Kent Twitchell’s “Lita Albuquerque Monument” on the 101 freeway. Photo by @robertdoran_

Grad Art students have rallied around longtime core faculty, artist Lita Albuquerque, who suffered immeasurable loss when the Woolsey fire destroyed her home and studio. According to The Art Newspaper, Albuquerque, who has called Malibu home for almost 30 years, was away on November 9 when the fire raced up the canyon, giving her pregnant daughter only enough time to grab the family dog before fleeing the flames. By the time she was allowed to return, Albuquerque found only rubble and dust where nine buildings had once stood. Lost were paintings, drawings, five decades of diaries, her pigment collection and her expansive library. “It’s so bad that it’s OK,” Albuquerque told The Art Newspaper. “We have our lives and the dog.”

A recent video, shot as part of our Faculty Portraits series, shows Albuquerque in her studio in happier times, surrounded by a lifetime’s collection of books and other treasured items.

Her children have started a Go Fund Me to raise funds to help her rebuild.

“Now the fire that’s raging is the love that I’m feeling from everyone, just pouring in,” Albuquerque told The Art Newspaper. “That part is beautiful.”