20 artists will offer their work and live music will mark the occasion of the rebirth of a landmark gutted by the Almeda Fire
By Jim Flint for Ashland.news
With as many lives as the proverbial cat’s nine, Talent’s Malmgren Garage, gutted by the Almeda Fire that engulfed it in 2020, has risen from the ashes as a reimagined space, encapsulating the town’s enduring spirit and resilient community within.
This Saturday, Dec. 9, the building at 111 Talent Ave. will celebrate a grand reopening with an art show from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Twenty artists will sell and show their work, which includes ceramics, paintings, fabrics, photography, sculpture, mixed media, books and prints.
Cellist Daniel Sperry will play at the show from noon to 2 p.m., a children’s choir will perform and a food truck will be on site.
Mixed-use space
Bonnie Morgan and her late husband moved their Southern Oregon Pottery Supply business into the building in 1979, purchasing the century-old structure in 1983.
In its latest iteration, “the Garage,” as Morgan believes it probably will be called in the future, is a mixed-use building with two apartments in the back and one or two commercial spaces up front. The commercial space is available (call Morgan at 541-482-8969), but the residences have been rented.
Physician Theodore Malmgren (1871-1929) of nearby Phoenix was the original owner. It is believed he built the garage as an investment.
In its previous lives, the building housed an auto repair shop, feed store, lumber yard, Sis-Q Food Products, a secondhand store and the Morgans’ pottery supply business.
“We were in the building for 30 years,” Morgan said. “I closed the business in 2008 and began renting out the building.”
Sculptor Jack Langford had a studio and gallery in the building for several years. Tree House Oriental Antiques was the last to occupy the space before the fire.
A longtime Ashland friend of Morgan’s, Cici Brown, looks forward to the grand opening. Brown and her husband, Mark, have chronicled the rebuild in “The Art of the Fire,” a documentary that will be exhibited at film festivals and other venues. The final cut of the film is expected to be finished next month.
“Some of the art in the grand opening show will be donated to benefit the Rebuild the Building Fund,” Brown said.
Art of the fire
“The skeletal structure remaining after the fire was an artifact in itself with its primitive colors and designs woven into the walls by flame and smoke,” she said. “Personal loss, healing and moving forward is a story these artists share.”
Morgan said after the fire that Brown kept talking about the “art of the fire.”
“We would walk around the building, looking at how the concrete walls and paint were transformed by the fire,” Morgan said. “That led to our first art show in the burned-out shell of the building in April of 2022. It was rainy and cold. All we had were the walls and no roof.”
Some of those same artists will return for the grand reopening art show.
Morgan, an artist herself, will participate, selling her saggar pottery, inspired by the colors and patterns of the fire.
“I also will have some very special pieces made from the fire-marked metal flashing left on the building after the fire,” Morgan said. “I was inspired by the colors and textures on the metal to create art that would help support the rebuilding and the effort to list this Talent landmark on the National Historic Register.”
Morgan has completed two of the three steps required.
“We are ready to start work on the final part three of the application,” Morgan said, “where we document what we did. Historic consultant George Kramer has been guiding this process.”
Blood, sweat and tears
The $1.4 million reconstruction was made possible with funding from a combination of insurance money, loans, grants and donations. “As well as with a lot of blood, sweat and tears,” Morgan added. “I get a bit overwhelmed when I think about the total cost.”
The grand opening Dec. 9 is the culmination of a three-year journey. It began right after the fire, first with the cleanup of the site and then an evaluation of the possibility to rebuild.
“There was an enormous amount of planning and engineering that went into the effort,” Morgan said. “I am grateful to have worked with such an experienced and talented team of people.”
She hopes Malmgren Garage will survive another 100 years and more, and continue to be an important landmark celebrating the rebuilding of Talent.
Reach writer Jim Flint at [email protected].
