MADISON, Wis. – A Madison artist is moving forward after a fire burned down her studio and destroyed decades worth of artwork.

Jarka Sobiskova has been creating art for more than 40 years. She works in all types of media. Paint, clay, fiber: you name it, she’s probably used it.

Right now, she’s really into felting. She’s working out of a classroom space in the Arts & Literature Laboratory in downtown Madison.

“When I saw for the first time felting, and the textures you could create, I immediately fell in love with it,” she said. “I use [wool] like paint basically. I layer it, and just play with it.”

She’s made thousands of pieces in her lifetime. Now though, most of them are gone.

On March 31, she and her husband got alerts on their phones about the fire alarm going off at their studio. She rushed over, and initially thought her building was safe. However, the strong wind that night brought flames to the studio.

“It was kind of surreal,” she said. “It was really bizarre.”

Decades worth of her work was destroyed by fire, water, or the ensuing explosion.

“There was absolutely nothing we could save,” she said.

Plus, she lost all of her supplies. Not only were precious pieces gone, but so were all the tools to make new ones.

“Now I’m thinking about ‘oh I want to do this’, but I don’t have any of this stuff which I had before,” Sobiskova said. “It’s like losing all the time, because I reach for the tool, and it’s not there.”

That’s where the Madison art community stepped in. People started donating materials, tools, even a temporary space to Sobiskova. The Sow’s Ear in Verona started a donation drive to get more wool for her.

“The wool I’m using right now, most of it is from them,” she said. “It’s just so incredible.”

With that support, she’s now able to get back to what she loves. She’s working out of a temporary space in the Arts & Literature Laboratory in downtown Madison.

“I lost some things, but I can make new ones,” she said.

Sobiskova’s work will be featured in the Promega Art Showcase, which opens June 13. For more information, click here.