CITY OF NEWBURGH — Gerardo Castro has never set off fire alarms in pursuit of his fire-inspired art, but he has burned himself many times.

Castro’s “Fire & Indigo” series explores the power of fire and its dualism as a constructive and destructive force, he explained Saturday afternoon during the seventh annual Newburgh Open Studios event.

The event continues Sunday with more than 100 artists at 28 locations.

The free, self-guided tour was organized by Castro and Michael Gabor, co-owners of Newburgh Art Supply on Grand Street, where maps of this year’s studios are available.

Castro’s work includes his body burned into a specific type of oil paper, the only kind he found that could withstand fire long enough to create art. The art also required Castro to cut a silhouette of his body out of steel, which he blow-torches and presses to the oil paper, a technique he likened to print-making.

Castro opened Newburgh Art Supply with Gabor about nine years ago. Gabor said the closest art supply stores were in Poughkeepsie, New Paltz or New York City.

“Not only did we see a need, but we wanted to grow the arts community,” Gabor said.

After creating the Newburgh Open Studios tour in 2011, the arts community in the region has grown, drawing more artists to Newburgh, Gabor said.

Gabor remembers the arts community from 1979 to 1986 in SoHo, having been an artist there himself. When manufacturing left New York City, artists moved into empty warehouses, which Gabor described as “not a place you’d hang out.”

“In the Hudson Valley, this is the closest thing I’ve felt to an artists’ community since then,” he said.

Photographer Shari Diamond showed off her work with four others at an open home on DuBois Street. All five of them moved to Newburgh from New York City.

Originally, Diamond moved from the city to Beacon, but she moved again three years ago, realizing that the rent was cheaper and Newburgh had “a lot more potential than Beacon.”

Another artist new to the area is Crystal Wagner, who quit her job as a print-making professor to pursue her art full-time.

In July, she moved to Newburgh specifically for her studio space: 4,000 square feet on Johnes Street.

“I’m really surprised actually. I never realized the artistic community in Newburgh,” she said.

Wagner creates sculptures that mimic both man-made and biological structures, describing her work as “both familiar and foreign.”

She has created large-scale installation art, including a piece done in Viacom’s office in Times Square and a structure that wraps around a building in Lodz, Poland.

In her opinion, the art community in Newburgh will only drive the city forward.

“When you have artists in a community, you start to grow in ways you never expected,” she said.

For Castro, the tour shows the importance of the arts, including how the arts can empower a community and inspire growth.

“Arts are transformative for community,” Castro said.

And Newburgh isn’t changing, it’s transforming, he said.

aspadaro@th-record.com