This Animation Was Created from the Ashes of a Burned-Down Arts Building

The despair and irretrievable memories from a building burning downis turned positive by using the leftover ashes to make art. In 2014, Glasgow School of Art's Mackintosh Building was burned to the ground and with the destruction of the building, the academic institution and achievements made inside it were literally and metaphorically diminished. A group of artists banded around an initiative to revive the Macintosh building's legacy by creating art out of its ashes.

The charcoal from the fire was made into new original creations from a long list of well-known artists from Anish Kapoor to Alison Watt. Christie's helped auction off the pieces for a total sum of 700,000 British pounds in an auction titled Ash to Art.

In a truly meta representation of the series of events, the story of the Macintosh building is retold in an animation by illustrator Sharon Liu, who uses charcoal from the building's burning to animate the complete narrative. Liu shares with Creators she considered the project "brilliant" and especially "keeping with the art school spirit."

"[The] using of actual charcoal from the fire turns a negative into a positive," explains Liu, "and directly communicates the message of the campaign."

To see more animation and illustration from Sharon Liu, visit her website, here.

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