Imagine this: It’s Dec. 30, and you’re settling in for an intensive day of post-holiday lounging —probably still in your pajamas, savoring leftovers and thinking about New Year’s resolutions you may or may not keep.

That was the scene for thousands of Boulder County residents in 2021, who believed nothing more than a peaceful winter day stretched before them.

Then out of nowhere, chaos erupted. Hurricane-force winds swept through the grasslands, a spark ignited, and, within hours, what is now known as the Marshall Fire consumed entire neighborhoods in Louisville and Superior. Over 1,000 homes were lost, leaving families to flee with little more than the clothes on their backs.

Artist Kevin McCormack was one of those people.

On Dec. 30, 2021, as winds pushed the fire into his Sagamore neighborhood in Superior, McCormack and his partner, Judylynn, had just minutes to escape.

“I stored my artwork in the garage and various rooms in the house,” McCormack said. “It was decades of work — paintings, portfolios, wood panels — just a lifetime of creativity.”

As the fire advanced rapidly, however, there was no time to save it.

“Around noon, we noticed smoke rising from the open space behind our home,” he said. “By the time I ran downstairs, the fire was already at our back door. Our cat, Bushwick, was sleeping on the couch, but after I grabbed my computer, keys, wallet and phone, he ran off to hide.”

Alarms blared, and chaos closed in.

“Judylynn came rushing in saying, ‘We’re going to die,’ and we realized we had no choice but to leave immediately,” McCormack said. They abandoned their search for Bushwick and fled.

As they drove through thick, night-like air filled with soot and debris, they joined the long line of evacuees escaping Superior.

“Visibility was almost nothing,” McCormack said. Later that day, they learned that everything they left behind — their home, belongings, McCormack’s artwork — was gone. The Marshall Fire had destroyed the entire neighborhood and much of Superior.

“Ironically, Judylynn and I had been looking at an image I’d created of a phoenix just before we realized our house was on fire,” McCormack said.

In the spirit of that mythical bird, McCormack spent the next three years rebuilding his life and his art. Using digital archives saved on the computer he managed to grab, he began reimagining his collection.

“I experimented with different mediums,” he said. “Some pieces that had been on paper, I printed on canvas or metal. Others I resized or altered completely. Some became entirely new works.”

His initial foray into digital tools — scanning his portfolios onto a computer with a flatbed scanner — proved serendipitous.

“I never really worked with computers before — everything I did was by hand,” McCormack said. “But just before I moved out here, I got a computer and started scanning my smaller pieces. By the time the fire happened, I was already in that mindset — seeing my art on a screen instead of just as physical pieces.”

Using tools like Photoshop, McCormack transformed his archived images, experimenting with color, scale and composition.

“It gave me a chance to revisit themes and motifs in my work,” he said.

Today, McCormack’s art hangs on the walls of Arts Off Center, 405 Center Drive, Suite D, a new gallery in Superior Marketplace, just one mile from the ruins of his former home. The space, co-founded by Sherry Smith and Stephanie Coffin, was once a fire-damaged bike shop. Determined to create something positive in the wake of devastation, Smith and Coffin transformed the building into a bright, welcoming community spot for creativity.

“From the ashes of destruction, something beautiful has emerged,” McCormack said.

For Smith, the gallery represents more than a place to display art — it’s a dream realized after unimaginable devastation.

She recalled the harrowing events of Dec. 30, when her family evacuated their Superior home as the fire blazed through the community.

“It took us four hours just to get off our street,” Smith said.

Two cars packed with three adult children and four dogs, they initially thought they’d return home after the fire passed. The reality was far worse.

Although her home was spared from major fire damage — with only embers burning in the attic —the destruction nearby was shocking. Just six houses away, a dozen homes were reduced completely to ash. Watching her neighbors struggle in the aftermath, alongside the long, difficult road to rebuilding, left a deep scar on Smith.

Even three years after the Marshall Fire, many residents are still navigating the challenges of reconstruction delayed by rising costs, underinsured victims and various other hurdles.

While the community continues to rebuild, Smith and the art gallery’s cofounder Coffin envisioned speeding up the emotional process of recovery by creating a space where local artists and art lovers could come together, share their craft and heal through art.

Smith and Coffin originally planned to launch a co-op, but when the logistics became too complicated, they pivoted.

“We thought, let’s just find a space to get artwork on the walls, bring people in, and get them talking and connecting over a cup of tea,” Smith said. “That’s really the heart of it — not making money off other people’s art, but giving everyone an affordable, welcoming place to share their work.”

Smith and Coffin found the perfect location for the gallery at 405 Center Drive, Superior, in a building that had once housed a bike shop before the fire. The space had been untouched for three years.

“While we were cleaning, there was this really fine dirt all around both the front and back doors,” Smith recalled. “I was on my hands and knees scrubbing, wondering what it was. It didn’t hit me until later — it was soot from the fire. That realization was really triggering.”

Determined to give the space a complete makeover, Smith and Coffin leaned into their creativity.

“Everything inside was dingy, but we decided to brighten it up,” Smith said.

They painted the walls cheerful colors like “Cheese Puff” — a warm, sunny orange, and a sea-inspired aquamarine. They added funky furniture and rugs with bold floral patterns, turning the once-scarred building into a slice of colorful heaven.

“When you walk in now, it feels like cheer and sunlight, instead of soot and fire damage,” Smith said, noting that the the transformation hasn’t gone unnoticed. Visitors often comment on how joyful the space feels. “People keep saying, ‘It looks like sunshine and happiness in here,’ and honestly, that’s the best compliment we could get.”

Since its soft opening in November, the gallery has grown into something even more impactful.

“It’s amazing to see the people and stories this gallery is bringing together,” Smith said.

Currently, the gallery features work from nine local artists who were impacted by the fire — like McCormack, as well as Karla Bennett, a mosaic artist whose work is made of salvaged glass found on her burned property.

Smith said that she and Coffin hope the gallery will continue to grow, both in the number of featured artists well as into a place where members of the community can take classes, attend artist talks, practice art therapy and share stories of rebuilding.

“As long as people need to talk about that night — about evacuating, about the uncertainty we all felt — we’re here for them,” Smith said. “We all had to evacuate. We all shared that moment of not knowing what had happened to our neighborhoods. This space has become a place to share those experiences, but also to find something happy and positive that’s come out of it.”

For McCormack, art’s ability to heal extends beyond aesthetics.

“I think art plays an interesting and profound role in the community’s healing,” McCormack said. “Sometimes it addresses social, political, or environmental themes directly, but it can also work on a deeper, unconscious level. An image, like a phoenix, can resonate with people in ways they might not fully understand but still feel deeply.”

Art, McCormack said, offers a unique way to process emotions.

“It can evoke recognition, release, or connection — things that nothing else can quite do,” he said. “Once a piece of art is out in the world, it becomes part of the fabric of our society, influencing the collective psyche.”

Arts Off Center is open 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday and noon-5 p.m. Sunday. The gallery’s official opening celebration is Jan. 18. For more information, visit artsoffcenter.org.