MEDFORD, Ore — A professional artist is getting ready to build a sculpture to honor the victims of the 2020 Almeda fire, as well as raise awareness about the effect of wildfires.
Professional artist Robert Barnum, created the “firestorm” project. The sculpture will be constructed near the intersection of 5th and S. Riverside and Main street.
Barnum said the sculpture will also be illuminated for people to see several miles away. 
“This is new to southern Oregon,” Barnum told NBC5. “It’s a design that has power to stand up and speak out visually.”
Barnum grew up in Medford and graduated from then Southern Oregon State College (now Southern Oregon University) in Ashland. He says wildfires are not anything new to him, but couldn’t believe the magnitude of the deadly Almeda fire – which tore through Ashland, Phoenix, and Talent in September of 2020.
Barnum currently resides in eastern Michigan, where he used to be an arts professor at Ferris State University. With ties to the City of Medford’s building department, Barnum was able to form a Firestorm committee for his project.
“Firestorm is my creative intent,” Barnum said. “Using art that’s in the public environment, to make a profound sort of statement, that will last for centuries.”
The project raised about $75,000 in funds for the sheet metal part of the sculpture. Barnum says they were also able to raise a few thousand dollars for the concrete part.
Barnum hopes to start construction as quickly as possible, preferably before fire season.
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