make– recording a documentary is not really helpful when people are just trying to go into those painful places.
We need companionship with others who have also suffered the loss– sympathy, empathy. For many people who have moved away, they feel isolated because the majority of the people in their current towns and neighborhoods can’t understand our experiences.
When I attended a writing workshop for firebirds, I realized how our words and voices are the deepest spaces where we can go– beyond the physical. It was so satisfying to put down on paper, and to read aloud and share, and to hear others’ stories as well. We are adding the storytelling/writing aspect to our workshops, because it is in this intimate space, very deep healing can take place.
Photo Gallery
About Alma Cielo
“As an Altadenan, it certainly feels raw to live and work in our fire-ravaged town, but THIS is the time to be present,” says Cielo. “Altadena is an extraordinary place whose essence is worth fighting to preserve.”
Alma Cielo, who lost her home in the Eaton Fire in January 2025, is a multi-disciplinary artist and educator focused on community art projects and earth wisdom. She has a passion for teaching integrated arts with mindfulness, music, movement/dance, and the sharing of personal stories, and believes that the arts are an important path for healing, developing resilience, recovering from trauma, and building community. Cielo is a graduate of Yale University in Anthropology with heritage studies in the Philippines.
Recovery and Rebuilding After 2025 L.A. Wildfires
L.A. Conservancy Selected for WPA-Inspired “Artists at Work” Program
In June 2025, the Los Angeles Conservancy is pleased to announce its selection as one of four 2025 community partners in the prestigious Artists at Work program. This groundbreaking national initiative places artists in salaried positions within community-focused organizations, spotlighting the transformative role of the arts in social and civic life. In Los Angeles, AAW is partnering with the Los Angeles County Department of Arts and Culture to facilitate the program, with the theme of recovery and resilience from the devastating 2025 wildfires.
