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https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/ba18a96a-df8a-4855-8b97-2fcffbee1483/CHIRP-VTA21_210712_000096.jpeg Destruction of the Land | Destruction of the People https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/20caa0d2-bec1-48d4-a0fd-d8b4421dee3c/CHIRP-VTA21_210712_000118.jpeg Destruction of the Land | Destruction of the People https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/02fd6019-324f-456a-acee-71bc1b07d028/CHIRP-VTA21_210712_000143.jpeg Destruction of the Land | Destruction of the People https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/c4850977-1a2c-41da-ab85-093669b3975d/CHIRP-VTA21_210712_000151.jpeg Destruction of the Land | Destruction of the People https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/ddd0f725-3b8b-45c2-9e19-d85ce50ddf37/CHIRP-VTA21_210712_000160.jpeg Destruction of the Land | Destruction of the People https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/b9a08baf-56b5-4baa-a7a8-cab694b1fbdf/CHIRP-VTA21_210712_000171.jpeg Destruction of the Land | Destruction of the People https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/78e02ee5-e241-4545-81ac-428627e35080/CHIRP-VTA21_210712_000219.jpeg Destruction of the Land | Destruction of the People https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/2bc6a7e4-c24d-46bf-8b33-81946c033616/CHIRP-VTA21_210712_000093.jpeg Destruction of the Land | Destruction of the People https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/b4eb41ca-5652-4634-9522-5eddb28b1fc7/CHIRP-VTA21_210712_000038.jpeg Destruction of the Land | Destruction of the People https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/51a350f9-8419-412a-8032-03977b23ecf0/VTA2021-art-andres-amador.jpg Destruction of the Land | Destruction of the People https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/7921f9d2-5c51-4761-84cd-4198b9deb68b/CHIRP-VTA21_210712_000015.jpeg Destruction of the Land | Destruction of the People https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/b55700a3-1b48-4620-8016-84c97d926599/IMG_7189.jpg Destruction of the Land | Destruction of the People https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/b90c8b11-308b-4667-9fb4-10125761bbba/VTA2021-art-Story%2Bof%2BOak_%2Bweb.jpg Destruction of the Land | Destruction of the People "Story of Oak" Jennifer Rain Crosby, jenniferraincrosby.com, Handcrafted oak gall inks and egg tempera paints on paper, 22x30” _________________________________________ The Nisenan lived in harmony with the land for thousands of years before settlers came to California. They cared for the oak groves whose acorns provided a substantial part of their diet. When gold was discovered, immigrant miners and settlers flooded the Nisenan territory, cutting down the trees for lumber, flumes, and for building towns. The loss of the land and the oaks was devastating for the Nisenan. It is my hope that in the near future the Nisenan will regain Federal Recognition, revive their Culture and restore harmony with the land. Special note: The paint and ink in this painting was collected locally and prepared by the artist. The gold and purple-grey tones were made from oak galls. The orange tone was made from earth pigment from the ‘diggins’ in an egg tempera paint. The iridescent gold was made by adding powdered mica to the egg tempera. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/3fb6b009-cf62-491f-a454-a9032aedc6f8/VTA-art-2021-JoseD.jpg Destruction of the Land | Destruction of the People "Last Harvest" Jose Dominguez , thebuilders.tumblr.com, Oil on Canvas , 36x48” _________________________________________ This piece, “last harvest” is a still life of objects that symbolize colonization and the destruction of the land and the Indigenous people that lived here. The oak is depicted as a freshly cut stump by a modern chainsaw which sits on its surface, demonstrating the destruction of old growth oaks that were centuries old. By cutting down so many old growth forests not only did the Nisenan lose the food they provided, but nature lost its unique original architecture. A good portion of their diet consisted of acorns. In “History of Us” Richard B Johnson explains that an average adult would consume roughly 500-1000 lbs of acorns a year and Nevada City would need about twelve thousand producing oak trees to feed the village. The baskets allude to the people of this region that skillfully crafted them. Many of the creators of the baskets are no longer here, but their descendants still remain. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/327aa16f-b8d1-4e92-a6bb-bae237afc429/VTA2021-Weit%2C%2BSimone%2Bweb.jpg Destruction of the Land | Destruction of the People "Reciprocity" Simone Star, simonestar.com, Acrylic, Oil, and Gold Leaf, 16x20” __________________________________________ Prior to colonization and genocide, the Nisenan people lived in reciprocity and balance with the natural world. Historical depictions and representations of Nevada County glorify the “Gold Rush” culture while ignoring the violence committed by white colonizers towards both the land, animals, and original inhabitants. This piece seeks to depict the contrast between the ways that the Nisenan people lived in sustainable and harmonious relationship with the land, and the exploitation and brutality of the gold rush. On one side the image depicts an open hand in an act of giving and receiving as it touches the arc of a clear ‘Uba (Yuba) river filled with abundant gold. The other side of the image portrays a closed fist grabbing at the last remaining gold in a polluted river. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/620e7456-4474-4fa0-91e0-18583f517c5b/yubaart-VTA-2021.jpg Destruction of the Land | Destruction of the People "The Land Is The Gold" Jessa Hurst & Mira Clark , miraclark.com, Acrylic and Food Wrappers on Canvas, 36x48” _________________________________________ This piece is about the exploitation of the land for profit instead of seeing it for its intrinsic beauty and value. The Nisenan people, had a very different view of, and relationship to the environment here. Mining the sacred ‘Uba, “Yuba” for its gold was a colonial settler mindset. This piece is meant to not only bring awareness to the way the land has been mistreated in the past, it also symbolizes the way in which more awareness is needed today with how we are relating to the land, animals, water, and specifically the Yuba. The Yuba river has become a hotspot for much tourism and social interaction. It is important to be aware of how we interact with this land as we visit the Yuba. We created this piece as a ritual and a prayer that people who visit the Yuba do so with mindfulness and respect, leaving no trace and taking care of this beautiful watershed. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/9ecec23b-24c8-415c-90b6-71d659ec574d/VTA2021-Doris-Tribalmember.jpg Destruction of the Land | Destruction of the People "Aunt Doris" Leilani Webb, Watercolor on Paper, 16x20” _________________________________________ Second eldest of the six “Rose” girls. Doris Rose is featured here to celebrate her life as an honored Elder of the Nevada City Rancheria Nisenan. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/474683fd-8092-477e-8683-dbebdf44d201/Jarod-Kane-VTA2021.jpg Destruction of the Land | Destruction of the People "Blood In The Water " Jarod Kane, Instagram: @jarodkane, Acrylic on Wood Panel, 24x30” _________________________________________ This piece represents the meeting of two opposing perspectives; value of the environment above all, versus the value of environmental exploitation. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/0188d1ba-9b97-4ce5-b2c0-bcaffb269404/VTA2021-ubaseo-art-exhibit.jpg Destruction of the Land | Destruction of the People "Real Value" Mira Clark, miraclark.com, Sand from the Yuba River, Gold Acorn, Gold Pan __________________________________________ What is truly valuable? How do we determine the value of the Earth? The oak trees provided the majority of calories for the Nisenan People. The value of the land, the forest, and the health of our natural environments should be prioritized. These resources are Sacred because they sustain all life. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/5157b4a8-c2a8-4ccc-8103-ae9500cb94f6/Lori_VTA2021.jpg Destruction of the Land | Destruction of the People ‘estom yanim Lori Lachman, lorilachman.smugmug.com, 18x24” __________________________________________ This sunset photo exemplifies another aspect of this year’s theme, Destruction of the Land | Destruction of the People. ‘estom yanim is the place all life comes from and where the Nisenan go when they die, before finishing the journey in the Milky Way. The most Sacred of places has been privately owned since the 1850s and remains inaccessible to the Nisenan people. This is a prime example of the ongoing destruction of Culture, experience by the Nisenan. Regardless of continued efforts toward Cultural revitalization the inability to access this Sacred place and the inability to burn the dead stand as firm physical deterrents to our people and our Culture. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/27e935f9-6821-4e20-9bdf-e95e737c1197/AkimAginsky21-1024.jpg Destruction of the Land | Destruction of the People " ‘ustomah reborn " Rama Cryer, Instagram: @old.oak.flow Mixed Media, Wood burning, Acrylic, Ink 30x18” _________________________________________ ‘ustomah, Nevada City, is a land once held by many animals, such as the condor and the elk, and beings, many of which are no longer here. Take a walk down the grassy hills as they once were, or perhaps will be, when the original Indigenous caretakers set the land free. Nisenan place names: daspah = Grass Valley, 'ustomah = Nevada City, nak nak = Camptonville, kai'em pakan = Rough & Ready https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/761d2c8e-2fd5-4df4-8aac-04a8f9a7a8c6/AkimAginsky21-1049.jpg Destruction of the Land | Destruction of the People "The Land Is The Gold" Jessa Hurst & Mira Clark, miraclark.com Food Wrappers on Wood with Epoxy Resin 16x24” __________________________________________ This piece is about the exploitation of the land for profit instead of seeing it for its intrinsic beauty and value. The Nisenan people, had a very different view of, and relationship to the environment here. Mining the sacred ‘Uba, “Yuba” for its gold was a colonial settler mindset. This piece is meant to not only bring awareness to the way the land has been mistreated in the past, it also symbolizes the way in which more awareness is needed today with how we are relating to the land, animals, water, and specifically the Yuba. The Yuba river has become a hotspot for much tourism and social interaction. It is important to be aware of how we interact with this land as we visit the Yuba. We created this piece as a ritual and a prayer that people who visit the Yuba do so with mindfulness and respect, leaving no trace and taking care of this beautiful watershed. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/be5a3e5a-3588-4958-a7fe-cbccc2282d3f/Andres1.jpg Destruction of the Land | Destruction of the People "Washed Away" Andrés Amador, AndresAmadorArts.com, Mixed, Natural Materials, Photography, Video 24”x36” ___________________________________________ In this artwork a traditional Nisenan basket-weaving motif is painted with clay onto a granite slab on the bank of the Yuba river, symbolizing the connection of earth and the Native people. The painting gets washed away by a pump fire extinguisher and a bucket using water from the Yuba, reproducing the total collapse of Culture and environmental systems through the destruction caused by mining (in this case hydraulic mining) to the land and the people. Watch a video of the artwork being washed away. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/b2c4a134-6468-4447-9e6a-43c8e1257c4a/Andres2.jpg Destruction of the Land | Destruction of the People "Washed Away" Andrés Amador, AndresAmadorArts.com, Mixed, Natural Materials, Photography, Video 24”x36” ___________________________________________ In this artwork a traditional Nisenan basket-weaving motif is painted with clay onto a granite slab on the bank of the Yuba river, symbolizing the connection of earth and the Native people. The painting gets washed away by a pump fire extinguisher and a bucket using water from the Yuba, reproducing the total collapse of Culture and environmental systems through the destruction caused by mining (in this case hydraulic mining) to the land and the people. Watch a video of the artwork being washed away. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/3ec80b14-2a3c-47bd-b1e8-f92cb8a5734f/Andres3.jpg Destruction of the Land | Destruction of the People "Washed Away" Andrés Amador, AndresAmadorArts.com, Mixed, Natural Materials, Photography, Video 24”x36” ___________________________________________ In this artwork a traditional Nisenan basket-weaving motif is painted with clay onto a granite slab on the bank of the Yuba river, symbolizing the connection of earth and the Native people. The painting gets washed away by a pump fire extinguisher and a bucket using water from the Yuba, reproducing the total collapse of Culture and environmental systems through the destruction caused by mining (in this case hydraulic mining) to the land and the people. Watch a video of the artwork being washed away. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/c75bbce7-a9af-4f52-bc58-bbc73e925547/AkimAginsky21-1004.jpg Destruction of the Land | Destruction of the People "What Remains" Kavi Amador, Colored Pencils & Watercolor, 10x12” _________________________________________ Seven year old Kavi visited two locally well known locations: Malakoff Diggins and Hirschman's Pond and drew his impressions. Both are locations radically altered during the mining days. Each is beautiful in its own way, a beauty sullied only by the knowledge of how they arrived at their current form. “At Hirschman’s I saw a spot that looked like where the cliff was blasted away. The cliff of the other side was bare and looked exactly like it looks at Malakoff. There are lots of people at Malakoff and they walk all over. At Hirschman’s people only walk on the trails and more has grown back. Both places are beautiful even though they are destroyed. What I saw inspired me and I felt determined to finish this project.” - Kavi Amador https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/da062d77-85bd-46f3-b790-69deaaf8e1aa/AkimAginsky21-1011.jpg Destruction of the Land | Destruction of the People "What Remains" Kavi Amador, Colored Pencils & Watercolor, 10x12” _________________________________________ Seven year old Kavi visited two locally well known locations: Malakoff Diggins and Hirschman's Pond and drew his impressions. Both are locations radically altered during the mining days. Each is beautiful in its own way, a beauty sullied only by the knowledge of how they arrived at their current form. “At Hirschman’s I saw a spot that looked like where the cliff was blasted away. The cliff of the other side was bare and looked exactly like it looks at Malakoff. There are lots of people at Malakoff and they walk all over. At Hirschman’s people only walk on the trails and more has grown back. Both places are beautiful even though they are destroyed. What I saw inspired me and I felt determined to finish this project.” - Kavi Amador https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/649b1f9e-9d7a-40ff-a28d-3b9d3414f013/AkimAginsky21-0992.jpg Destruction of the Land | Destruction of the People "Look Around" Teighlor Renee Anderson, Watercolor and Ink, A Continuing Series , 12x9” __________________________________________ In history books native people are often referred to in past-tense, though they are still here. Look around. Notice the impact of colonization. Notice the people, plants and animals around you. The Nisenan lived amongst many beings that endured the hardships that came during the Gold Rush, and they themselves did as well. The local language was nearly lost, though here you see plants and animals that persevered, as the resilient Nisenan people of nisem k'auwak' did, with the name they’ve known long before settlers walked this land. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/cf018dac-f850-4875-8361-c475d1fad141/AkimAginsky21-0988.jpg Destruction of the Land | Destruction of the People "Look Around" Teighlor Renee Anderson, Watercolor and Ink, A Continuing Series , 12x9” __________________________________________ In history books native people are often referred to in past-tense, though they are still here. Look around. Notice the impact of colonization. Notice the people, plants and animals around you. The Nisenan lived amongst many beings that endured the hardships that came during the Gold Rush, and they themselves did as well. The local language was nearly lost, though here you see plants and animals that persevered, as the resilient Nisenan people of nisem k'auwak' did, with the name they’ve known long before settlers walked this land. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/2b4568a9-a704-4c79-aa21-b88f9b799366/VTA2021-art-poisonoak-Trenne.jpg Destruction of the Land | Destruction of the People "Look Around" Teighlor Renee Anderson, Watercolor and Ink, A Continuing Series , 12x9” __________________________________________ In history books native people are often referred to in past-tense, though they are still here. Look around. Notice the impact of colonization. Notice the people, plants and animals around you. The Nisenan lived amongst many beings that endured the hardships that came during the Gold Rush, and they themselves did as well. The local language was nearly lost, though here you see plants and animals that persevered, as the resilient Nisenan people of nisem k'auwak' did, with the name they’ve known long before settlers walked this land. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/3158df6c-d83e-49ca-b85e-a6cea0b5bbec/Rachel.jpg Destruction of the Land | Destruction of the People "Birdie" Rachel Rein & Her Daughter, Digital Drawing, 12 x 12" ___________________________________________ This piece uses the likeness of Tribal Elder Alberta “Birdie” Rose Gallez. The format evokes American advertisements, imagining an alternate reality in which the Indigenous Nisenan people are thriving under capitalism. While many oral traditions remain, much of Nisenan traditional practices have been disrupted by colonialism, mirroring the loss of Native fire management techniques. Today Nisenan territory is under risk of catastrophic fire due to the cessation of centuries-old methods of Indigenous forest management. This loss parallels the loss of tradition and land, and the personal wealth her family members could have reaped from them. Birdie serves as a metaphor, highlighting the importance of oral history like those she passed on. The stylized sketching and colors of her skin belie the problematic nature of female product advertising icons, from the Land O Lakes "Indian Maiden" to Aunt Jemima. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/1891409a-4791-4e26-a632-02739e912830/webHistorical%2BTrauma-web.jpg Destruction of the Land | Destruction of the People "Historical Trauma" Ron Kenedi, Oil paint on canvas, ronkenediart.com, 36X48" __________________________________________ Historical trauma or unresolved grief from massive losses of lives, land, and Culture by American Indigenous peoples from European contact and colonization is the topic of this painting. Using color, (the burnt red at the heart of the work), important animals (birds of prey), natural elements (broken tree branch) and modern, local art (cement cast sculpture) I hope to convey the feeling of how a catastrophic event in the past can negatively influence generations in the present and future. The event, portrayed on the bottom of the painting, is the California gold rush, which destroyed life and Culture of our local Nisenan people and is symbolized by the central images of the broken tree branch sitting on a red field, surrounded by birds of prey. A note of hope is the unbroken sculpture. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/e96131ca-331e-4af5-a37a-e6c491ab57c1/AkimAginsky21-1031.jpg Destruction of the Land | Destruction of the People "Northbound" Chula Linda Gemignani, Instagram @earthlyflight, Acrylic on Canvas, 24X30” __________________________________________ North home of the ancestors, a symbol of perseverance. We are all headed Northbound to be with the ancestors. Hourglass symbolizes the confines and pressure of time for a woman fighting for change and Tribal recognition. It takes a strong will to manifest dreams before the hour of our final breath when we become the memories of our manifestations. Shelly Covert A doula helping the rebirth of her invisible Tribe. A steward, reconnecting her non-native community with their sense of place. Pileated Woodpeckers Ancestors supporting and protecting her Journey. Burning hu and shacks in memory of the original descendants of this land whose bodies and homes were burned in ceremony when deceased. Bullard’s Bar Dam and reservoir built over the Sacred burning grounds of many Nisenan lifetimes. Disregarding the life of salmon and life of the Tribe. Witnessing a dam invasively cutting off living waters and so big that it makes a bear look small - we must remember to adjust our perspective, know our place, and remember the ones who came before us. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/389b97f4-7df1-4738-9824-a7e96949d0a1/AkimAginsky21-1044.jpg Destruction of the Land | Destruction of the People "Earth Guardians" Jenny Hale, jennyhaledesign.com, Watercolor painting on paper, 46x34” ___________________________________________ This watercolor started out as a study for the digital piece “Earth Guardians” But then the guardians just wanted me to finish it and who am I to deny them? The relationship between the photographic image and the painted image is a bridge between digital and analog cultures. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/6c246894-e6d6-4ffe-a9ba-684345d3aa31/Earth%2BGuardians%2BFinal%2BWed%2Bcopy.jpg Destruction of the Land | Destruction of the People "Earth Guardians" Jenny Hale, jennyhaledesign.com, Watercolor Painting, Original and Historic Photos, Digital Collage, 36X22” _____________________________________________ Nisenan still hold the memory that the Earth is our home and our source. For every action there is a reaction and humans are not exempt from this natural system. The Earth Guardians hold up their hearts in protest. Their hands are emblazoned with Ancient symbols found on petroglyphs. Hydraulic Mining began in the Sierra Nevada in the 1850s. All the life in entire forests and mountains, was washed away in the pursuit of gold. The mineral spirits in the stones say STOP – WAKE UP - to our interdependence with life in all its forms or you will not survive. In 1884, one of the first environmental laws in the United States was passed to ban the practice of hydraulic mining. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/80c15c44-5882-4e95-88b5-41e81f583ffa/AkimAginsky21-1017.jpg Destruction of the Land | Destruction of the People "A Choice Between Two Worlds" Alyssa Walz, Pencil & Ink , 11x14" __________________________________________ As this year’s exhibition is themed "Destruction of the Land, Destruction of the People," I thought it would be fitting to highlight an issue that people in the Grass Valley area should know about. Currently, a Canadian mining company seeks to reopen the Idaho Maryland Mine, invading the lives of countless precious wildlife, local residents, and refreshing the wound to Nisenan culture and land with the threat of a revitalized gold rush. This piece depicts two different versions for the future of the Nisenan land and the environment surrounding the Idaho Maryland Mine. Centered on the mine silo at the intersection of Brunswick and East Bennett roads, the left side shows how reopening the mine could devastate the air, land, and animal life, whereas the right side shows plant and animal life flourishing should we leave it on its current course to revival. We must not allow history to repeat itself with another destructive gold rush. We must defend our environment and stop the reopening of the Idaho Maryland Mine. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/a74177c6-c6c1-4b70-b487-bfce13ee97f9/Interwoven-BishopR-VTA2021jpg.jpg Destruction of the Land | Destruction of the People "Interwoven" Bishop Randall, Instagram: @bishop3333, 3D Lampworked, Sandcarved Glass, 6x5" __________________________________________ The design of this piece is replicated from one of the only surviving baskets in Shelly Covert’s family. The inherently clear nature of the medium (glass) is used to represent the loss of culture, language, and continuity, taking on a ghost-like quality. Visibility, or the lack thereof, is brought to light- made visible again. Its recreation stands to bring form, visibility, and magic back to the Nisenan Tribe. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/e4702dd2-d577-466f-a29a-fa1906dd2633/AkimAginsky21-0997.jpg Destruction of the Land | Destruction of the People "Apocalypse" Tanner Connor, Acrylic Painting, 12×16" ___________________________________________ Mankind has been destroying the Earth for centuries, but not to the scale it is now. With the advancement in our technology over the past 100 years, and the population growing 7 fold, we are polluting the air, water, and land to extremes, killing thousands of creatures on land and our waters daily. With population growth so high, man is destroying so many crucial forests, animals, and insects in its wake to develop land. I paint primarily abstracts, with a variety of techniques. My painting is a representation of the Earth exploding while ghost silhouettes of Nisenan People and animals native to Nevada County look on. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/d499adcc-746d-40b9-8831-50f6e0189c2a/NHD2017.png https://www.ubaseo.org/iii-wpa daily 0.75 2026-07-23 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/1654973611310-70Q9MMM7CJ7V5WSMV6ZX/Screen+Shot+2022-06-11+at+1.48.30+PM.png III & WPA https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/88701936-736d-4003-8c7a-441757d8cd88/Erased+Uba+Seo+Gallery+Nisenan+Nevada+City+Dawn+of+the+world+exhbit+indians+irony+and+identity.jpg III & WPA https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/598f5cc5-4f2e-4ef5-97ba-14cf4127f51a/IMG_7699.jpg III & WPA https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/3ba25b2a-f2a4-4517-ab15-43c07017282b/IMG_7689.jpg III & WPA 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Ink on Paper, 6x4" __________________________ A Nisenan Elder said to her granddaughter, “There were once flowers that grew upon the ground like lace." As the grips of the gold rush and colonization tightened the Nisenan were faced with the devastating destruction to the land that surrounded them. They felt and continue to feel the loss of many sacred species of plants and animals. This erasure of species led to a significant hole in Nisenan Culture. The extent of this erasure remains unknown - with the forced taking of their language many species and names go untold. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/f730b82b-30cf-4d8e-b01b-bf1ed6d86402/OpeningVTA2022.jpg Perspectives on Erasure https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/97c93194-dc03-4dad-b2a5-ba5d5f2497b1/SeanS-CoconRaddle-web.jpeg Perspectives on Erasure This important Cocoon Rattle was created within the appropriate Nisenan Tribal Traditions and will one day be used in ceremony. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/a62776c4-a3c0-4405-abfd-5ad71ebfaa21/OpeningNight-VTA-2022.jpg Perspectives on Erasure https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/1667264867459-IF6F50UPV2PQ8YYU8DEH/BishopR-VTA2022-web.jpg Perspectives on Erasure "wilyhaj" Bishop Randall Instagram: @bishop3333 Lampworked Sandcarved Glass, _________________________ This is a representation of a wososo, a very special tool used by jomim nishenam. wososo is created with wo’soso from a local moth. k’omi were used inside to make the rattling sound. --- wososo: Doctor's cocoon rattle, wo’soso: cocoon, wilyhaj: shake, k’omi: seed, jomim nishenam: Nisenan Doctor, https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/9292a43b-d12a-4cdc-bb0f-3a1ad2e0acfd/VTA-2022-openingnight.jpg Perspectives on Erasure https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/a0a86f68-0073-427e-90f0-0fd1a3278ae2/LORENA_R.R-web.jpeg Perspectives on Erasure "Lorena and Eddy" R. Rehrer Digital Prints on Canvas, 12x12" _________________________ As the Tribe begins to reemerge aspects of Nisenan Culture we encounter the depths of Earth's ill health. The birds and animals necessary in the creation of traditional Regalia are as endangered as the Nisenan themselves. For now, we use art and our artist friends, to envision our future. These are portraits of two Tribal Members in traditional Flicker Regalia. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/1667264368773-4IC75VN4M8FZTGTC4469/Saxon-OpeningNightVTA-2022.jpg Perspectives on Erasure https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/97297b7b-9338-4002-b20e-cb239340e2e6/EDDY_R.R+1-web.jpeg Perspectives on Erasure "Lorena and Eddy" R. Rehrer Digital Prints on Canvas, 12x12" _________________________ As the Tribe begins to reemerge aspects of Nisenan Culture we encounter the depths of Earth's ill health. The birds and animals necessary in the creation of traditional Regalia are as endangered as the Nisenan themselves. For now, we use art and our artist friends, to envision our future. These are portraits of two Tribal Members in traditional Flicker Regalia. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/a9292406-cf30-427c-9f2c-1032621a66eb/Shelly-VTA-ubaseo-2022.jpg Perspectives on Erasure https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/2cf1d5ca-1459-41a9-bfdc-078c6788d4ec/Mira-VTA2022-web.jpeg Perspectives on Erasure "Nisenan Healing Basket" Mira Clark, existinspired.com, Digital Illustration, 9x20" _________________________ When one was sick a Nisenan doctor would use a "medicine rock" to make the person well. The person reclined on the rock and the doctor would pass a basket over their body. Inside the basket was a white feather. When the basket passed across the afflicted part of the body the feather would change from white to gray or black. The doctor would then administer healing to that part of the body. There are several medicine rocks that were used by local Nisenan, each by a different healer. The impacts of erasure include the loss of thousands of years of accumulated knowledge in the healing arts, spiritual arts, medicine, tools, foods, and relationships with this place. The Elders were adamant to not reveal the species of bird that gave the healing feather for fear they would be hunted to extinction. Pockets of knowledge remain in the Tribe, but without the entirety of the Cultural context that once was, how can these Ancient practices ever truly be revived? https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/78d1a6ed-24b6-4084-9d09-b853c684be87/jenC_TribalmembersVTA+2022.jpg Perspectives on Erasure https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/1667265015388-EKS4EMXV4DIBLZA1GUGO/Mira-photo-VTA-2022.jpg Perspectives on Erasure ‘estom yanim, Mira Clark, existinspired.com, Photograph, 12x12" _________________________ 'estom yanim the Sacred Mountain is featured numerously in this VTA exhibit because of its importance in Nisenan cosmology. In Nisenan cosmology, it is the origin of all life and the place where Nisenan Spirits go when they die. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/0e7bf02f-29ee-46f3-9491-6136a6e427c7/VTA2022-opening-night-frontwindow.jpg Perspectives on Erasure https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/eff132e0-b341-43b6-975f-9947a383af6f/JESSA-Fabi-VTA2022-web.jpeg Perspectives on Erasure "Momin Nisenan" Jessa Hurst & Fabienne Annick, @lunardrip, Digital art, Mixed Media 16x20” _________________________ This piece explores the Nisenan Mermaid knowledge. Tribal Member Shelly Covert shared, "There were many stories of one-legged people with long hair who lived in deep holes in the water. There was one known to be living in Wolf Creek. These beings were described as having one foot and long hair and another that had a fin and could change faces. Nisenan were warned, 'Don’t stare at the water ripples ... or the Momim Nisenan will pull you in, and drown you.'" In one story, two young Nisenan were fishing in a deep hole and pulled one of them out. They wanted to keep him, but he wanted to be put back in the water. He told them it would never rain again if they didn’t put him back. Unbelieving, they brought the Momim Nisenan to the headman and asked to keep him. The headman said, "No, put him back." So they did... https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/518c8f7d-cad7-4556-ad61-66c64229e7ed/ShellyC-VTA-openingtalks-2022.jpg Perspectives on Erasure https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/9c0a2d16-cce5-4e17-8aa6-6234d97f6102/solim+ni_Finished+Mural-web.png Perspectives on Erasure "Nisenan Mural: Solim Ni - I Sing" Muralist: Nikila Badua | Tribal Advisor: Shelly Covert Sponsor: Haven Caravelli, Assisting Artist: Miles Toland, Youth Artist: Naomi Alani Stewart Medium: Montana Spray Paint & Acrylics on Concrete Wall Size: 25ft x 55ft _________________________ This mural features local Nisenan Tribal member Jennifer Plunkett. As she sings out to the baskets beneath the sacred Black Oak tree, her song takes on the ghostly shape of a basket pattern used by Nisenan Ancestors, while the flicker feather Regalia comes from the Earth and entwines itself around her. Culture is embedded in the Nisenan people in this way. Now is the time to sing... You are invited to go see this mural in person. Location: 309 Neal St. Grass Valley, CA https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/b75bc3c1-7c85-441c-aaed-2d6329aa37c7/NisenanTribalMembers-VTA2022.jpg Perspectives on Erasure https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/1667265058965-5UDHW66KJO17WZMRBXFC/Chloe-VTA2022-web.jpg Perspectives on Erasure "Rebirth Through Grief" Chloe Young Watercolor, red dirt, local plants, mixed media 18x24" _________________________ This piece represents the Cry Ceremony an ancient Nisenan ritual. This ceremony is a ritual death mourning to grieve the passing of a loved one. The ceremony lasted for several days and nights. For the entirety of the ceremony, people would sing and cry to release their grief. Women close to the deceased would burn off their hair down to the scalp and adorn the ash mixed with pine pitch on their faces, chests, shoulders, and arms. The person remained in mourning until the mixture wore off naturally. After death the Spirit of the deceased travels to the sacred mountain ‘estom yanim (marysville buttes). Here they eat their first Spirit food and see their deceased relatives before traveling on to the Milky Way. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/c2e88f08-5ec7-46ac-add9-c8e9061fe979/Dutch-JenR-Openingnight.jpg Perspectives on Erasure https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/1667265222698-CIRSPHCGQP44H1KNO1FS/Lori-VTA2022-web.jpg Perspectives on Erasure "The Medicine Rock" Lori Lachman Lachman.smugmug.com Multi-medium photo, paint, collage 11x14" _________________________ The medicine rock is an important tool for Nisenan healers. We have used the white Egret to symbolically represent the white feather that assisted in identifying a place of sickness in the body. Many tools used by healers no longer exist inside the Tribal families and many of the materials needed to create the tools are inaccessible or completely gone from the landscape. Western medicine continues to be ineffective in the Nisenan Tribal community. If we can heal the land, we will heal the people. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/90ba82fd-10f2-472a-9fd0-090768d76451/frontwindowsignVTA2022.png Perspectives on Erasure https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/1667265941665-0DIF4XD7Y6Y7FF1SD2HX/Lorena-VTA2022-web.jpg Perspectives on Erasure "Grandpa Dutch" Lorena Davis (Nisenan Tribal Council Member) Pencil and Colored Pencils on Paper 12x15" _________________________ My father was taken from his home to the Indian Boarding Schools when he was 5 years old. He was robbed of his childhood, family, and home, but mostly of his identity. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/a0f369ad-0fcc-4a74-9146-71ed22d43019/TM-sign-VTA2022.png Perspectives on Erasure https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/1667265876845-MEN894R4RJVUEY1FVXRF/Alyssa-VTA2022-web.jpg Perspectives on Erasure "Grandpa Dutch Rose" Alyssa Walz Pencil & Ink on Paper 10x7” _________________________ This portrait is a depiction of Dutch Rose. He was the father of 6 girls and he was one of 13 children. Elders are highly regarded for their experience and knowledge of the landscape which is passed on from elders for millennia. He was a peacekeeper and bridge builder between Nisenan families and settling families. He was kind and friendly and believed in being able to find solutions to conflict. Traditionally, the Nisenan sought out these qualities in leaders and family heads. In negotiations, family heads were important advocates for making sure all perspectives and voices were heard. Dutch was also a survivor of the Indian Boarding School System and he bore those scars throughout his lifetime, trying hard not to pass them on to his daughters. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/11e1a055-c8d3-4ef0-867c-dadf20b66edb/windowbanner-vta2022.png Perspectives on Erasure https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/6dc1ac87-19ee-42f2-bdfa-90863d03018d/Brittney-VTA2022.jpg Perspectives on Erasure "Forgotten Feather" Brittney Depew (Nisenan Tribal Member) Oak Cork from Berkeley State, Nails and Embroidery Thread _________________________ A feather floats, it doesn't fly Our people are here, we didn't die Like this feather, we are only forgotten, not gone Like this old Oak, the Nisenan live on https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/c10f6046-4dee-4748-bfd0-98188331911c/VTA2022ubaseogallery.jpg Perspectives on Erasure https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/a2e814e3-9a99-4478-be3a-b138c91ed0fe/Lorena-VTA2022.jpg Perspectives on Erasure "Aunty and Mom" Lorena Davis (Nisenan Tribal Council Member) Corn Husk Doll, Beeds, Thread, Pine needles. _________________________ When the Indian agents came to take my Mom away to the Indian Boarding School, she hid under Aunty's skirt. Instead of going to Boarding School, she was "spared," instead she worked alongside the other Indian people in the fields. Note: I respectfully borrow the Northeastern Indigenous People's tradition of making Corn Husk Dolls for my piece: In their story, Creator made corn husk doll very beautiful and she would spend all day looking at herself in the stream. Creator wanted her to play with the children, but she would get lost for hours looking at herself. So Creator took her face away, to take her vanity, and from then on she played with the children. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/93cff4f2-95cf-4ec0-b0cb-4b9126c49cdc/Mekdela-VTA2022-web.jpeg Perspectives on Erasure "wah wes’ nes - we will cry" Mekdela Maskal mekdelamaskal.com Foraged clay, wood 6’H x 18"W x 18"D _________________________ The Nisenan peoples' use of fire was quickly deemed unlawful by European settlers in the 1850s, and our modern and oversimplified story of fearing fire began. The impact of this on our living environment is evermore apparent and understood. Decades of unmanaged forests have created thick dry underbrush waiting for ignition - but what about the impact on Culture and spirit? The outlawing of fire also meant the taking of Nisenan central grief practices, where they would support the transformation of dead loved ones up into the afterlife. They burned them on a pyre. Their belongings were adorned on long poles. While crying and singing, all their belongings were fed into the pyre. By foraging, processing, sculpting, and pit firing clay from old mining sites, I sought to ask: How might ignoring death and grief contribute to Nisenan erasure? What can grief practices teach us about embracing challenging truths? How can these truths support us in repairing relationships and giving reparations? https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/0c4a4b60-a408-4757-b61e-b541b646b54a/Juli-VTA2022-web.jpeg Perspectives on Erasure "Reawakening" Juli Elin snow-broth.com Dried Native Plants and Cultivated Flowers 16x18” _________________________ There are very few remaining headpieces that were worn by the Nisenan Tribe. This piece combines elements found in rare imagery from multiple Nisenan headpieces along with Tribal memories from Elders, resulting in an artistic expression of Nisenan adornment. The “feathers” are deconstructed, dried native plants such as mugwort, saint john’s wort, and cedar, as well as flowers all cultivated on the artist’s farm on Cement Hill near the old Rancheria. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/1667493626702-AF89ER3RMYLMAE15YY0E/Indigo-VTA2022-web.jpg Perspectives on Erasure "saw’ saw" Indigo Donaldson Acrylic Paint Pencil, Charcoal Pencil, Natural Materials on Canvas 20x24" _________________________ The Nisenan used many native plants for healing. One of the lesser-known amazing healing plants is moss. In the Nisenan language, it is known as saw’ saw. Minerva was a beautiful Nisenan/Miwok Tribeswoman who knew the power of saw’ saw. She gathered it off the rocks and trees from the creek across from her house and made a medicinal concoction to help her family with health challenges. This moss was good for both mental health and inflammation. In this painting, I had the honor of bringing to life a depiction of Minerva, the moss, the creek, the rocks, and the trees where she gathered the healing saw’ saw right here in 'ustomah (nevada city) . https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/1667265984383-IT1Z4X8V4ESPIAIQKS0C/Rama-VTA2022-web.jpg Perspectives on Erasure "suku yaman" Rama Cryer Instagram @old.oak.flow Mixed media on Wood (acrylic, pen and ink, and wood burning) 17x17" _________________________ This excerpt is the tale of the lost but not forgotten devil dogs of dog mountain (now know as Mt. Diablo). This creature is one of many animals that have been erased from this land, and only remain in the stories of those who were here before. The word "devil" is a modern term and was not used by the Nisenan. The devil dogs of dog mountain: In the early time (they) saw dogs for the first time there. They rolled a big stone, and when (the grown dogs) ran after (it), they used to steal puppies. Hence the Nisenan call that “suku yaman” (Dog Mountain). Even now. There they caught dogs for the first time in the early days before the white man came; those were good dogs, long ago, hunting dogs; they bought dogs from one another for many abalone shells and beads, in the old days. On that mountain the Nisenan saw a devil, it always looked as if (he) was going across the mountain from the south side, when (he) went in there every day near sundown. The Nisenan talked about (it). As they did not believe one another, they went to sneak up to (the devil's habitat). They saw (him) arrive and go in when the sun was west. His horse and his saddle and bridle glittered. His eyes were like stars. The Nisenan feared him. Even now they are afraid of that mountain. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/1667493125842-RSNN38SK3Q5K21WGCVLQ/Saree-VTA2022-web.jpg Perspectives on Erasure "Rightful Return" Saree Robinson Sareerobinson.com Paper Collage on Wood 14x10.75" _________________________ In Nisenan tradition, when a person dies, their soul returns to 'estom yanim to transcend back to the Creator. For the children taken from the Tribe from 1850 - 1978 who were placed in the United States government-sanctioned Indian Boarding Schools, this afterlife ritual has been stolen. These children, close relatives of living Nisenan Tribal Members today, were never returned to their families nor their Ancestral Homeland. Their whereabouts remain a mystery, and their right of passage to 'estom yanim was forsaken. In this collage, I have depicted two small children on their rightful soul's journey to 'estom yanim. This artwork is dedicated to the children. May their souls be peaceful and free. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/1667266113530-DERQSWKAHYIDRD7C6SFH/Cindy-VTA2022-web.jpg Perspectives on Erasure “Keep Still and Be Quiet” Cindy Buero (Nisenan Tribal Member) Paper, Colored Pencils, Pens, Ink dye, Fabric, and Hand made Doll with Human Hair 13x 20” _________________________ "At the age of two, my mother was left without any family, completely alone. This was in 1923 in the town of Ione. A small family of two, a sister and brother, took my mother in and raised her. Mom would refer to them as Aunty and Uncle Sam, they were Southern Nisenan, Miwok, and Black. In 1925 the government sent Indian agents out to reservations to "gather up" Indian children and take them away to the Indian Boarding Schools and my mom was sure to go. Aunty yelled for Mom, "Ani 'To' O' Pe! Get under my skirt," then said "keep still and stay quiet" and with her baby doll, my mom did just that. Growing up, I heard this story numerous times but not until this project did I ever feel the story. I can't imagine the fear running through the two of them. If found, Mom would have been taken away, and because Aunty and Uncle Sam were not white, who knows what punishment they may have endured? Mom was not taken away to Boarding School on that day and Aunty probably felt a sense of victory. After that Mom traveled the fruit orchards with Aunty picking whatever was in season, Mom made five cents a day. Creating this piece, made me very emotional at times. It made me wish that I had paid more attention to Mom's stories. Mom was more than a book of knowledge, she was a library." https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/1667493166352-ZRV2VGJAPOBIXHE22MTK/Sarah-VTA2022-web.jpg Perspectives on Erasure " ‘ustomah - unburied" Sarah Thomas (Nisenan Tribal Council Member) Pencil and Charcoal on Paper 12x16” _________________________ A Nisenan Elder overlooks nevada city built on top of the Nisenan Village of ‘ustomah. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/1667493209239-SX0KULXB98BO9LJXRD9F/Brianna-VTA2022-web.jpg Perspectives on Erasure "For All the Gold in the World" Brianna French briannafrench.com Watercolor and gold leaf on clay board 24x36" _________________________ What does it mean for a landscape, a culture, a human, to be erased? What is the significance of being seen? What has been forgotten, ignored, and erased? What has been chosen instead? What is left? How can the invisible be seen and valued? Where is the reverence and compassion for what was, for what is, and for what comes? What is due, what is just, what is required for healing, for reparation, for protection? How can anger, and sorrow, and shame transform? What can they become? https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/1667493278912-62S7L2C7RHIX2ZKFGVPF/Debra-VTA2022-web.jpg Perspectives on Erasure "Slipping Away" Debra McBrien (Nisenan Tribal Member) Collage on Paper, with Colored Pencil 12x16” _________________________ The hourglass represents what has happened throughout time. The top of the hourglass represents the Nisenan world as they lived it. The bottom of the hourglass represents what is occurring now. The Indian falling and trying to catch his child represents the Nisenan trying to save their lives, their culture, and their identity, as wildfires are continuing the destruction of Nature and wildlife. The hands which hold an Indian's face represent hope to hold the Nisenan through community help and recognition. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/1667493321902-VSD78K9OIDOIWXIUI64Q/SarahC-VTA2022-web.jpg Perspectives on Erasure "wo • nom" Sarah Coleman colemanpaintings.com Acrylic on Wood Panel 18x24” _________________________ 'estom yanim is sacred to the Nisenan people. It is the source of all life and the place where the Spirit goes after death. The Nisenan refer to this place even today as their Sacred Mountain, where they will be for a time before returning to the Cosmos. The base of the Sacred Mountain holds an entrance, with a gatekeeper who will either let the Spirit in or turn it away to wander. If allowed in, the Spirit will eventually take to the stars and make its path to the Milky Way. This piece honors Nevada City Rancheria Tribal Member Ronald Clark. Ronny was the eldest son of Birdie, who was Dutch and Carmel's oldest daughter. Our memories of Ronald are of a silly and witty boy who was also quiet and contemplative. We miss him greatly. wo • nom - dead https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/1667493443029-NUQ53A50CM6LUGTYS4N2/Ursula-VTA2022-web.jpg Perspectives on Erasure "The Before Time" Ursula X Young, ursulaxyoung.com , Acrylic & Stain on Wood, 20x20” _________________________ This piece highlights the immense amount of Flora and Fauna that were lost or depleted right here in our region, and the forever changed landscape that the gold rush - "the great destruction" - left in its wake. The Nisenan people lived harmoniously for thousands of years on this land, and it took just a couple of generations to strip so much of that natural environment. Here, nevada city sits at the top of the painting - dark & foreboding - the landscape buried below like the roots of a tree exposing all that was lost: herds of wild elk, wolf, rattlesnakes, and condor - a time before. Also featured are the sierra buttes, large ponderosa, black oak, mugwort & service berries which were all of great significance to the Nisenan people. My intention was to create a dream-like piece showing an alternate universe - of the time before. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/1667493492478-3PP5F5J6BIE5MP026235/Maile-VTA2022-web.jpg Perspectives on Erasure "Imaginal Portrait: Calling them Home" Maile Claire, junipertreeoflife.com Graphite and Ink on Clayboard, 36x48” _________________________ In this imaginal portrait, Tribal Spokeswoman Shelly Covert, wears etched Eagle bone earrings, inspired by real 19th-century pieces “collected” directly from this region during the Voznesenskii Expedition: 1828-1841, and now held in the KunstKamera Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia. The pattern behind her head is from a family basket "collected" from pan pakan (lake wildwood) and held in a Harvard museum collection on the East Coast. The animal tracks reference species with personal meaning and power to Shelly. All these Cultural icons and animal beings have been scattered, erased, removed, or reduced from the land. But in the imaginal realm, the place of thought, dreams, yearning, magic, art, and the future, we can begin to dream everyone home. It is my hope that this piece in some sense rematriates lost things— connecting past and present, honoring Shelly’s unique role as a Culture keeper, land protector, and community builder in our unique town. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/1667493569886-BA76VVMI034WREH08MER/Ginger-VTA2022-web.jpg Perspectives on Erasure "Alone" Ginger Covert (Nisenan Elder and Tribal Council Member) Acrylic on Canvas 11x14” _________________________ “He is missing his freedom. Often wolves were part of the Nisenan family unit, and close companions, helping with hunting and securing food. Many of my relatives included wolves as part of their family.” - Ginger Covert https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/1667493098001-TC0OWHEVCPJCDC1EEVW9/JenniferC-VTA2022-web.jpg Perspectives on Erasure "Return" Jennifer Rain Crosby jenniferraincrosby.com Handcrafted oil paints on wood panel. Some colors were gathered locally, 72x40” _________________________ “Return” is a portrait of Nisenan Elder Dutch Rose. The Tribe requested that he be wearing California Condor Regalia. This is something denied to him in his lifetime but is possible now through the alchemy of vision, skill, materials, and intention. The making of this painting was a prayer for the Nisenan people. Dutch Rose stands with his feet in the land, rising up out of ‘estom yanim, the (marysville buttes). A California Condor flies overhead bringing the blessing of rain. As the Condor returns from the brink of extinction, may all Native California Tribes be returned to their rightful lands. May lost knowledge return through the Ancestors and the land to bring healing and purpose to all our people. May our youth hear their voices and be guided by their wisdom. *Note about local pigments Orange skin highlight: Yellow ocher heated in glass kiln Orange feather patterns: red/brown clay Red line over buttes: red clay https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/cb631799-f59f-410a-b3b6-ebd245ff9549/Amanda-VTA2022-web.jpeg Perspectives on Erasure "Rising From The Ashes" Amanda Ashley: missmoth.org & Brianna French: briannafrench.com _________________________ Plastisol screen print, glue chipped glass, 23k gold leaf, 12k white gold leaf, sterling silver leaf, abalone shell, oil-based enamel, and glitter on layered glass Special Thanks To Our Donors: Sepp Leaf, Moule Paint & Glass, Viking Sandblasting & Grass Valley Signs https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/764123d4-d175-4369-8273-848f0944eae6/Screen+Shot+2022-10-07+at+12.01.24+PM.png 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Time https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/44e9cf52-9db9-4885-bd22-60f897aaa43a/1913+Fed+Rec.jpg hamukum: Whispers Through Time https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/e40f8790-08ac-4304-a014-8e3f6e7d0ff8/1924+%2B+1934.jpg hamukum: Whispers Through Time https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/456eb0ba-8639-472e-8c3c-4b9d5700c020/1956+%2B+1965.jpg hamukum: Whispers Through Time https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/7dd602fa-4710-4d36-a7c2-a7173bf4c7f6/1978.jpg hamukum: Whispers Through Time https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/75728447-170c-4291-be52-399730f1bd4a/1978+American+Indian.jpg hamukum: Whispers Through Time https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/167f319a-5d69-45c0-a853-a173e9374ad6/Surviving+The+Tides.jpg hamukum: Whispers Through Time 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Image courtesy of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University, 2004.29.3904 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/1684777609600-VR6Y2U0SNBPM5CIAJR3G/portablegrindingstone-Nisenan-hamukumexhibit-2023ubaseo.jpg hamukum: Whispers Through Time Stone Grinding Bowl, These Traditional Grinding Bowls were portable and passed down within a family for countless generations. These bowls were sometimes broken and buried when their Nisenan companion died. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/1684774199270-73CWJIJL8VOZC44V8WKU/peabodyimage-2023exhbitubaseo.jpg hamukum: Whispers Through Time The name Old Curly associated with this photo most likely comes from the word kule, the Nisenan word for woman. This photo was taken at Pan Pakan (Anthony House which is now under Lake Wildwood). https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/d5b9f1a3-fe30-4c4b-955f-fdd57f66e264/yubaalive-andycerrona-2017.jpg hamukum: Whispers Through Time Yuba Alive CHIRP's VTA 2017 Collection, Andy Cerrona, cerronadesign.com, Digital Sketch, Celebrating the life-giving force of the 'Uba (Yuba), and the beautiful canyon that it feeds. Expressed through shapes and angles. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/1684777562616-500PB8R1CD7XZF7A1MWT/CivilWarGold-Nisenan-hamukumexhibit-2023ubaseo.jpg hamukum: Whispers Through Time Bringing visibility to the Nevada City Rancheria Nisenan Tribe is paramount in undoing our erasure. While most of our stories and histories are "local," the Nisenan had a national impact as well. Gold taken from our homelands tipped the scales of the Civil War and paved the way for the modern America we know today. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/4b683496-1e47-4ed2-ab9e-e062d950c5c7/BabyBasket-Paiute-hamukumexhibit-2023ubaseo.jpg hamukum: Whispers Through Time This Paiute basket is of very similar construction to the weaves of the Nisenan people. Notably unique to Paiute tradition is the beaded pattern and the materials that were harvested in their geographic region. Nisenan baskets were made with Willow, Red-bud, Grapevine, and Sedge Root. Unfortunately, we don't have access to a Nisenan example from the early years. Traditional weavers are beginning to revitalize this practice and newborns are experiencing the old comforts and stability of these amazing baskets. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/1684778246846-YU4WAF2243L563CY3UNS/1-hamukumexhibit-2023ubaseo.jpg hamukum: Whispers Through Time "Digger" was a very derogatory term applied to most Tribes in the West who dug roots for food. The term came to refer to Native Californians, particularly those in and around the mining areas such as the Nisenan Tribe. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/7f3dbc59-4b44-488f-a3f3-dd8ea84deb3f/Coyote-Amanda-Mira-hamukumexhibit-2023ubaseo.jpg hamukum: Whispers Through Time “Coyote” mixed media, by Amanda Ashley and Mira Clark. The Coyote is featured in the cosmology of numerous Indigenous peoples of the area now known as California. In many stories, he is a major Sacred character with divine creative powers; in others, he is a malevolent and often comical trickster. In some stories, he combines both roles. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/5a572ee2-db23-4eca-a377-f5715de4222c/estomyanim-leafs-MiraClark.jpg hamukum: Whispers Through Time 'estom yanim, Mira Clark, existinspired.com, Pressed Local Leaf Collage, These leaves were collected entirely from downtown 'ustomah aka Nevada City. The leaves recreate the sacred landscape of 'estom yanim the (Marysville Buttes). This mountain and the original place names are incredibly important for the Nisenan. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/8027f524-c1fa-4e49-b172-594c647579d2/rememberingravens-milestoland-2019.jpg hamukum: Whispers Through Time Remembering and Ravens CHIRP's VTA 2019 Collection, Miles Toland, milestoland.com, Acrylic on Birch, The Ravens in the painting symbolize the Nisenan who were tragically mistreated, displaced, and murdered during the greed and entitlement of the gold rush. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/1684777648499-LUE8KVGJGCVRU9QT4FEU/JenniferCrosby-DutchRose-hamukumexhibit-2023ubaseo.jpg hamukum: Whispers Through Time Return CHIRP's VTA 2022 Collection, Jennifer Rain Crosby, jenniferraincrosby.com Handcrafted oil paints on wood panel. Some colors were gathered locally, https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/1685041614823-4M0X5SCQLBOTVUZ0DW5K/4-hamukum-Nisenan-Exhibit-2023UbaSeo.jpg hamukum: Whispers Through Time https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/e1bb1450-b0d3-489d-8e8b-6e0a89c4832b/OldSadie-hamukum-galleryubaseo.jpg hamukum: Whispers Through Time Old Sadie at the Nevada City Rancheria, circa 1907. A common prejudice white settlers had of the Nisenan was that they were constantly "dirty", sitting on the ground, digging in the dirt, and covered in the dirt sometimes. The Nisenan knew mud would keep the mosquitoes and flies off of them, and they used mud as a base for other pastes and mineral compounds that were good for the body. The Nisenan lifestyle was a culmination of thousands of years of adaptation, tradition, and skill. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/3852132d-39b5-44d3-a7aa-89e76ea12258/JarodKaneVTA202121-1037.jpg hamukum: Whispers Through Time Blood in the Water, CHIRP's VTA 2021 Collection, Jarod Kane, Acrylic on Wood Panel, This piece represents the meeting of two opposing perspectives; value of the environment above all, versus the value of environmental exploitation. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/0e415011-ac58-4ba2-9c70-7cfac44e168a/jenniferCrosby-hamukumexhibit-2023ubaseo.jpg hamukum: Whispers Through Time https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/20ba3fe5-1c83-499d-801c-18accfa36fd1/Story%2Bof%2BOak_%2Bweb.jpg hamukum: Whispers Through Time Story of Oak CHIRP's VTA 2021 Collection, Jennifer Rain Crosby, jenniferraincrosby.com , Handcrafted oak gall inks and egg tempera paints on paper, The Nisenan lived in harmony with the land for thousands of years before settlers came to California. It is our hope that in the near future the Nisenan will regain Federal Recognition, revive their Culture and restore harmony with the land. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/635f836f-eba4-4de8-bfce-9fdd760e4c93/Covert-Nisenan-familybasket-ubaseo-hamukum.jpg hamukum: Whispers Through Time Basket created by Nisenan Tribal Ancestor…The Nisenan honor their baskets as living beings, said to each have its own spirit. Although basket weavings are some of the oldest recorded textiles found in the world’s history dating back 12,000 years, it is difficult to preserve them, as their natural materials wear out with age, and return to the earth in a living-dying cycle of life. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/5d7bb327-34e0-48f1-acf5-f19e0f75bc93/JoseD-VTA-Nisenan-Exhibit-2023UbaSeo.jpg hamukum: Whispers Through Time The baskets allude to the people of this region that skillfully crafted them. Many of the creators of the baskets are no longer here, but their descendants still remain. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/077efe41-00aa-43e4-a723-780d006c8079/AkimAginsky21-1071.jpg hamukum: Whispers Through Time Last Harvest CHIRP's VTA 2021 Collection, Jose Dominguez, Oil on Canvas, thebuilders.tumblr.com, This piece, “last harvest” is a still life of objects that symbolize colonization and the destruction of the land and the Indigenous people that lived here. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/4ac0e2e0-b50f-4efa-a66b-63b4c639eab2/KilltheIndian-SavetheMan-Nisenan-hamukumexhibit-2023ubaseo.jpg hamukum: Whispers Through Time On March 3rd, 1819 the United States passed the Civilization Fund Act, establishing legislative permissions to imprison and de-culturalize Native American children. The "Indian Boarding School Era", empowered by the ideology "Kill the Indian, save the man," attempted to forcibly assimilate thousands and thousands of Indian children between 1860 and 1978. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/64f73016-843c-4c70-bd68-cb2cdecf5598/News+clipping+Nisenan+Nevada+City.png hamukum: Whispers Through Time Old Newspaper Clippings reference the Nisenan "Digger Indians," and illustrate the mostly negative social perspectives of these times. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/8f207cb0-b398-4fad-8550-3eddbd0fdb0f/NCRNphotos-hamukumexhibit-2023ubaseo.jpg hamukum: Whispers Through Time A collection of old Nevada City Rancheria Photos. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/a89dc638-1764-408b-9100-b0e40b564efa/opening-hamukumexhibit-2023ubaseo.jpg hamukum: Whispers Through Time https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/f4ed8b6e-17f7-4da8-b711-9fde71ebb2b1/LeilaniWeb-hamukum2023ubaseo-exhibit-Nisenan.jpg hamukum: Whispers Through Time nik'i kah kah' (my sisters), Leilani Webb, Mixed Media, Featured left to Right: Doris Vaughan, Virginia Covert, and Alberta Gallez, (maiden name Rose). These are three of the six sisters known locally as the "Rose Girls." https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/6164ad48-bd43-476a-a888-4b7688184040/NisenanChildrenatBoardingSchoolNisenan-Exhibit-2023UbaSeo.png hamukum: Whispers Through Time Our Ancestors: Potts and Hanson Uncles at Greenville Indian School, There were two types of Boarding Schools in California: those functioning on reservations (or rancherias) and those that were off-reservation. Three off-reservation institutions in California were the Sherman Indian Institute in Riverside, the Greenville Indian School (aka Greenville Industrial School), and the Fort Bidwell Indian School. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/d342e998-823f-448b-b436-30edce5d1b31/Nisenan-Flickermaker-NCRN-ubaseo.png hamukum: Whispers Through Time The Flicker Feather is widely used when creating traditional California Ceremonial Regalia. This old photo is from the Nevada City Rancheria Nisenan Archive. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/577d3938-fad4-43b1-ab0a-911b33d74cc8/ehhancedone-Jearrod+Fountain.jpg hamukum: Whispers Through Time Nisenan Leaders and three Treaty Commissioners signed The Camp Union Treaty in 1851, Photo enhanced by Jearrod Fountain, (Broken Treaties Leave California Tribes Landless) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/c6f25dfc-1f46-4dc0-afd7-acf17a7100e9/truenames-boblain-2018.jpg hamukum: Whispers Through Time True Names, CHIRP's VTA 2019 Collection, robert “Bo” Blain, Lawfully acquired aluminum street signs and spray paint https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/81f2ef41-a86d-4fa7-a3bb-9f337fa5d20a/NisenantribalCouncilNisenan-Exhibit-2023UbaSeo.png hamukum: Whispers Through Time Nevada City Rancheria Tribal Council Photograph Left to right: Saxon Thomas Member at Large Sarah Thomas Member at Large, Lorena Davis Treasurer, Ginger Covert Vice-Chairwoman, Richard Johnson Chariman, Shelly Covert Secretary and Spokesperson, Photograph Courtesy of Sean Leydon https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/b868d11d-b846-43ab-96c9-f53c899a7fdd/diggerNewsClip-Nisenan-Exhibit-2023UbaSeo.png hamukum: Whispers Through Time https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/ddd37e23-5629-458b-85dc-7be56e5ed712/istilllivehere-jennyhale-2018.jpg hamukum: Whispers Through Time I Still Live Here, Jenny Hale, Watercolor, Digital collage, LED-backlit, Collaboration with Nevada City Rancheria Tribal Vice-Chairperson Ginger Rose Covert, and CHIRP https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/d038375c-3c83-4e0b-9394-17b2f64e944b/1862-newscliping-Nisenan-Exhibit-2023UbaSeo.png hamukum: Whispers Through Time "The landscape was not empty when gold was "discovered" in Nisenan Territory. However, the larger tracks of "free land" being offered to settlers were already home to thousands of people. The park-like settings that early miners encountered were actually the product of thousands of years, and thousands of hands, working to encourage the landscape through Native stewardship" Taylor's words depict the destruction that mining has brought to this once-pristine landscape. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/c62a5fec-3b00-49a4-9215-4493e924c1a1/earthabides-jennyhale-2019.jpg hamukum: Whispers Through Time The Earth Abides, Jenny Hale, Watercolor, Digital collage, LED-backlit, Collaboration with Nevada City Rancheria Tribal Vice-Chairperson Ginger Rose Covert, and CHIRP https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/7bd41574-aae4-4b14-a9ee-8af00bc8dd35/poster-Nisenan-Exhibit-2023UbaSeo.png hamukum: Whispers Through Time https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/9cf34562-595c-4674-bd83-419f666d1156/Nisenan-Roundhouse.png hamukum: Whispers Through Time kum at Pan Pakan, This is a traditional Nisenan Roundhouse covered with dirt as was the old way. Photo Courtesy of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University, 2004.29.3903 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/5b2dded0-8915-4f17-90a2-e5156a1740e0/NCRNLANDphoto+copy.jpg hamukum: Whispers Through Time View of shacks at Campoodie in Nevada City, circa 1907, The origin of the name "Campoodie" is a mystery, but in Nisenan, -hu is home, and -di is here. Settlers thought that the Indians were nomadic and just "camped" everywhere. Thusly, they called many Nisenan settlements "Indian Camps" as though they were impermanent. Campoodie would translate to The place where my home is. https://www.ubaseo.org/landwaterpeople daily 0.75 2026-04-04 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/3482686e-8f7a-4236-b748-c40f7c91efe0/UbaSeo_Cindy_Buro_The_Wash_0242.jpg The Story of Land, Water, and People "The Wash" Cindy Buero, (Nevada City Rancheria Nisenan Tribal Member) Acrylic and Oil-based Paint on Canvas, 24 x 24"" ________________________________________ “The gold rush significantly influenced the history of California and the United States. For us, the Nisenan, it meant genocide. Before the gold rush, thousands of Nisenan people hunted, fished, and took care of each other here, right here. This was and still is our Homeland. What is now the Yuba River, was once ˀuƀa seo, and Nevada City was known as ˀustomah. Changes were being made. In certain areas, restrictions were put in place, to keep the Nisenan from hunting and fishing; so there was hunger. The uninvited brought diseases and weapons that had never been seen before. The uninvited brought death. My piece is called, The Wash. In mining, the wash is when they separate the gold from the tailings. The good stuff from the bad. And so the story goes...” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/22efddb8-76d5-4fe0-b8a1-098b55af8358/CHIRP_VTA24_5.jpg The Story of Land, Water, and People https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/93cf47e4-cc8c-4322-8abe-7270d20ffc77/UbaSeo-33.JPG The Story of Land, Water, and People https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/3dbc3ff9-2d33-4601-9f05-8d6bbe53b0bb/UbaSeo-1.JPG The Story of Land, Water, and People https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/8d4dcb3c-ef26-4ca7-b1ec-2383d0d69e45/UbaSeo_Lorena_Rose_Davis_Patterns_of_Life_0246.jpg The Story of Land, Water, and People "Patterns of Life" Lorena (Rose) Davis, (Tribal Council Elder - Nevada City Rancheria Nisenan Tribe) Size 12 seed beads, applique style on felt, 8 x 8" ________________________________________ “Growing up, I remember, we would always have family and friends visiting. We were a close-knit family. Most of the time, we would visit over coffee at Mom's kitchen table. While visiting, we would do beadwork. We shared patterns, new projects, old memories, and our heritage; oh how I miss those days. I pray that our new generations will take an interest and seek wisdom from our heritage, especially, the wonders of nature, and everything our amazing planet provides for us. Please pause and look at the beauty all around us.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/f5025ac4-9b5e-4252-abd3-8d6528ccb6ae/CHIRP_VTA24_4.jpg The Story of Land, Water, and People https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/3019b916-762c-4e2f-b703-dc4600a631c2/UbaSeo-29.JPG The Story of Land, Water, and People check https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/e46742c6-4824-4628-b9dd-614ddac32034/UbaSeo-2.JPG The Story of Land, Water, and People https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/fefcbf7b-10fc-47bd-aa0b-0d9de5ad568a/UbaSeo_Deerstine_Madrone_Suehead_Dappe_0258.jpg The Story of Land, Water, and People "đappe" Deerstine Madrone Suehead, Instagram: @xmadrone, Acrylic on Canvas, 15 x 30" ______________________________________ Coyote and their significance in the Nisenan creation story are honored in this painting. He holds a flicker hair stick and is enveloped in a basket pattern. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/6c9a3c44-93f9-4c5e-88ab-8fd04af48f1e/CHIRP_VTA24_7.jpg The Story of Land, Water, and People https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/34c72c73-d5c1-45b4-97da-1c7426659b8f/UbaSeo-31.JPG The Story of Land, Water, and People https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/728d4a70-6f63-4435-b7d4-026eae410b76/UbaSeo-10.JPG The Story of Land, Water, and People https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/3988b119-94ce-4347-924d-507c54ac94fc/UbaSeo_Lobby_Mural_2.jpg The Story of Land, Water, and People https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/922ef0a5-e497-4f4c-ac35-b3975551f5a8/UbaSeo_Debra_Mcbrian_Utimca_0229.jpg The Story of Land, Water, and People "utim ċa" Debra McBrien (Nevada City Rancheria Nisenan Tribe) Watercolor on Paper, 28 x 35" _________________________________________ utim ċa, known today as an oak tree, was a foundational part of Nisenan daily life. utim ċa had a variety of uses that benefited the people. It was used to treat a variety of ailments and was also a key food source. Additionally, the Nisenan used all parts of the oak tree: the bark, leaves, and acorns were used medicinally; the wood was used to make a foot-drum in the Roundhouse; and the oak galls were commonly used to make dyes. The acorn from the black oak tree was a prized resource and was traded for other valued items that were not available locally. For example, abalone, seaweed, shells, obsidian, different foods, and medicine items were highly sought after by the Nisenan and the Tribe traded their acorn, deer meat, freshwater eels, hard-to-find basket materials, etc. Locally, specific acorn trees were maintained by specific families. Each family harvested what they needed and took care of the health of those trees spiritually, as well as, burning to clear away insects and harmful fungi. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/7c038e08-2a0e-41ae-ba8d-b4be1227c77d/CHIRP_VTA24_20.jpg The Story of Land, Water, and People https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/a7e07cd2-e675-4d56-8055-5db5441adb06/UbaSeo-12.JPG The Story of Land, Water, and People https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/b6852dba-ba5a-49a5-aa5c-c9d1f6c5192b/UbaSeo_Debra_McBrian_Utimca2_0234.jpg The Story of Land, Water, and People "utim ċa" Debra McBrien (Nevada City Rancheria Nisenan Tribe) Watercolor on Paper, 17 x 21" https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/36ceb47d-860f-48b9-99c8-1669780dcf1c/CHIRP_VTA24_22.jpg The Story of Land, Water, and People https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/b297b03c-e087-429f-999c-bca483fabab3/UbaSeo-28.JPG The Story of Land, Water, and People https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/41c58d75-5125-4b67-b214-eff72f327976/UbaSeo-13.JPG The Story of Land, Water, and People https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/1ffb9846-99ba-4e47-9ba7-9c2ac82ba9f2/UbaSeo_Lorena_Rose_Davis_Memories_of_Fire_0254.jpg The Story of Land, Water, and People "Memories of Fire" Lorena (Rose) Davis (Tribal Council Elder - Nevada City Rancheria Nisenan Tribe) Acrylic on Canvas, 30 x 16" ________________________________________ “This picture depicts a memory I have of my mother telling me of an event when she was 15 years old. A larger wildfire broke out at Standfield Hill where she was living with her Auntie and two old Indian ladies. The fire was getting very close so my mother put the women in the creek and covered them with wet blankets while she and a friend tried to help carry water to put out the fire. My mother noticed a field fenced with barbed wire where horses and cows were trapped in a frenzy. Mom ran to the fence and started cutting. All of a sudden, she realized she could be trampled. She said the animals started running through the cut fence. Miraculously, they went right around her. A few days later she went back to that area, she said it was sad because the animals that couldn’t make it out were hanging from the fence dead. This moment might pale in comparison to the catastrophic fires we face today. With the privatization of land and the countless fences that come with it, we disrupt and diminish the natural environment and wild landscape. Had my mom not been able to cut the fence that day who knows how many more animals would have perished? It was important for me to tell this story as a part of this exhibit. All of the elements of Land, Water, and People felt alive in this memory from my mother.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/6dd91b8f-2ee2-49e2-a18c-23c6bdadc555/CHIRP_VTA24_23.jpg The Story of Land, Water, and People https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/f137348a-f68e-4473-a080-6c3123542098/UbaSeo-32.JPG The Story of Land, Water, and People https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/a8742247-8c06-4c13-8c62-b1c43a6ee344/UbaSeo-23.JPG The Story of Land, Water, and People https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/de243def-e320-4b74-a12b-a9d357fcb734/UbaSeo_Maile_Claire_Covert_Portrait_0220.jpg The Story of Land, Water, and People "Imaginal Portrait of Ginger Covert" Maile Claire, www.junipertreeoflife.com, Graphite on Ampersand Clayboard, 36 x 36” _________________________________________ In this portrait, Nevada City Rancheria Nisenan Tribal Elder and Culture Keeper, Ginger Covert wears a traditional abalone shell necklet and freshwater clam shell strands over her shoulder, denoting both individual station and Cultural sovereignty. Ginger also wears a headpiece crafted from hand-shaped abalone shell pendants. Ginger’s regalia seem to be lit from within by her personal strength and stamina. She is the descendant of a Culture that existed in perpetual balance with nature for thousands of years. These pieces were informed by Ginger’s oral family histories, early photographs, and the creative collaborative process between Ginger and the artist. There are few artifacts remaining today, casualties of the gold rush when genocide became the state-sanctioned norm, ravaging Indigenous communities from the mountains to the sea. Woven through the portrait are four animals and plants chosen by Ginger for her affinity with these teachers. These are: jom đʉ (California Wildrose), westono (Grey Wolf), jo (California Dandelion), and the jomim kapa (Grizzly Bear). While this portrait was in creation, through the latter half of 2023, four new Grey Wolf packs established themselves in northern California, bringing the state total to eight known packs since 2015. May all erased Culture and bio-diversity return to the land. May we all be led by the wisdom, inner strength, and deep-time-traditions of the Nisenan that survive and thrive to this day. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/191503d8-ae99-46a9-8c6f-d8e9c55d9a12/CHIRP_VTA24_27.jpg The Story of Land, Water, and People https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/b775c8d2-5180-4d20-b4cd-b963fded21be/UbaSeo-38Kat+Alves.JPG The Story of Land, Water, and People https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/5277dbc4-c8cd-42d2-819b-fa677aa3b560/Sculpture-JMSawyer-ubaseo24.jpg The Story of Land, Water, and People "Remembering Tradition" For Nature and All Beings, Sculpture by Jan-Michelle Sawyer, jan-michellesculptures.com, Oil Base Clay to Finished Casting in Bronze, H17" x W5" x D3" _______________________________________ Inspired by the enduring spirit of the Nisenan people, this bronze sculpture captures the essence of female leadership in harmony with nature. The Nisenan woman, with her basket raised in gesture, symbolizes guidance and reciprocity with the landscape. In a contemporary expression of tradition, this representation radiates gratitude, reverence, and a profound connection—a timeless portrayal of a woman deriving strength and wisdom from her Ancestral Homeland. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/3faeab5f-cfd1-4ec3-b0db-e6f9a05e5c2c/CHIRP_VTA24_34.jpg The Story of Land, Water, and People https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/e75df9ce-2c05-45ae-9942-44226797856d/UbaSeo_Mira_Clark_The_Great_Grizzly_0277.jpg The Story of Land, Water, and People "The Great Grizzly" Mira Clark, miraclark.com, Acrylic on Canvas and Gold Wrappers, 16 x 20" ________________________________________ Grizzlies lived in California for millennia enjoying a reciprocal relationship with Indigenous peoples. These great beings were revered and honored as both family members and respected teachers. This drastically changed in the mid-1800s as settlers saw the Grizzly as criminal competition. California had one of the densest populations of Grizzlies on the continent. The Great Grizzly Bears lived long lives, were at least 4.5 feet at the shoulder, and sometimes as tall as 11 feet when standing. Following settler colonization and the gold rush in 1848, the Grizzly was not only hunted and killed but also captured and used for sports fights. The “last” California Grizzly was seen near Yosemite in 1924, going extinct after decades of persecution and hunting bounties. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/b4a26507-1b4c-411d-b9c7-912316d46f93/CHIRP_VTA24_40.jpg The Story of Land, Water, and People https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/1712086563412-5HIU30XUCEPOV9PBP72K/UbaSeo_Sara_Thomas_I_Remember_0292.jpg The Story of Land, Water, and People "I Remember" Sarah Thomas (Tribal Council Elder - Nevada City Rancheria Nisenan Tribe) Wooden Frame with Acrylic Paint, 4' x 8' x 2" _________________________________________ “This is one memory that my Dad shared with us and can now be passed down from generation to generation. To keep it alive, it's important to keep our verbal traditions going, to teach lessons and a way of life.” “Before he was taken away to Indian Boarding School, he remembers sitting in the Roundhouse when he was about six years old. The Tribe was holding Ceremony in the Roundhouse and the center pole rose up off the ground.” He said, “You know... that was before they had cranes or equipment that could lift something that heavy. What do you think about that, makes you wonder?” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/9f124a6b-ef24-4c9c-b90e-dd97f6bcd56f/CHIRP_VTA24_23.jpg The Story of Land, Water, and People https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/6c23be7e-3b0d-43f6-808d-1168a6edb523/UbaSeo_Ruth_Chase_Hu-tum_Kule_0262.jpg The Story of Land, Water, and People "hu·tum kʉle" The Dreamers Show Us The Path, Ruth Chase, RuthChase.com, Acrylic, Wax on Canvas | Video, 24 x 24 x 2” ________________________________________ The painting is a culmination of a dialogue with Nevada City Rancheria Tribal Members who shared their historical knowledge of Nisenan Spirituality that can come through dreams. The painting depicts a dark figure, perhaps the Creator, or represents contact with the dream world. The outline of the lighter figure is from a photo of Lorena Davis and represents the dreamer. The figures hover over ˀuƀa seo (Yuba River), with the sky above, and the Ancestral Homelands of the Nisenan, ˀestom janim (Marysville Buttes) in the background. On the sides of the figures are herbs, as it would be common for the dreamer, or “Knock Down Person”, to return from the dream with the knowledge that would help the Tribe, such as special herbs for healing, a premonition about migration routes, or a warning. “In our culture, we are dreamers, where we learn new languages, and new things through our dreams.” - Saxon Thomas, Nevada City Rancheria Tribal Council, Member at Large “I believe that we are visited through our dreams. “ - Cindy Buero, Nevada City Rancheria Tribal Member “I was once visited by my late husband, John, who came to me in a dream to share a very important part of my future that helped me at a difficult time in my life.” - Lorena Davis, Nevada City Rancheria Tribal Council Member https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/58a2b8ba-256a-4161-bc87-21b1920015c0/CHIRP_VTA24_30.jpg The Story of Land, Water, and People https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/6169b6dd-310a-4674-8c10-544fea43a607/UbaSeo_Saxon_Thomas_Kauim_Seo_0266.jpg The Story of Land, Water, and People "ḱauim seo" Saxon Thomas (Tribal Council Member - Nevada City Rancheria Nisenan Tribe) Spray Paint on Canvas, 17 x 21" _________________________________________ “I wanted this piece to represent reflections. An unfolding synchronicity into the heart of human behavior. A mirror to the choices we make. Just as the moon imparts her glow to the water, our energy and attention ripple out into the world, echoing back to us in whatever form we give it. How we treat each other and how we respect the environment will reflect back onto us. If we give negative energy to others we will receive negative energy back. If we are destructive to the earth, the earth in turn will be destructive to us. If all we show is violence, war, hate, and segregation, then that reflects on the youth, and the cycle never ends. If we can show trust, understanding, and compassion, we can represent these qualities and inspire others. By choosing to behave using the elements of love over the friction of fear we can help break the current cycle we’re in and forge a path towards a more harmonious future.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/2dadc4f6-46fa-4380-8d15-9ce3459c0eb8/CHIRP_VTA24_37.jpg The Story of Land, Water, and People https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/c66922f2-6957-4e13-96f4-3b28ae6231d7/UbaSeo_Tiffany_Adams_Savage_Beauty_++++0250.jpg The Story of Land, Water, and People "Savage Beauty" Tiffany Adams, tiffanyadamsartist.com, Acrylic on Canvas and Angelica Root Flour, 24 x 36" _________________________________________ Inspired by Lois Louise Potts, my mother. She has been the inspiration for many of my paintings and portraits because of her strength, resilience, and incredible poise, a trait honed by adversity and shared by so many women in my family. She was updated in 2024 with a cape of blackberries, referencing the food that sustained her and her siblings. As children, they gathered blackberries, along with strawberries, mushrooms, thimbleberries, and hazelnuts, with their grandmother, Starry Edwards Potts. The work was created in 2017 during major turning points within Native American politics, with Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons going viral on social media, the Standing Rock movement, Charlottesville, and a rekindling of the “Pocahontas” trope in the media. Lois was born in Nevada City in 1941. She is the daughter of Leola Smith, who is the daughter of Lillian Rose, who is the daughter of Mary Ellen Potts, who is the daughter of Mary Ellen Tolly, and who is the daughter of great Nisenan huk (Headman), Pamlo. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/ef23745f-45af-497d-ab01-fb0f3807f68a/CHIRP_VTA24_44.jpg The Story of Land, Water, and People https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/db1c20b0-317e-49f4-8322-4c272e8f5950/UbaSeo_Tribal_Members_Oak_Gall_0238.jpg The Story of Land, Water, and People "Painting With Oak Gall Ink" Instructor Artist: Jennifer Rain Crosby, Artworks by Tribal Members: Shelly Covert, Ginger Covert, Lorena Davis, Sarah Thomas, Cindy Buero, Debra McBrien, Saxon Thomas, _________________________________________ Artist Jennifer Rain Crosby led a group of Tribal Members in a class on how to create Oak Gall Ink and paint with it. Oak Galls are made of plant tissue and form when an insect (typically a wasp) secretes a chemical that causes interference with normal plant cell growth. This was an enriching way for the Tribe to paint with their native environment. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/b9118363-5195-420c-aee6-efb33ff02557/UbaSeo-38Kat+Alves.JPG The Story of Land, Water, and People "Our Dreams and the Dreams of the Land Interweave" Photo by Kat Alves for MUSE Magazine _________________________________________ This window display is a web of Tribal Members' hopes, dreams, visions, and wishes that they have made for themselves and the Nevada City Rancheria Nisenan Tribe. These are written on the papers wrapped around the twine. Both Tribal Elders and Youth contribute to this vision of being tethered to the landscape. The Manzinita lends its strength to the vision. Tribal dreams are inextricable from a healthy and vibrant environment. Installation created by: Saxon Thomas, Mira Clark, Ruth Chase, and Tribal Members https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/ebc9b0c5-f893-45fa-9ffb-fc8f8b375e8a/MMIWhandubaseo.jpg The Story of Land, Water, and People A red hand over the mouth has become the symbol of a growing movement, the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW) movement. It represents the missing sisters, wives, mothers, and daughters whom justice has not served. It represents the silence of the media and the long-standing inaction by law enforcement amid this crisis. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/1fc86604-c45f-49e2-9744-be55e0eafc64/UbaSeo_Red_Hand_Grouping_0284.jpg The Story of Land, Water, and People Tribal Member “Pour Paint” Artworks, Exploring Intergenerational Trauma and MMIW Through Art, Instructor Artist: Jeree Waller , _________________________________________ Tribal Members were given the opportunity through expressive art therapy classes to explore the topics of intergenerational trauma and specifically MMIW. ------------------------------------------------------"To me, the red handprint represents the murdered Nisenan women and girls and their silenced voices.” - Lorena Davis ----------------------- “It reminds me of a stop sign, It also represents the blood of all the Natives that were killed. Everything was taken away from especially Nisenan woman, and their ability to pass things along to their children, such as, language, cooking, traditions, culture, and crafts. Their identity was taken away. It just happens, on almost every front. The violence was passed down through our DNA, and in our memories, and today we are experiencing intergenerational trauma.” - Ginger Covert https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/1af2bd2e-0279-4d17-bec5-6f86b03383b9/RockDisplay-UbaSeo-MMIW2024.jpg The Story of Land, Water, and People *TRIGGER WARNING* _________________________________________ During the gold rush, women in our Tribe resorted to filling themselves with river rocks as a desperate measure to deter rape and prevent pregnancies resulting from violence. This practice extended to protecting their very young daughters as well. When considering the rampant syphilis that plagued the era, one can begin to grasp the horrific reality of the violence they endured. “The land we occupy today is the very same ground on which these terrible crimes took place. We Californians are the beneficiaries of genocide. I suspect few Californians today contextualize their homes as sitting upon stolen land or land gained by bloody force or artful deceits, nor do they likely consider the social and political questions of present-day Native American affairs in this light.” — Brendan Lindsay, Murder State: California's Native American Genocide, 1846-1873 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/102bd42c-455f-4e5a-8949-c0c7cd5f2c4c/MMIWhandprint2024ubaseo.jpg The Story of Land, Water, and People Tribal Member Quotes from: Intergenerational Trauma and MMIW Art Workshop, ________________________________________ “It is hard to put thoughts and feelings into words, my red handprint symbolizes the blood, and how the trauma has been passed down through our DNA. How today we are still trying to overcome it. Not only the women but the men and boys, that were not able to protect the ones they loved. The hurt and shame they must have felt, and the hopelessness.” - Sarah Thomas https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/1712088182458-JPH5MI6I48B7T5GE3OCW/MMIWwalk-quote-ShellyCubasseo24.jpg The Story of Land, Water, and People 2021 MMIW Walk in Sacramento, CA, Hoka Hey Photography, ________________________________________ "How can we speak of reciprocity and repair when atrocities continue? The perpetual cycle of harm, often unintentional, diverts energy needed for healing. Trying to resolve the devastating effects of intergenerational trauma is really hard and long work. Acknowledging it, seeing it, and being able to understand the dimensions of the violent past and how it exists today, is the only way to begin to lay this traumatic history down. We need to make conscientious choices to ensure we are not inadvertently carrying this trauma into the future of the Tribe. - Shelly Covert, Tribal Spokesperson https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/bceceeba-84f3-47a3-888e-7aec54c04860/PourpaintMMIW2-ubaseo24.jpg The Story of Land, Water, and People Tribal Member Quotes from: Intergenerational Trauma and MMIW Art Workshop, ________________________________________ “The generational trauma is still very strong with nearly all our Tribal members. We had parents and grandparents taken away from their families and placed into adoptive care, or sent away to Indian Boarding Schools where we have lost Tribal members and where my own grandpa ran away multiple times while getting caught and being taken back. All the forms of violence against our Tribal women and members happened and continue to happen to our Tribe, this keeps you in a vicious circle of shame, hate, guilt, depression, anxiety, and a lot of the time leads to substance abuse and poverty.” - Saxon Thomas https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/eaa9368b-0524-4c6f-b7aa-7f180cca9390/GingerCovertAcorn-ubaseo2024.png The Story of Land, Water, and People Tribal Elder Ginger Covert created a project and presentation around the Native acorn resource. ________________________________________Our Culture and Traditional lifeways require an understanding of - and access to - natural resources, such as the acorn, when those traditions become disrupted, so too does our Culture. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/0666a3ea-022a-40b9-b64b-6a7cd0aea663/logosforUpstateexhibit.png https://www.ubaseo.org/vta-2022-1 daily 0.75 2024-08-08 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/1667264576518-2UVTX9YXYR8T3TWJ58IW/HannahM-ArtVTA-2022.jpg VTA 2022 (Copy) "The Flowers that Grew Like Lace" by Hannah McDonell, Ink on Paper, 6x4" __________________________ A Nisenan Elder said to her granddaughter, “There were once flowers that grew upon the ground like lace." As the grips of the gold rush and colonization tightened the Nisenan were faced with the devastating destruction to the land that surrounded them. They felt and continue to feel the loss of many sacred species of plants and animals. This erasure of species led to a significant hole in Nisenan Culture. The extent of this erasure remains unknown - with the forced taking of their language many species and names go untold. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/f730b82b-30cf-4d8e-b01b-bf1ed6d86402/OpeningVTA2022.jpg VTA 2022 (Copy) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/97c93194-dc03-4dad-b2a5-ba5d5f2497b1/SeanS-CoconRaddle-web.jpeg VTA 2022 (Copy) This important Cocoon Rattle was created within the appropriate Nisenan Tribal Traditions and will one day be used in ceremony. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/a62776c4-a3c0-4405-abfd-5ad71ebfaa21/OpeningNight-VTA-2022.jpg VTA 2022 (Copy) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/1667264867459-IF6F50UPV2PQ8YYU8DEH/BishopR-VTA2022-web.jpg VTA 2022 (Copy) "wilyhaj" Bishop Randall Instagram: @bishop3333 Lampworked Sandcarved Glass, _________________________ This is a representation of a wososo, a very special tool used by jomim nishenam. wososo is created with wo’soso from a local moth. k’omi were used inside to make the rattling sound. --- wososo: Doctor's cocoon rattle, wo’soso: cocoon, wilyhaj: shake, k’omi: seed, jomim nishenam: Nisenan Doctor, https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/9292a43b-d12a-4cdc-bb0f-3a1ad2e0acfd/VTA-2022-openingnight.jpg VTA 2022 (Copy) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/a0a86f68-0073-427e-90f0-0fd1a3278ae2/LORENA_R.R-web.jpeg VTA 2022 (Copy) "Lorena and Eddy" R. Rehrer Digital Prints on Canvas, 12x12" _________________________ As the Tribe begins to reemerge aspects of Nisenan Culture we encounter the depths of Earth's ill health. The birds and animals necessary in the creation of traditional Regalia are as endangered as the Nisenan themselves. For now, we use art and our artist friends, to envision our future. These are portraits of two Tribal Members in traditional Flicker Regalia. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/1667264368773-4IC75VN4M8FZTGTC4469/Saxon-OpeningNightVTA-2022.jpg VTA 2022 (Copy) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/97297b7b-9338-4002-b20e-cb239340e2e6/EDDY_R.R+1-web.jpeg VTA 2022 (Copy) "Lorena and Eddy" R. Rehrer Digital Prints on Canvas, 12x12" _________________________ As the Tribe begins to reemerge aspects of Nisenan Culture we encounter the depths of Earth's ill health. The birds and animals necessary in the creation of traditional Regalia are as endangered as the Nisenan themselves. For now, we use art and our artist friends, to envision our future. These are portraits of two Tribal Members in traditional Flicker Regalia. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/a9292406-cf30-427c-9f2c-1032621a66eb/Shelly-VTA-ubaseo-2022.jpg VTA 2022 (Copy) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/2cf1d5ca-1459-41a9-bfdc-078c6788d4ec/Mira-VTA2022-web.jpeg VTA 2022 (Copy) "Nisenan Healing Basket" Mira Clark, existinspired.com, Digital Illustration, 9x20" _________________________ When one was sick a Nisenan doctor would use a "medicine rock" to make the person well. The person reclined on the rock and the doctor would pass a basket over their body. Inside the basket was a white feather. When the basket passed across the afflicted part of the body the feather would change from white to gray or black. The doctor would then administer healing to that part of the body. There are several medicine rocks that were used by local Nisenan, each by a different healer. The impacts of erasure include the loss of thousands of years of accumulated knowledge in the healing arts, spiritual arts, medicine, tools, foods, and relationships with this place. The Elders were adamant to not reveal the species of bird that gave the healing feather for fear they would be hunted to extinction. Pockets of knowledge remain in the Tribe, but without the entirety of the Cultural context that once was, how can these Ancient practices ever truly be revived? https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/78d1a6ed-24b6-4084-9d09-b853c684be87/jenC_TribalmembersVTA+2022.jpg VTA 2022 (Copy) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/1667265015388-EKS4EMXV4DIBLZA1GUGO/Mira-photo-VTA-2022.jpg VTA 2022 (Copy) ‘estom yanim, Mira Clark, existinspired.com, Photograph, 12x12" _________________________ 'estom yanim the Sacred Mountain is featured numerously in this VTA exhibit because of its importance in Nisenan cosmology. In Nisenan cosmology, it is the origin of all life and the place where Nisenan Spirits go when they die. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/0e7bf02f-29ee-46f3-9491-6136a6e427c7/VTA2022-opening-night-frontwindow.jpg VTA 2022 (Copy) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/eff132e0-b341-43b6-975f-9947a383af6f/JESSA-Fabi-VTA2022-web.jpeg VTA 2022 (Copy) "Momin Nisenan" Jessa Hurst & Fabienne Annick, @lunardrip, Digital art, Mixed Media 16x20” _________________________ This piece explores the Nisenan Mermaid knowledge. Tribal Member Shelly Covert shared, "There were many stories of one-legged people with long hair who lived in deep holes in the water. There was one known to be living in Wolf Creek. These beings were described as having one foot and long hair and another that had a fin and could change faces. Nisenan were warned, 'Don’t stare at the water ripples ... or the Momim Nisenan will pull you in, and drown you.'" In one story, two young Nisenan were fishing in a deep hole and pulled one of them out. They wanted to keep him, but he wanted to be put back in the water. He told them it would never rain again if they didn’t put him back. Unbelieving, they brought the Momim Nisenan to the headman and asked to keep him. The headman said, "No, put him back." So they did... https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/518c8f7d-cad7-4556-ad61-66c64229e7ed/ShellyC-VTA-openingtalks-2022.jpg VTA 2022 (Copy) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/9c0a2d16-cce5-4e17-8aa6-6234d97f6102/solim+ni_Finished+Mural-web.png VTA 2022 (Copy) "Nisenan Mural: Solim Ni - I Sing" Muralist: Nikila Badua | Tribal Advisor: Shelly Covert Sponsor: Haven Caravelli, Assisting Artist: Miles Toland, Youth Artist: Naomi Alani Stewart Medium: Montana Spray Paint & Acrylics on Concrete Wall Size: 25ft x 55ft _________________________ This mural features local Nisenan Tribal member Jennifer Plunkett. As she sings out to the baskets beneath the sacred Black Oak tree, her song takes on the ghostly shape of a basket pattern used by Nisenan Ancestors, while the flicker feather Regalia comes from the Earth and entwines itself around her. Culture is embedded in the Nisenan people in this way. Now is the time to sing... You are invited to go see this mural in person. Location: 309 Neal St. Grass Valley, CA https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/b75bc3c1-7c85-441c-aaed-2d6329aa37c7/NisenanTribalMembers-VTA2022.jpg VTA 2022 (Copy) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/1667265058965-5UDHW66KJO17WZMRBXFC/Chloe-VTA2022-web.jpg VTA 2022 (Copy) "Rebirth Through Grief" Chloe Young Watercolor, red dirt, local plants, mixed media 18x24" _________________________ This piece represents the Cry Ceremony an ancient Nisenan ritual. This ceremony is a ritual death mourning to grieve the passing of a loved one. The ceremony lasted for several days and nights. For the entirety of the ceremony, people would sing and cry to release their grief. Women close to the deceased would burn off their hair down to the scalp and adorn the ash mixed with pine pitch on their faces, chests, shoulders, and arms. The person remained in mourning until the mixture wore off naturally. After death the Spirit of the deceased travels to the sacred mountain ‘estom yanim (marysville buttes). Here they eat their first Spirit food and see their deceased relatives before traveling on to the Milky Way. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/c2e88f08-5ec7-46ac-add9-c8e9061fe979/Dutch-JenR-Openingnight.jpg VTA 2022 (Copy) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/1667265222698-CIRSPHCGQP44H1KNO1FS/Lori-VTA2022-web.jpg VTA 2022 (Copy) "The Medicine Rock" Lori Lachman Lachman.smugmug.com Multi-medium photo, paint, collage 11x14" _________________________ The medicine rock is an important tool for Nisenan healers. We have used the white Egret to symbolically represent the white feather that assisted in identifying a place of sickness in the body. Many tools used by healers no longer exist inside the Tribal families and many of the materials needed to create the tools are inaccessible or completely gone from the landscape. Western medicine continues to be ineffective in the Nisenan Tribal community. If we can heal the land, we will heal the people. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/90ba82fd-10f2-472a-9fd0-090768d76451/frontwindowsignVTA2022.png VTA 2022 (Copy) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/1667265941665-0DIF4XD7Y6Y7FF1SD2HX/Lorena-VTA2022-web.jpg VTA 2022 (Copy) "Grandpa Dutch" Lorena Davis (Nisenan Tribal Council Member) Pencil and Colored Pencils on Paper 12x15" _________________________ My father was taken from his home to the Indian Boarding Schools when he was 5 years old. He was robbed of his childhood, family, and home, but mostly of his identity. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/a0f369ad-0fcc-4a74-9146-71ed22d43019/TM-sign-VTA2022.png VTA 2022 (Copy) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/1667265876845-MEN894R4RJVUEY1FVXRF/Alyssa-VTA2022-web.jpg VTA 2022 (Copy) "Grandpa Dutch Rose" Alyssa Walz Pencil & Ink on Paper 10x7” _________________________ This portrait is a depiction of Dutch Rose. He was the father of 6 girls and he was one of 13 children. Elders are highly regarded for their experience and knowledge of the landscape which is passed on from elders for millennia. He was a peacekeeper and bridge builder between Nisenan families and settling families. He was kind and friendly and believed in being able to find solutions to conflict. Traditionally, the Nisenan sought out these qualities in leaders and family heads. In negotiations, family heads were important advocates for making sure all perspectives and voices were heard. Dutch was also a survivor of the Indian Boarding School System and he bore those scars throughout his lifetime, trying hard not to pass them on to his daughters. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/11e1a055-c8d3-4ef0-867c-dadf20b66edb/windowbanner-vta2022.png VTA 2022 (Copy) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/6dc1ac87-19ee-42f2-bdfa-90863d03018d/Brittney-VTA2022.jpg VTA 2022 (Copy) "Forgotten Feather" Brittney Depew (Nisenan Tribal Member) Oak Cork from Berkeley State, Nails and Embroidery Thread _________________________ A feather floats, it doesn't fly Our people are here, we didn't die Like this feather, we are only forgotten, not gone Like this old Oak, the Nisenan live on https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/c10f6046-4dee-4748-bfd0-98188331911c/VTA2022ubaseogallery.jpg VTA 2022 (Copy) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/a2e814e3-9a99-4478-be3a-b138c91ed0fe/Lorena-VTA2022.jpg VTA 2022 (Copy) "Aunty and Mom" Lorena Davis (Nisenan Tribal Council Member) Corn Husk Doll, Beeds, Thread, Pine needles. _________________________ When the Indian agents came to take my Mom away to the Indian Boarding School, she hid under Aunty's skirt. Instead of going to Boarding School, she was "spared," instead she worked alongside the other Indian people in the fields. Note: I respectfully borrow the Northeastern Indigenous People's tradition of making Corn Husk Dolls for my piece: In their story, Creator made corn husk doll very beautiful and she would spend all day looking at herself in the stream. Creator wanted her to play with the children, but she would get lost for hours looking at herself. So Creator took her face away, to take her vanity, and from then on she played with the children. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/93cff4f2-95cf-4ec0-b0cb-4b9126c49cdc/Mekdela-VTA2022-web.jpeg VTA 2022 (Copy) "wah wes’ nes - we will cry" Mekdela Maskal mekdelamaskal.com Foraged clay, wood 6’H x 18"W x 18"D _________________________ The Nisenan peoples' use of fire was quickly deemed unlawful by European settlers in the 1850s, and our modern and oversimplified story of fearing fire began. The impact of this on our living environment is evermore apparent and understood. Decades of unmanaged forests have created thick dry underbrush waiting for ignition - but what about the impact on Culture and spirit? The outlawing of fire also meant the taking of Nisenan central grief practices, where they would support the transformation of dead loved ones up into the afterlife. They burned them on a pyre. Their belongings were adorned on long poles. While crying and singing, all their belongings were fed into the pyre. By foraging, processing, sculpting, and pit firing clay from old mining sites, I sought to ask: How might ignoring death and grief contribute to Nisenan erasure? What can grief practices teach us about embracing challenging truths? How can these truths support us in repairing relationships and giving reparations? https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/0c4a4b60-a408-4757-b61e-b541b646b54a/Juli-VTA2022-web.jpeg VTA 2022 (Copy) "Reawakening" Juli Elin snow-broth.com Dried Native Plants and Cultivated Flowers 16x18” _________________________ There are very few remaining headpieces that were worn by the Nisenan Tribe. This piece combines elements found in rare imagery from multiple Nisenan headpieces along with Tribal memories from Elders, resulting in an artistic expression of Nisenan adornment. The “feathers” are deconstructed, dried native plants such as mugwort, saint john’s wort, and cedar, as well as flowers all cultivated on the artist’s farm on Cement Hill near the old Rancheria. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/1667493626702-AF89ER3RMYLMAE15YY0E/Indigo-VTA2022-web.jpg VTA 2022 (Copy) "saw’ saw" Indigo Donaldson Acrylic Paint Pencil, Charcoal Pencil, Natural Materials on Canvas 20x24" _________________________ The Nisenan used many native plants for healing. One of the lesser-known amazing healing plants is moss. In the Nisenan language, it is known as saw’ saw. Minerva was a beautiful Nisenan/Miwok Tribeswoman who knew the power of saw’ saw. She gathered it off the rocks and trees from the creek across from her house and made a medicinal concoction to help her family with health challenges. This moss was good for both mental health and inflammation. In this painting, I had the honor of bringing to life a depiction of Minerva, the moss, the creek, the rocks, and the trees where she gathered the healing saw’ saw right here in 'ustomah (nevada city) . https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/1667265984383-IT1Z4X8V4ESPIAIQKS0C/Rama-VTA2022-web.jpg VTA 2022 (Copy) "suku yaman" Rama Cryer Instagram @old.oak.flow Mixed media on Wood (acrylic, pen and ink, and wood burning) 17x17" _________________________ This excerpt is the tale of the lost but not forgotten devil dogs of dog mountain (now know as Mt. Diablo). This creature is one of many animals that have been erased from this land, and only remain in the stories of those who were here before. The word "devil" is a modern term and was not used by the Nisenan. The devil dogs of dog mountain: In the early time (they) saw dogs for the first time there. They rolled a big stone, and when (the grown dogs) ran after (it), they used to steal puppies. Hence the Nisenan call that “suku yaman” (Dog Mountain). Even now. There they caught dogs for the first time in the early days before the white man came; those were good dogs, long ago, hunting dogs; they bought dogs from one another for many abalone shells and beads, in the old days. On that mountain the Nisenan saw a devil, it always looked as if (he) was going across the mountain from the south side, when (he) went in there every day near sundown. The Nisenan talked about (it). As they did not believe one another, they went to sneak up to (the devil's habitat). They saw (him) arrive and go in when the sun was west. His horse and his saddle and bridle glittered. His eyes were like stars. The Nisenan feared him. Even now they are afraid of that mountain. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/1667493125842-RSNN38SK3Q5K21WGCVLQ/Saree-VTA2022-web.jpg VTA 2022 (Copy) "Rightful Return" Saree Robinson Sareerobinson.com Paper Collage on Wood 14x10.75" _________________________ In Nisenan tradition, when a person dies, their soul returns to 'estom yanim to transcend back to the Creator. For the children taken from the Tribe from 1850 - 1978 who were placed in the United States government-sanctioned Indian Boarding Schools, this afterlife ritual has been stolen. These children, close relatives of living Nisenan Tribal Members today, were never returned to their families nor their Ancestral Homeland. Their whereabouts remain a mystery, and their right of passage to 'estom yanim was forsaken. In this collage, I have depicted two small children on their rightful soul's journey to 'estom yanim. This artwork is dedicated to the children. May their souls be peaceful and free. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/1667266113530-DERQSWKAHYIDRD7C6SFH/Cindy-VTA2022-web.jpg VTA 2022 (Copy) “Keep Still and Be Quiet” Cindy Buero (Nisenan Tribal Member) Paper, Colored Pencils, Pens, Ink dye, Fabric, and Hand made Doll with Human Hair 13x 20” _________________________ "At the age of two, my mother was left without any family, completely alone. This was in 1923 in the town of Ione. A small family of two, a sister and brother, took my mother in and raised her. Mom would refer to them as Aunty and Uncle Sam, they were Southern Nisenan, Miwok, and Black. In 1925 the government sent Indian agents out to reservations to "gather up" Indian children and take them away to the Indian Boarding Schools and my mom was sure to go. Aunty yelled for Mom, "Ani 'To' O' Pe! Get under my skirt," then said "keep still and stay quiet" and with her baby doll, my mom did just that. Growing up, I heard this story numerous times but not until this project did I ever feel the story. I can't imagine the fear running through the two of them. If found, Mom would have been taken away, and because Aunty and Uncle Sam were not white, who knows what punishment they may have endured? Mom was not taken away to Boarding School on that day and Aunty probably felt a sense of victory. After that Mom traveled the fruit orchards with Aunty picking whatever was in season, Mom made five cents a day. Creating this piece, made me very emotional at times. It made me wish that I had paid more attention to Mom's stories. Mom was more than a book of knowledge, she was a library." https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/1667493166352-ZRV2VGJAPOBIXHE22MTK/Sarah-VTA2022-web.jpg VTA 2022 (Copy) " ‘ustomah - unburied" Sarah Thomas (Nisenan Tribal Council Member) Pencil and Charcoal on Paper 12x16” _________________________ A Nisenan Elder overlooks nevada city built on top of the Nisenan Village of ‘ustomah. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/1667493209239-SX0KULXB98BO9LJXRD9F/Brianna-VTA2022-web.jpg VTA 2022 (Copy) "For All the Gold in the World" Brianna French briannafrench.com Watercolor and gold leaf on clay board 24x36" _________________________ What does it mean for a landscape, a culture, a human, to be erased? What is the significance of being seen? What has been forgotten, ignored, and erased? What has been chosen instead? What is left? How can the invisible be seen and valued? Where is the reverence and compassion for what was, for what is, and for what comes? What is due, what is just, what is required for healing, for reparation, for protection? How can anger, and sorrow, and shame transform? What can they become? https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/1667493278912-62S7L2C7RHIX2ZKFGVPF/Debra-VTA2022-web.jpg VTA 2022 (Copy) "Slipping Away" Debra McBrien (Nisenan Tribal Member) Collage on Paper, with Colored Pencil 12x16” _________________________ The hourglass represents what has happened throughout time. The top of the hourglass represents the Nisenan world as they lived it. The bottom of the hourglass represents what is occurring now. The Indian falling and trying to catch his child represents the Nisenan trying to save their lives, their culture, and their identity, as wildfires are continuing the destruction of Nature and wildlife. The hands which hold an Indian's face represent hope to hold the Nisenan through community help and recognition. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/1667493321902-VSD78K9OIDOIWXIUI64Q/SarahC-VTA2022-web.jpg VTA 2022 (Copy) "wo • nom" Sarah Coleman colemanpaintings.com Acrylic on Wood Panel 18x24” _________________________ 'estom yanim is sacred to the Nisenan people. It is the source of all life and the place where the Spirit goes after death. The Nisenan refer to this place even today as their Sacred Mountain, where they will be for a time before returning to the Cosmos. The base of the Sacred Mountain holds an entrance, with a gatekeeper who will either let the Spirit in or turn it away to wander. If allowed in, the Spirit will eventually take to the stars and make its path to the Milky Way. This piece honors Nevada City Rancheria Tribal Member Ronald Clark. Ronny was the eldest son of Birdie, who was Dutch and Carmel's oldest daughter. Our memories of Ronald are of a silly and witty boy who was also quiet and contemplative. We miss him greatly. wo • nom - dead https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/1667493443029-NUQ53A50CM6LUGTYS4N2/Ursula-VTA2022-web.jpg VTA 2022 (Copy) "The Before Time" Ursula X Young, ursulaxyoung.com , Acrylic & Stain on Wood, 20x20” _________________________ This piece highlights the immense amount of Flora and Fauna that were lost or depleted right here in our region, and the forever changed landscape that the gold rush - "the great destruction" - left in its wake. The Nisenan people lived harmoniously for thousands of years on this land, and it took just a couple of generations to strip so much of that natural environment. Here, nevada city sits at the top of the painting - dark & foreboding - the landscape buried below like the roots of a tree exposing all that was lost: herds of wild elk, wolf, rattlesnakes, and condor - a time before. Also featured are the sierra buttes, large ponderosa, black oak, mugwort & service berries which were all of great significance to the Nisenan people. My intention was to create a dream-like piece showing an alternate universe - of the time before. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/1667493492478-3PP5F5J6BIE5MP026235/Maile-VTA2022-web.jpg VTA 2022 (Copy) "Imaginal Portrait: Calling them Home" Maile Claire, junipertreeoflife.com Graphite and Ink on Clayboard, 36x48” _________________________ In this imaginal portrait, Tribal Spokeswoman Shelly Covert, wears etched Eagle bone earrings, inspired by real 19th-century pieces “collected” directly from this region during the Voznesenskii Expedition: 1828-1841, and now held in the KunstKamera Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia. The pattern behind her head is from a family basket "collected" from pan pakan (lake wildwood) and held in a Harvard museum collection on the East Coast. The animal tracks reference species with personal meaning and power to Shelly. All these Cultural icons and animal beings have been scattered, erased, removed, or reduced from the land. But in the imaginal realm, the place of thought, dreams, yearning, magic, art, and the future, we can begin to dream everyone home. It is my hope that this piece in some sense rematriates lost things— connecting past and present, honoring Shelly’s unique role as a Culture keeper, land protector, and community builder in our unique town. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/1667493569886-BA76VVMI034WREH08MER/Ginger-VTA2022-web.jpg VTA 2022 (Copy) "Alone" Ginger Covert (Nisenan Elder and Tribal Council Member) Acrylic on Canvas 11x14” _________________________ “He is missing his freedom. Often wolves were part of the Nisenan family unit, and close companions, helping with hunting and securing food. Many of my relatives included wolves as part of their family.” - Ginger Covert https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/1667493098001-TC0OWHEVCPJCDC1EEVW9/JenniferC-VTA2022-web.jpg VTA 2022 (Copy) "Return" Jennifer Rain Crosby jenniferraincrosby.com Handcrafted oil paints on wood panel. Some colors were gathered locally, 72x40” _________________________ “Return” is a portrait of Nisenan Elder Dutch Rose. The Tribe requested that he be wearing California Condor Regalia. This is something denied to him in his lifetime but is possible now through the alchemy of vision, skill, materials, and intention. The making of this painting was a prayer for the Nisenan people. Dutch Rose stands with his feet in the land, rising up out of ‘estom yanim, the (marysville buttes). A California Condor flies overhead bringing the blessing of rain. As the Condor returns from the brink of extinction, may all Native California Tribes be returned to their rightful lands. May lost knowledge return through the Ancestors and the land to bring healing and purpose to all our people. May our youth hear their voices and be guided by their wisdom. *Note about local pigments Orange skin highlight: Yellow ocher heated in glass kiln Orange feather patterns: red/brown clay Red line over buttes: red clay https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/cb631799-f59f-410a-b3b6-ebd245ff9549/Amanda-VTA2022-web.jpeg VTA 2022 (Copy) "Rising From The Ashes" Amanda Ashley: missmoth.org & Brianna French: briannafrench.com _________________________ Plastisol screen print, glue chipped glass, 23k gold leaf, 12k white gold leaf, sterling silver leaf, abalone shell, oil-based enamel, and glitter on layered glass Special Thanks To Our Donors: Sepp Leaf, Moule Paint & Glass, Viking Sandblasting & Grass Valley Signs https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/764123d4-d175-4369-8273-848f0944eae6/Screen+Shot+2022-10-07+at+12.01.24+PM.png https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/d499adcc-746d-40b9-8831-50f6e0189c2a/NHD2017.png https://www.ubaseo.org/pamblo daily 0.75 2026-04-04 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/ac4d26d9-7b83-4f06-b648-4e9e027c06d5/UbaSeo_Pamblo_Opening-4.jpg PAMBLO https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/05ff136e-a026-4115-8006-03152f2e4070/UbaSeo_Pamblo_Opening-39.jpg PAMBLO niṡem ḱawwaḱ Bishop Randall Material: Glass Instagram: @Bishop3333 ________________________________________ A recurring question in my work is, “Where does culture arise—from the land or its people?” Culture is the accumulation of observations that become stories, rituals, and ways of life shaped by place. This map reflects more than geography—it embodies the spirit of land and people, their memories and dreams, both tangible and ineffable, across past, present, and future. It asks: where have we been, where are we now, where are we headed? Clear glass, at first transparent, reveals distortions and layers when examined closely. So too does a place’s history, exposing complex truths about its people and environment. Glass —fragile, malleable, and transparent — mirrors cultural exchange and transformation, while also symbolizing the invisibility forced upon the original people of this land. How do we learn from the past, honor what has been taken, and, as newcomers, respectfully become part of it? May this map invite reflection and offer pathways to reimagine relationships with the land and its first inhabitants — finding our place through the practice of place. The territory encompassed by this glass artwork is the territory that fell under Pamblo’s leadership in the 1850's. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/7ac7f6ec-e9b3-4793-a06c-c977fece509b/UbaSeo_Pamblo_Opening-2+copy.jpg PAMBLO https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/02a15b69-c79a-4e1c-b7b7-fb27b50b5646/UbaSeo_Pamblo_Opening-17+web.jpeg PAMBLO Remembering Pamblo, Digital Artwork, 2025 ________________________________________ This portrait of Chief Pamblo is the culmination of the Tribe’s deep desire to honor him with a visual representation. While not an exact likeness, it serves as a symbolic remembrance — an image to hold in our collective imagination as we share his story. Created through respectful collaboration between Tribal members and artist Daniel Joy Grimes, the work combines oral histories, 19th-century descriptions, images of descendants, and traditional regalia, with digital artistry and custom programming tools. In the absence of any known photograph or drawing, this composite offers a likeness guided by cultural memory and rooted in the spirit of his lineage. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/818651b7-b532-4f77-84f8-82963454e751/UbaSeo_Pamblo_Opening-8-2.jpg PAMBLO https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/f31aaf13-6334-4fc0-b76d-0288d3303a71/UbaSeo_Pamblo_Opening-36+web.jpeg PAMBLO Honoring Descendants of Pamblo Dutch Rose, Ginger (Rose) Covert, & Shelly Covert Maile Claire, junipertreeoflife.com Graphite and Ink on Clayboard ________________________________________ These three imaginal portraits were always envisioned as a series. The artworks were created by Visibility Through Art (VTA) participant artist Maile Claire, in collaboration with the Nevada City Rancheria Nisenan Tribe. The series began in 2022 with a portrait of Tribal Spokesperson Shelly Covert, and expanded in 2024 with the addition of Ginger Covert’s portrait, the final portrait of Dutch Rose was completed in 2025. Dutch was an informal leader, peacemaker, and friend to many, during a time of great change, fragmentation and cultural invisibility. Dutch played a central role in the succession of formal and informal leadership from the 1850s to the present. His earnest and compassionate leadership integrated different strands of surviving Nisenan kinship and culture. Following the passing of honored elder Ginger Covert at the end of 2024, HUṠWEJ (formerly CHIRP) and the Tribe were moved to complete the series with Dutch in 2025 as a tribute to her memory and the legacy she carried forward on behalf of forgotten Nisenan headman Pamblo — informing Nisenan culture, tradition, and leadership. Each artwork reimagines these Tribal members adorned in traditional regalia — elements they may not have had access to during their lifetimes — and in meaningful connection with native animals and plants of each tribal members choosing. Family Tree: Chief Pamblo aka Charly Toley | Mary Ellen Toley | Mary Ellen Potts | Frances Harry “Dutch” Rose | Virginia “Ginger” Rose Covert | Shelly Covert https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/6fec6a67-7a41-4e38-b63d-da6c61dd2d51/UbaSeo_Pamblo_Opening-5+sm-web.jpeg PAMBLO https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/eb52d34c-0f97-4b7b-b8e8-f3002941a0e8/UbaSeo_Pamblo_Opening-43+web.jpeg PAMBLO The Gilded Price Of Freedom Saxon Thomas (Nevada City Rancheria Nisenan Tribal Member) Print, Airbrush & Acrylic on Wood ________________________________________ The gold first discovered in Nisenan territory and extracted from California's mines was a lifeline for the Union's war effort. By the time the Civil War began, the gold rush had transformed California into an economic powerhouse. The gold, which was shipped east, helped stabilize the Union's currency, allowing the government to borrow money and pay for the immense cost of the war. Ulysses S. Grant even stated, "I do not know what we would do in this great national emergency were it not for the gold sent from California." In essence, the gold rush, fueled by the displacement and genocide of Californian Indians, directly enabled the Union to outspend and outlast the Confederacy. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/f28d9681-b67d-453b-9208-c224c16e3273/UbaSeo_Pamblo_Opening-7+web.jpg PAMBLO https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/5d340910-40aa-4db8-8b33-3d1c578b0970/UbaSeo_Pamblo_Opening-47+web.jpeg PAMBLO Colors of Re-membering ________________________________________ Local artist, Mekdela Maskal, led a multi-day workshop around naturally dyed textiles in collaboration with Tribal Members, centered on Native identity and connection to place. Through natural dyeing techniques, materials collected from the land, and guided artistic exploration, participants engaged in a creative and collective process to express personal and shared experiences of Nisenan identity. In stark contrast to the neighboring wall installation displaying imposed legal definitions of Indigeneity, this place and time-specific fabric installation serves as a reclamation of Tribal narrative, rooted in their relationships with the land, each other, and their own truths. Materials: Silk, and locally foraged plants including maple, mullein, oak galls, lichen, soil, manzanitta leaves and bark. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/72b323b7-b7dc-47f1-822e-2e8cc182673c/UbaSeo_Pamblo_Opening-11.jpg PAMBLO https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/21be44d0-45d6-4625-aa19-c99fead88b02/UbaSeo_Pamblo_Opening-50+web.jpeg PAMBLO Nevada City Tribal Members At The Peabody Museum ________________________________________ These photographs feature Nevada City Rancheria Nisenan Tribal Members at the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology in Boston, MA holding baskets collected from the kokkokċa· Anthony House area (Penn Valley) and ˀʉstʉma Nevada City in the late 1880s. It is believed these baskets were crafted by their ancestors, potentially during the time of Chief Pamblo’s leadership. The survival of these artifacts amidst the cultural losses of the Nisenan people is nothing short of miraculous. Their first contact with descendants of their makers reflects a meaningful reconnection with the past. We extend gratitude to the Peabody Museum for its commitment to ethical stewardship, as articulated in their guiding principles: “The Peabody Museum must critically engage with its challenging legacy of Eurocentrism and recognize collections as the cultural heritage of the communities from which they originate. Euro-American anthropology museums are a product of imperialism and colonial expansion that continue to perpetuate inequities today. As such, they reflect Eurocentric perspectives and biases on the acquisition, ownership, use, and understanding of the cultural belongings, human remains, and documents that are redefined as collections in museum contexts. The Peabody Museum has committed to a holistic program of ethical stewardship of the collections in its care. Ethical stewardship describes a set of values and practices that promote historical reflection while directing museums to become agents of a more equitable and inclusive future. This entails building and nurturing respectful, open, and reciprocal relationships with descendant communities and other heritage stakeholders.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/0e9b27af-7697-4f7b-ab55-9038fa4491c5/UbaSeo_Pamblo_Opening-12web.jpeg PAMBLO https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/38d8cdd7-dd20-4a7c-81b5-be714e6e6b2a/UbaSeo_Pamblo_Opening-52.jpg PAMBLO A Mountain of Rest Heidi Noel (Nevada City Rancheria Nisenan Tribal Member) Acrylic on Canvas ________________________________________ “This is how I see our sacred mountain ˀeṡtom janim. I always knew the Konkow and River Potwin held this mountain sacred but I wasn’t aware of how important it was to our Tribe until recently. This is how I envision the mountain with someone sleeping in it, maybe it is Pamblo?” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/6456773e-7d13-4e85-b39c-da6156b7ac2c/UbaSeo_Pamblo_Opening-54+web.jpeg PAMBLO We Brought the Medicine Cindy Buero (Nevada City Rancheria Nisenan Tribal Member) Acrylic on Feathers ________________________________________ Traditionally, when trading with other California Tribes, the Nisenan would offer the rich medicines and healing herbs gathered from their ancestral landscape. These gifts carried knowledge, care, and deep relationship with the land. Flowers Painted on Feathers: Wild Rose, Dandelion, Yarrow, California Poppy, Lavender, Clover, Echinacea, Camomile But with the devastation of the gold rush, the Indian boarding school era, and the many colonial systems designed to erase Native culture, much of this plant knowledge and the traditions surrounding it were violently disrupted. This artwork speaks to the changes in the land and culture over time — a remembering and a returning. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/fb1c2b04-3fe3-4ca6-90a1-10e8f37cf888/UbaSeo_Pamblo_Opening-19+web.jpeg PAMBLO https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/bf0fbffd-6401-4993-927f-53c4c08655c9/UbaSeo_Pamblo_Opening-58+web.jpeg PAMBLO jomim hu·kum Tiffany Adams (Native | Nisenan Artist) tiffanyadamsartist.com Acrylic on Canvas ________________________________________ Adams is the fourth-great-granddaughter of Chief Pamblo. Collectively as a family and Tribe we are reimagining the face of our ancestor. This art created by Tiffany, a direct descendant, enhances our ability to tell his story. We felt it was essential that a Native artist and descendant create a rendering of him. Tiffany Adams is the daughter of Lois Louise Potts, daughter of Leola Smith, daughter of Lillian Rose, daughter of Mary Ellen Potts, who is the daughter of Mary Ellen Toley, who was the daughter of great Nisenan huk (Headman), Pamblo. We are honored that Adams agreed to partner with us on this project. Tiffany Adams is a Native artist, painter, sculptor, jeweler, and culture bearer. Her work often includes portraiture that weaves in articles and text connected to the feminine experience. By linking imagery and performance with contemporary political and social issues, Adams rewrites common narratives through her artistic process. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/7d646f31-cbc5-4d89-aab4-3a93837b9d4d/UbaSeo_Pamblo_Opening-15+web.jpeg PAMBLO https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/52c387b4-d8fd-4e89-ae33-5d19235cde5a/UbaSeo_Pamblo_Opening-78.jpg PAMBLO Tribal Member Stained Glass Artworks ________________________________________ In the beginning of 2025, Tribal Members participated in a two-day intensive stained glass-making class at Yulića, in the new dedicated arts space on the newly acquired Tribal land. This enriching workshop was an incredible inaugural experience, sparking creativity, learning, and exploration for the Tribe at this special new location. Under the expert guidance of local stained glass experts Kilani Glenn and Rachel White, co-owners of Flux + Flow Glass, each participant designed their own glass pattern and learned the entire stained glass-making process from start to finish. With this exhibition theme in mind they each designed a Nisenan symbolic glass artwork. CHIRP’s Visibility Through Art (VTA) project not only provides Tribal enrichment opportunities for Tribal members within the arts, but also works with them to create installations, collective artworks, and individual pieces to exhibit each year at ‘Uba Seo: Nisenan Arts & Culture. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/67ceddb0-2096-4023-bcbf-d29331a7150a/UbaSeo_Pamblo_Opening-25+web.jpeg PAMBLO https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/4f857b82-11d9-4c0e-ac14-2ee3ae6c7d50/UbaSeo_Pamblo_Opening-60+web.jpeg PAMBLO wʉkte·ˀelaḱamuḱum “big red one” Sarah Thomas (Nevada City Rancheria Nisenan Tribal Member) Acrylic Painting on Canvas Photo ________________________________________ Remembering the time of Pamblo, a time when our culture was still intact, spirit beings like “wʉktol” would have been far more present. A representation of our connection to place, story, and culture. This creature was said to steal and assault the Nisenan women and if men came to save them, it would throw them down the hill or into the water. It was said to live in a cave along Deer Creek. Stories like this serve as “societal guard rails,” of what not to be like, reminding us that humans were never at the top of the food chain, teaching us to navigate ourselves delicately in harmony with the landscape. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/98fb3494-c246-4120-8568-6623442cd326/UbaSeo_Pamblo_Opening-27+web.jpeg PAMBLO https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/9e5166e6-5c46-4c01-93c2-3b0e0ebcac2d/UbaSeo_Pamblo_Opening-77.jpg PAMBLO https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/75b45f89-ead7-4f11-a466-abac849d1ef6/UbaSeo_Pamblo_Opening-62.jpg PAMBLO panpakan and kokkokċa· (Pleasant Valley & Lake Wildwood Areas) Debra McBrien (Nevada City Rancheria Nisenan Tribal Member) Natural Materials & Found Objects ________________________________________ Diorama of a roundhouse and Nisenan Burn Pyre, created from found objects and natural materials, by a Nevada City Rancheria Nisenan Tribal Member. This was created as a practice of remembering the time of Pamblo and the villages he lived in, panpakan and kokkokċa· in the Pleasant Valley area. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/3ffb0d15-006d-43aa-b49c-3c98add01eed/UbaSeo_Pamblo_Opening-40+%281%29.jpg PAMBLO https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/12a334a8-f1d1-48fd-93ae-83e5adeffd87/UbaSeo_Pamblo_Opening-67.jpg PAMBLO The Tree of Mystery Lorena Davis (Nevada City Rancheria Nisenan Tribal Member) Pour Paints on Canvas ________________________________________ “The tree featured in this artwork revealed itself in the same way our Ancestral memories do. It is a symbol of our connection to place, ancestry, and our culture.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/f5a6dd1f-47ce-4a6a-af9a-5898b99afac8/UbaSeo_Pamblo_Opening-81.jpg PAMBLO https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/30c5bf2a-6e60-402f-8ae1-75c192f4e62a/UbaSeo_Pamblo_Opening-70.jpg PAMBLO The Keeper Of Memory Shelly Covert (Nevada City Rancheria Nisenan Tribal Spokesperson) Acrylic on Canvas ________________________________________ “Our DNA is the connection to those who curate the memories. In this piece the memory keeper awaits those seeking knowledge, while collecting the experiences of the living.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/52df5a0a-45e2-4b00-9cc9-2ecf99b89ac3/UbaSeo_Pamblo_Opening-79.jpg PAMBLO https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/8c29aeac-3524-43b2-8dd8-116dea16330a/UbaSeo_Pamblo_Opening-71.jpg PAMBLO Where They Walked Brittney DePew (Nevada City Rancheria Nisenan Tribal Member) Acrylic on Canvas ________________________________________ Bathed in warm hues of red, orange, and yellow, the bears walk in their path, which honors the sacred journey of learning, following, and becoming. Two baby bears walk behind their strong, graceful mama, their paw prints echoing hers—a quiet reflection of generations past. A bold Tribal pattern spans the background, representing land, teachings, and spirits that carry ancestral wisdom. The colors radiate warmth and strength — red for bloodline, orange for connection, yellow for hope and rebirth. In many Indigenous traditions, bears embody family, protection, and the courage to walk old paths with new steps. This piece reflects how we follow our ancestors — in footsteps, values, ceremony, and the knowing that we do not walk alone. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/74d2a1b5-b792-4887-9a4b-378cb6d16ce8/UbaSeo_Pamblo_Opening-31+web.jpeg PAMBLO https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/16361002-5946-478d-9da3-3fa0d74bcd9f/UbaSeo_Pamblo_Opening-32web.jpeg PAMBLO https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/d00e3da5-bd6d-4681-bc44-29082e7cbca6/UbaSeo_Pamblo_Opening-33.jpg PAMBLO https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/74d112a1-0f23-459d-b7cd-57f98590532c/UbaSeo_Pamblo_Opening-34+web.jpeg PAMBLO https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/005b2ec6-a713-4af7-8fa9-48f3dc8541ec/img_1083_720.jpg PAMBLO https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/d5f30152-c224-490b-a014-a8eef33f251c/img_1085_720.jpg PAMBLO https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/016f3013-fcc4-4690-b576-bd2748e118c0/img_1088_720.jpg PAMBLO https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/bca1e464-e4c5-4ca4-ae32-0e7b2492256c/img_1087_720.jpg PAMBLO https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/57c3faed-544d-4b93-b0a9-51de6c9e84d4/img_1089_720.jpg PAMBLO https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/69428c5f-af47-4c5a-9ccf-0fca5c7484a8/UbaSeo_Pamblo_Opening-104.jpg PAMBLO https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/a6fb40e7-15e3-4d67-91ef-a4558903c2bb/img_1091_720.jpg PAMBLO https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/11edfbe0-0da2-4aa9-a2c4-03e9f6e66dac/UbaSeo_Pamblo_Opening-115.jpg PAMBLO https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/7e0ef28b-04bd-4f75-8800-72cd2fe3cfc5/UbaSeo_Pamblo_Opening-83.jpg PAMBLO https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/1286204b-2be2-4d5d-934b-62626827637c/UbaSeo_Pamblo_Opening-84.jpg PAMBLO https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/65e83885-a4bb-44ad-9acc-3bb9640fb658/UbaSeo_Pamblo_Opening-85.jpg PAMBLO https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/fddfc3a8-cedb-40f7-a7c5-9cf5842f0f32/UbaSeo_Pamblo_Opening-86.jpg PAMBLO https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/7e639a5b-210f-4de6-aba5-42f2d9a7f856/UbaSeo_Pamblo_Opening-87.jpg PAMBLO https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/22bfabc3-fb28-47c2-8b01-27d262eb5bb2/UbaSeo_Pamblo_Opening-88.jpg PAMBLO https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/91119833-0f58-4cc7-9db5-a2f7aa2ef20f/UbaSeo_Pamblo_Opening-91.jpg PAMBLO https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/0183bb01-a261-4473-a9ff-236f96c88306/UbaSeo_Pamblo_Opening-94.jpg PAMBLO https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/0718da78-06e7-4aa2-9fd0-dfb6093a9c06/UbaSeo_Pamblo_Opening-95.jpg PAMBLO https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/2993d140-415b-42f8-925c-599c41345976/UbaSeo_Pamblo_Opening-96.jpg PAMBLO https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/230bb413-591f-41ac-9aac-9593c09334db/UbaSeo_Pamblo_Opening-101.jpg PAMBLO https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/fdf2a0b1-ebb0-4911-a291-fa147c77d908/UbaSeo_Pamblo_Opening-110.jpg PAMBLO https://www.ubaseo.org/vta-2020 daily 0.75 2026-07-23 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/3a46fcbc-76ac-49bb-80a5-847497dbdaed/IMG_1897.webp Visibility Through Art | 2020 Projects https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/18841e7a-a9f5-40a1-b4e6-9557dab08c36/IMG_2639.webp Visibility Through Art | 2020 Projects https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/1784240780568-8K3K2LQ4687H0ABXTCIL/IMG_1868.webp Visibility Through Art | 2020 Projects https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/95e64beb-ac54-4e84-a4a0-ecd6b3719487/IMG_2511.webp Visibility Through Art | 2020 Projects https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/42f8ff71-3847-4706-a44a-b98c5f119c03/IMG_8488.webp Visibility Through Art | 2020 Projects https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/5b860295-7e1f-4bd8-85d2-432aedd54056/IMG_2519.webp Visibility Through Art | 2020 Projects https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/1784240733945-AAY7JIOQQVUASFR1TPTD/IMG_1876.webp Visibility Through Art | 2020 Projects https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/c71f842a-da35-4a89-bc3d-3bcac4315659/IMG_2515.webp Visibility Through Art | 2020 Projects https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/1784240811652-4IZB51Q9HZN75IWMA6ZS/IMG_1905.webp Visibility Through Art | 2020 Projects https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/8567a316-cdb5-4974-a41b-e804aa8f9f5b/IMG_2523.webp Visibility Through Art | 2020 Projects https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/1784240642758-RHGFMV5W8HYOV8SX09W7/IMG_1883%252B2.webp Visibility Through Art | 2020 Projects https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/996680e1-df87-4b05-b593-12b4c8e7d912/0.webp Visibility Through Art | 2020 Projects https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/641a9973-534f-46a0-a885-54f7165c4af7/118895955_318400582601197_1025611104357155286_n.webp Visibility Through Art | 2020 Projects https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/d7b4221a-bf86-4de6-b79e-1960f87a4022/0-3.webp Visibility Through Art | 2020 Projects https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/d6521536-c104-4f36-b8d4-6fb73a6fbb07/0-4.webp Visibility Through Art | 2020 Projects https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/350cda7d-725c-4558-984c-ab8721bc3870/0-5.webp Visibility Through Art | 2020 Projects https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/36f6d959-e3a0-464e-9a0e-78e72518256f/0-2.webp Visibility Through Art | 2020 Projects https://www.ubaseo.org/vta-2019 daily 0.75 2026-07-23 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/154d76df-940f-4f68-b42b-09dea38c7a9e/birdie-jardokane-2019.jpg Homelands: Restoration. Sovereignty. Recognition. Birdie by Jarod Kane, ellugallery.com/jarod-kane Charcoal and clay Featuring Alberta “Birdie” Rose Gallez ____________________________________________ It has always been the primary function of myth to provide the right symbols to carry the human spirit forward, to contradict those constant fantasies that would hold us back. Through the stories of Coyote we learn of a trickster or of someone who meddles. Coyote can do what we shouldn’t do or say what shouldn’t be said. Through the stories of Coyote we learn life lessons and perhaps some fun. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/27bb7185-4e7a-4c86-9c55-b46dbfb3d5c2/w2019.jpg Homelands: Restoration. Sovereignty. Recognition. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/3dbda727-f3a4-4ae1-a5c8-b76088cfac11/bear-jenniferrugge-2019.jpg Homelands: Restoration. Sovereignty. Recognition. Kapa (Bear) By Jennifer Rugge Mixed media, papers, mineral paints, gold leaf, charcoal and cold wax. Collaboration with Nevada City Rancheria Spokesperson and Tribal Council Member Shelly Covert ___________________________________________ In the painting, kapa holds and protects sacred Nisenan beings and the Sacred Mountain, 'estom yanim is etched along his back. If you look closely, other important Nisenan symbology can be found as-well-as great animal beings who are completely gone or in danger of disappearing. We are grateful to artist Jennifer Rugge for creating this image exclusively for our 10th Anniversary Nisenan Heritage Day poster and merchandise. The Mountain Lion, pekun, watches and protects. It is a symbol of leadership, the balance of power, intention, physical strength, and grace or as the balance of body, mind and spirit. Here the shoulders and back of pekun reflect the ridge of the sacred mountain, ‘estom yanim. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/a927762f-51c0-4a21-a065-89432c6905af/Jennifer+Rugge+teaches+mineral+paint+class+to+TM.jpg Homelands: Restoration. Sovereignty. Recognition. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/06ed16b0-1c07-43db-9e92-8da51725f009/mountainlion-jenniferrugge-2019.jpg Homelands: Restoration. Sovereignty. Recognition. Pekun (Mountain Lion) By Jennifer Rugge Mixed media, papers, mineral paints, gold leaf, charcoal and cold wax. Collaboration with Nevada City Rancheria Spokesperson and Tribal Council Member Shelly Covert ___________________________________________ In the painting, kapa holds and protects sacred Nisenan beings and the Sacred Mountain, 'estom yanim is etched along his back. If you look closely, other important Nisenan symbology can be found as-well-as great animal beings who are completely gone or in danger of disappearing. We are grateful to artist Jennifer Rugge for creating this image exclusively for our 10th Anniversary Nisenan Heritage Day poster and merchandise. The Mountain Lion, pekun, watches and protects. It is a symbol of leadership, the balance of power, intention, physical strength, and grace or as the balance of body, mind and spirit. Here the shoulders and back of pekun reflect the ridge of the sacred mountain, ‘estom yanim. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/a5bf71f5-830d-44ba-89ab-af26de3f2562/IMG_3796.JPG Homelands: Restoration. Sovereignty. Recognition. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/1ede55b8-51d4-4c66-af27-6501524c5577/carmelrosejacksonrestored-alyssawalz-2019.jpg Homelands: Restoration. Sovereignty. Recognition. Carmel Rose Jackson, Restored. Alyssa Walz Pencil, Colored pencil, Ink ___________________________________________ Featured in this image is Matriarch Carmel Rose Jackson b. 1921, photographed with a traditional Nisenan dancing belt wrapped around her head. During the photoshoot the Non-Nisenan photographer asked Carmel to tie her dancer’s belt around her head—even though it did not belong there. She did not want to embarrass the photographer so she posed that way. This is a classic example of how culture can become misrepresented by outsiders which further contributes to erasure. This art piece reclaims the true purpose and tradition of the Nisenan dancing belt. This art piece is intended to allow Carmel’s portrait to be viewed as it should have been originally, without her dancer's belt on her head. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/a31408b1-98d0-44f7-8727-7e91bca6fa85/1025191328h.jpg Homelands: Restoration. Sovereignty. Recognition. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/9e7f14c2-b811-4c5a-bb95-c693ba476530/actioncausedbylove-ronkenedi-2019+.jpg Homelands: Restoration. Sovereignty. Recognition. Action Caused by Love, by Ron Kenedi. Oil on canvas ___________________________________________ The painting depicts two important advocates for the Nevada City Rancheria, Belle Douglas and Shelly Covert...though separated by a century both provide support and action for the betterment of the Nisenan people. Images of Tribe members, California condor, and the foothills are also represented. The work is meant to elicit a feeling of safety among the people, animals, and homeland while paying well deserved homage to advocates. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/0669605b-0d39-468e-8d8b-2af07f25542e/mineralpaints-group-2019.jpg Homelands: Restoration. Sovereignty. Recognition. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/b2a8f396-d288-444a-9d75-cdbbb56c6045/earthminerals-ginger-2019.jpg Homelands: Restoration. Sovereignty. Recognition. Earth Minerals in Painting, a Workshop with Tribal Members. Artwork by NCR Nisenan Tribal Member: Ginger Covert. Mixed media using papers, charcoal, and mineral paints ___________________________________________ With Earth Artist, Jennifer Rugge, Tribal members learned the skill of mixing natural mineral pigments into paints and their application to create organic works of Art on wood panels. Members worked individually mixing paints with oil and beeswax, designing and finishing their art pieces. At the conclusion of the workshop, it was realized that each painting represented a Season. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/883f05fc-56e7-4a33-8e87-34c4ebcdcbe6/IMG_E9358.jpg Homelands: Restoration. Sovereignty. Recognition. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/a2af9fe1-cea3-49fe-8528-71ad8a89ff01/earthminerals-shara-2019.jpg Homelands: Restoration. Sovereignty. Recognition. Earth Minerals in Painting, a Workshop with Tribal Members. Artwork by NCR Nisenan Tribal Member Sarah Thomas. Mixed media using papers, charcoal, and mineral paints ___________________________________________ With Earth Artist, Jennifer Rugge, Tribal members learned the skill of mixing natural mineral pigments into paints and their application to create organic works of Art on wood panels. Members worked individually mixing paints with oil and beeswax, designing and finishing their art pieces. At the conclusion of the workshop, it was realized that each painting represented a Season. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/a27cb608-96d5-486a-83a3-1839a2a32126/IMG_9420.jpg Homelands: Restoration. Sovereignty. Recognition. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/5c7a2034-6407-460b-9a23-ee9fec5bb8d1/earthminerals-lorena-2019.jpg Homelands: Restoration. Sovereignty. Recognition. Earth Minerals in Painting, a Workshop with Tribal Members. Artwork by NCR Nisenan Tribal Member Lorena Davis. Mixed media using papers, charcoal, and mineral paints ___________________________________________ With Earth Artist, Jennifer Rugge, Tribal members learned the skill of mixing natural mineral pigments into paints and their application to create organic works of Art on wood panels. Members worked individually mixing paints with oil and beeswax, designing and finishing their art pieces. At the conclusion of the workshop, it was realized that each painting represented a Season. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/1186a46c-cf44-4e72-9503-9fa76b666902/IMG_9421.jpg Homelands: Restoration. Sovereignty. Recognition. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/aadfbb3c-991c-42ab-b62e-b9d6e367bd59/earthminerals-ember-2019.jpg Homelands: Restoration. Sovereignty. Recognition. Earth Minerals in Painting, a Workshop with Tribal Members. Artwork by Ember Amador (not a Tribal Member). Mixed media using papers, charcoal, and mineral paints ___________________________________________ With Earth Artist, Jennifer Rugge, Tribal members learned the skill of mixing natural mineral pigments into paints and their application to create organic works of Art on wood panels. Members worked individually mixing paints with oil and beeswax, designing and finishing their art pieces. At the conclusion of the workshop, it was realized that each painting represented a Season. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/5c7f5344-5d6f-434f-934c-3e1c09125ece/earthabides-jennyhale-2019.jpg Homelands: Restoration. Sovereignty. Recognition. Earth Abides, by Jenny Hale jennyhaledesign.com. Watercolor, digital collage, LED lights Collaboration with Nevada City Rancheria Tribal Vice Chairperson Ginger Rose Covert ___________________________________________ Virginia Rose Covert, known as Ginger, holds the position of Vice Chairperson on the Tribal Council of the Nevada City Rancheria and represents her family in an unbroken leadership line of descendancy. She has been connected to the foothills of the Western Sierra Nevada all her life and is a link to the knowledge and history of the Tribe. While Father Henry “Dutch” Rose was logging in coastal redwood forests, the family lived in the woods. They hunted and gathered and lived off the land. Ginger grew up knowing the plants and creatures of the forest. She knows deer, possum, skunk, bear, frog and snake and they know her. Ginger describes Homeland as something in your body – a spiritual and physical feeling of home. In this artwork – the spirit of the forest watches while 1890’s loggers cut and clear the web of life that supported the Nisenan for thousands of years. Though trees may be felled, rivers rerouted and land washed away - the spirit of the forest will never be destroyed. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/74010f36-7ef6-4476-935d-70e2a9b627df/familyroots-ramacryer-2019.jpeg Homelands: Restoration. Sovereignty. Recognition. Family Roots by Rama Cryer. Wood burning, acrylic, pen and ink. Collaboration with Nevada City Rancheria Nisenan Tribal Member Cassandra Johnson ___________________________________________ My piece is representative of Cassandra and her kids, the family she loves and will pass on her Nisenan roots too. Atop a granite mountain, she stands silhouetted, removing her from any stereotypes that might question her Indigenous bloodline. Below her flows the three forks of the Yuba river, and above burned into the sky resides traditional patterns found in basket weaving, and words of the language of her people, her legacy soaking into her children. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/138fa4a0-a7c9-4341-a9e9-5b9b16335f45/findingourwaybackhome-indigodonaldson-2019.jpg Homelands: Restoration. Sovereignty. Recognition. Finding Our Way Back Home by Indigo Donaldson. Collage mixed medium. Collaboration with Nevada City Rancheria Tribal Council Member Sarah Thomas ___________________________________________ The message we would like to convey in this piece is the reassurance to our Ancestors that everything they went through was for us and the fruits of their work are ripening now. That the seed they planted has always been there, gestating, ready to sprout and grow and now the conditions are right for that to happen. Our children and grandchildren are starting to learn the culture and live in some of the ways, to respect our Ancestors, their knowledge, teachings and wisdom. In this piece the three forks of the river represent our past, present, and future. The ‘estom yanim (Sutter Buttes) are where we come from and where we go when we die, then finding our way up to the Milky Way where we start our journey. The lake represents the place where we all come back together and meet again. The Ancestors are always right here guiding us and watching over the grandchildren. We are heading towards a positive future through the path of recognition and finding our way back HOME. “The process of creating this piece together has been an incredibly positive and healing experience for both of us. It really has helped me to open up and share and put some feelings into words and feel comfortable in sharing with you, the artist. Creativity and ease of ideas and visions for this piece has just flowed with intention and inspiration. Putting emotions and thoughts into words then to art on a canvas is sometimes not an easy thing to do, but this process has been surprisingly easy and fulfilling.” - Sarah Thomas https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/a9bbc565-382c-4f7a-9a4b-d9428ae7d32b/puttingtogetherthepieces-leilaniwebb-2019.jpg Homelands: Restoration. Sovereignty. Recognition. Putting Together the Pieces by Leilani Webb. Acrylic and watercolor on wood. Collaboration with Nevada City Rancheria Tribal Member Karen McCluskey – descendent of the Rose-Potts family line. ___________________________________________ Karen has been “Putting Together the Pieces,” to learn her story and heritage. “tukim ne min,” means I love you in Nisenan. She attends classes with her children to learn the language of her Ancestors and help preserve the legacy of her people. When I asked her what she wants others to know about the Nisenan her simple reply spoke volumes, “We’re still here.” She is still here. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/327d7b91-bd98-438c-96a0-d2c29a74544a/loudsilence-chloeyoung-2019.jpg Homelands: Restoration. Sovereignty. Recognition. Loud Silence by Chloe Young. Acrylic. Collaboration with Nevada City Rancheria Nisenan Tribal Council Member Saxon Thomas ___________________________________________ This piece is of the ‘estom yanim (Sutter Buttes) with a big fire pit creating dancing smoke that floats up to the sky with the spirit of the wolf and some other forest animals. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/c35c4d6b-35f7-45c1-bd91-d6370ec50c6f/transmission-andycerrona-2019.jpg Homelands: Restoration. Sovereignty. Recognition. Transmission by Andy Cerrona www.cerrona.com . Digital print on paper Collaboration with Nevada City Rancheria Nisenan Tribal Council Member Saxon Thomas ___________________________________________ This art piece shows Saxon Thomas sharing the gift of native language with his children. The Nisenan language is currently being reclaimed and revitalized by the Nevada City Rancheria Nisenan and their Non-Profit CHIRP. Saxon Thomas https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/85afe876-12f1-48e9-b056-30fda63eb6a5/lookaround1-teighlorrenee-2019.jpg Homelands: Restoration. Sovereignty. Recognition. Look Around Series by Teighlor Renee Anderson. Watercolor, Ink ___________________________________________ In history books native people are often referred to in past-tense, though they are still here. Look around. Notice the impact of colonization. Notice the people, plants and animals around you. The Nisenan lived amongst many beings that endured the hardships that came during the Gold Rush, and they themselves did as well. The local language was nearly lost, though here you see plants and animals that persevered, as the resilient Nisenan people of nisem k'auwak' did, with the name they’ve known long before settlers walked this land. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/79aaaf1b-715a-49c9-b660-6dba63eb64a8/lookaround2-teighlorrenee-2019.jpg Homelands: Restoration. Sovereignty. Recognition. Look Around Series by Teighlor Renee Anderson. Watercolor, Ink ___________________________________________ In history books native people are often referred to in past-tense, though they are still here. Look around. Notice the impact of colonization. Notice the people, plants and animals around you. The Nisenan lived amongst many beings that endured the hardships that came during the Gold Rush, and they themselves did as well. The local language was nearly lost, though here you see plants and animals that persevered, as the resilient Nisenan people of nisem k'auwak' did, with the name they’ve known long before settlers walked this land. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/d5ebe620-aed9-468f-a1d2-1d5e8ee548a0/lookaround3-teighlorrenee-2019.jpg Homelands: Restoration. Sovereignty. Recognition. Look Around Series by Teighlor Renee Anderson. Watercolor, Ink ___________________________________________ In history books native people are often referred to in past-tense, though they are still here. Look around. Notice the impact of colonization. Notice the people, plants and animals around you. The Nisenan lived amongst many beings that endured the hardships that came during the Gold Rush, and they themselves did as well. The local language was nearly lost, though here you see plants and animals that persevered, as the resilient Nisenan people of nisem k'auwak' did, with the name they’ve known long before settlers walked this land. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/b09944e2-6b5c-4a72-9661-dbf94a038671/lookaround4-teighlorrenee-2019.jpg Homelands: Restoration. Sovereignty. Recognition. Look Around Series by Teighlor Renee Anderson. Watercolor, Ink ___________________________________________ In history books native people are often referred to in past-tense, though they are still here. Look around. Notice the impact of colonization. Notice the people, plants and animals around you. The Nisenan lived amongst many beings that endured the hardships that came during the Gold Rush, and they themselves did as well. The local language was nearly lost, though here you see plants and animals that persevered, as the resilient Nisenan people of nisem k'auwak' did, with the name they’ve known long before settlers walked this land. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/bfc97249-89b3-4227-b895-1a518ebd9d9c/lookaround5-teighlorrenee-2019.jpg Homelands: Restoration. Sovereignty. Recognition. Look Around Series by Teighlor Renee Anderson. Watercolor, Ink ___________________________________________ In history books native people are often referred to in past-tense, though they are still here. Look around. Notice the impact of colonization. Notice the people, plants and animals around you. The Nisenan lived amongst many beings that endured the hardships that came during the Gold Rush, and they themselves did as well. The local language was nearly lost, though here you see plants and animals that persevered, as the resilient Nisenan people of nisem k'auwak' did, with the name they’ve known long before settlers walked this land. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/457f6361-fe49-4ab4-921f-7176bce265ec/lookaround6-teighlorrenee-2019.jpg Homelands: Restoration. Sovereignty. Recognition. Look Around Series by Teighlor Renee Anderson. Watercolor, Ink ___________________________________________ In history books native people are often referred to in past-tense, though they are still here. Look around. Notice the impact of colonization. Notice the people, plants and animals around you. The Nisenan lived amongst many beings that endured the hardships that came during the Gold Rush, and they themselves did as well. The local language was nearly lost, though here you see plants and animals that persevered, as the resilient Nisenan people of nisem k'auwak' did, with the name they’ve known long before settlers walked this land. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/a5f2beeb-cf0b-4048-a114-78cd31727e27/homerecognition-miraclark-2019.jpg Homelands: Restoration. Sovereignty. Recognition. Home | Recognition by Mira Clark Existinspired.com. Watercolor and Pen. Collaboration with Nevada City Rancheria Spokesperson and Tribal Council Member Shelly Covert ___________________________________________ The number 287 is the Royce number corresponding with the 1851 California Indian Treaty negotiated between the Nisenan leaders and Federal agents representing the United States. This Treaty known as the “Camp Union Treaty” was negotiated at the confluence of the Bear and Yuba Rivers. The treaty would have provided a section of land located between Penn Valley and Rough and Ready. Tragically the treaties were never ratified by congress and were hidden away out of sight until found in 1904. This piece features the faces of living Tribal Members, as well as, items and places symbolic to home and recognition for the Nisenan people. This image represents the continued erasure, and broken promises that plague not only the Nisenan people, but Indigenous people all over the world. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/841b8359-ad32-409e-ae2b-046bec42097c/Iheardtheirstories-jessahurst-2019.jpg Homelands: Restoration. Sovereignty. Recognition. I Heard Their Stories By Jessa Hurst. Acrylic on Wood. Collaboration with Nevada City Rancheria Tribal Member Lorena Rose Davis ___________________________________________ In our interview, Lorena spoke about how so many of her Ancestors’ stories were never passed along, not written down, and lost as her elders past away. She believes that memories can be passed through our genetics and feels hopeful that if her and her remaining relatives pray in ceremony, their ancestors will come and help them remember. Lorena wrote this poem about a young man praying to a sacred fire and being joined by his ancestors, who remind him of the stories of his lineage. In this picture Lorena's grandson, Eddie, is praying to a sacred fire. His grandma, stands behind him in support and above her a deer from the land watches over them. This art piece is a vision of the remembering of stories that Lorena hopes for. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/c99a0896-79af-4abb-ab9a-7780796e002a/rememberingravens-milestoland-2019%2Bcopy.jpg Homelands: Restoration. Sovereignty. Recognition. Remembering and Ravens by Miles Toland milestoland.com. Acrylic on Birch. Collaboration with Nevada City Rancheria Spokesperson and Tribal Council Member Shelly Covert ___________________________________________ The ravens in the painting symbolize the Nisenan who were tragically mistreated, displaced, and murdered during the greed and entitlement of the Gold Rush. Similarly, the ravens represent the animal kingdom that is currently being exploited, over hunted, under represented, and displaced by human lifestyle to the point of extinction. These stories are parallel and are still being written by our hands. How do we nurture the ravens who have broken free? How do we release the ones still captive? Moreover, this painting also speaks to the recent trip that Shelly Covert took to the Kunstkamera Museum in Saint Petersburg to visit a sacred Raven’s cloak and other artifacts that were taken by Russian explorers in the mid 1800’s. “Ravens are an important part of the old Nisenan stories. They struggle and adapt to the modern world as best they can and reflect to me the Tribe's struggle to survive in modern day America. Ravens mate for life and are family oriented. They are strong and smart and beautiful. Their memories are outstanding. I am honored to have had a couple of Ravens as friends in my life and understand why their feathers were so important in Traditional Feather Regalia. My obsession for this amazing being leads me back to my Nisenan roots and one day I will have my own Raven Feather Regalia to accompany me in dance and ceremony.” –Shelly Covert https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/117d343f-319a-47bd-86b4-7666040a9d81/sacred-mountain-lorilachman-2019.jpg Homelands: Restoration. Sovereignty. Recognition. Sacred Mountain – ‘estom yanim by Lori Lachman lorilachman.smugmug.com . Photo Transfer. Collaboration with Nevada City Rancheria Spokesperson and Tribal Council Member Shelly Covert ___________________________________________ “It’s not polite to call it that.” A quote from Nevada City Rancheria Tribal Leader Dutch Rose. “This Mountain is the place of all life, and where we go when we die. Then we ascend to the Milky Way,” said Shelly Covert, Dutch’s granddaughter. This is the place of beginning. This is where we go when we die. This is the gateway to the Milky Way. The Mountain is central in their creation stories and afterlife. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/3321219e-536c-4586-a01b-ae0cd6196992/WOMENS%2BSERIES%2B%234%2BFINAL_SMALL.webp Homelands: Restoration. Sovereignty. Recognition. Guardians of the Dance by Jenny Hale. Watercolor and digital collage on translucent scrim material LED backlit. Collaboration between Nevada City Rancheria Nisenan Tribal Spokesperson Shelly Covert and local artist Jenny Hale as part of CHIRP’s Visibility through Art Initiative. ___________________________________________ Series of four images: “Guardians of the Dance” 2019 public art installation in downtown Nevada City. Nisenan female dancers in full dance regalia, layered over a topo map of their ancient Nisenan Homelands. Their headdresses are flicker feathers, bone, and abalone, and they hold a beaded dance belt. Their tattoos are passed on from countless Matriarchal Ancestors. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/4d6a0bd9-63e3-4a8e-92ce-a442d141d1db/WOMENS%2BSERIES%2B%233%2BFINAL_SMALL.webp Homelands: Restoration. Sovereignty. Recognition. Guardians of the Dance by Jenny Hale. Watercolor and digital collage on translucent scrim material LED backlit. Collaboration between Nevada City Rancheria Nisenan Tribal Spokesperson Shelly Covert and local artist Jenny Hale as part of CHIRP’s Visibility through Art Initiative. ___________________________________________ Series of four images: “Guardians of the Dance” 2019 public art installation in downtown Nevada City. Nisenan female dancers in full dance regalia, layered over a topo map of their ancient Nisenan Homelands. Their headdresses are flicker feathers, bone, and abalone, and they hold a beaded dance belt. Their tattoos are passed on from countless Matriarchal Ancestors. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/73ac1e01-cb75-4c43-99d5-29861ebf07eb/WOMENS%2BSERIES%2B%232%2BFINAL_SMALL.webp Homelands: Restoration. Sovereignty. Recognition. Guardians of the Dance by Jenny Hale. Watercolor and digital collage on translucent scrim material LED backlit. Collaboration between Nevada City Rancheria Nisenan Tribal Spokesperson Shelly Covert and local artist Jenny Hale as part of CHIRP’s Visibility through Art Initiative. ___________________________________________ Series of four images: “Guardians of the Dance” 2019 public art installation in downtown Nevada City. Nisenan female dancers in full dance regalia, layered over a topo map of their ancient Nisenan Homelands. Their headdresses are flicker feathers, bone, and abalone, and they hold a beaded dance belt. Their tattoos are passed on from countless Matriarchal Ancestors. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/e052b9d8-b63e-436d-9818-32d8b8d0c798/WOMENS%2BSERIES%2B%231%2BFINAL_SMALLL.webp Homelands: Restoration. Sovereignty. Recognition. Guardians of the Dance by Jenny Hale. Watercolor and digital collage on translucent scrim material LED backlit. Collaboration between Nevada City Rancheria Nisenan Tribal Spokesperson Shelly Covert and local artist Jenny Hale as part of CHIRP’s Visibility through Art Initiative. ___________________________________________ Series of four images: “Guardians of the Dance” 2019 public art installation in downtown Nevada City. Nisenan female dancers in full dance regalia, layered over a topo map of their ancient Nisenan Homelands. Their headdresses are flicker feathers, bone, and abalone, and they hold a beaded dance belt. Their tattoos are passed on from countless Matriarchal Ancestors. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/8d119880-f5a2-4017-84c4-d9ae2c13d287/BestNightCU-.webp Homelands: Restoration. Sovereignty. Recognition. Guardians of the Dance by Jenny Hale. Watercolor and digital collage on translucent scrim material LED backlit. Collaboration between Nevada City Rancheria Nisenan Tribal Spokesperson Shelly Covert and local artist Jenny Hale as part of CHIRP’s Visibility through Art Initiative. ___________________________________________ Series of four images: “Guardians of the Dance” 2019 public art installation in downtown Nevada City. Nisenan female dancers in full dance regalia, layered over a topo map of their ancient Nisenan Homelands. Their headdresses are flicker feathers, bone, and abalone, and they hold a beaded dance belt. Their tattoos are passed on from countless Matriarchal Ancestors. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/168a3fe8-5976-4b49-892a-cd3bc9bee06f/truenamesp-Bo-2019.jpg Homelands: Restoration. Sovereignty. Recognition. True Names by Robert “Bo” Blain. Lawfully acquired aluminum street signs and spray paint. ___________________________________________ The disruption of indigenous languages as part of a broader infiltration of Indigenous culture has been a strategy of empire building societies for ages. If a people lose their language they also lose the stories, memories, spirits, and connections to the land held within their original words and expressions. For the Nisenan the process of forced forgetting was done via various coercive means which forced them to assimilate to the point eventually trying to hide their indigenous identities to avoid discrimination and violence. Another strategy used to erase Nisenan language was the forced placement of Nisenan children into boarding schools where they were further severed from their words, traditions, and place. “Kill the Indian, save the man,” was the moto. A remembering is taking place within the remaining Nisenan who have begun the challenging task of taking back their original language. This graffiti was created to support this Nisenan remembering process and in the spirit of reclaiming the true names, and with them the stories of the original people, of the lands on which we live. pan pakan ( pahn-paw-kawn ) Is the true name for the place now occupied by the municipal incorporation called LAKE WILDWOOD. https://www.ubaseo.org/vta-2018 daily 0.75 2026-07-23 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/27a76460-a76d-49c9-8a6d-561c04829a08/istilllivehere-jennyhale-2018.jpg Invisible No More I Still Live Here by Jenny Hale jennyhaledesign.com . Original watercolor, printed digital collage, LED lights ___________________________________________ Through a window in time, a Nisenan dancer turns his back on a village that has displaced his own. Before Nevada City, the Nisenan lived at the same bend of Deer Creek in a village called ‘ustomah. His essence will forever live in the natural world of the Northern Sierra Foothills, and miraculously, his descendants still walk here. The dancer is superimposed over an engraving of Nevada City in 1851. In 1848 there were 7,000 indigenous people in Nevada County. By 1852 that number was reduced to 3,226, due to murder, disease, loss of hunting grounds, and relocation. Confronting the destruction of the Nisenan, is a small first step in acknowledging the humanity, and value of the people who came before. Today there are 144 descendants of the Nevada City Rancheria Nisenan. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/256d0b46-b794-459b-ac53-f10db38b209a/AV2018+copy.jpg Invisible No More https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/9e04d2ad-bbbb-4628-b017-0cc2d79b0f4d/basket-lorilachman-2018.webp Invisible No More Basket by Lori Lachman. Photographs on Wood ___________________________________________ Heavy acorn mush strains the bottoms of baskets, this is a close up of Nisenan repair on one such basket. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/a227eaae-188a-4e84-989f-4b8f6f89870d/w22018.jpg Invisible No More https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/0ff47b24-c487-4503-9a10-5bdb39361958/identity-jarodkane-2018.jpg Invisible No More Identity by Jarod Kane. Acrylic on Wood Panel ___________________________________________ This piece is about identity, maintaining, and finding. I hope that it will help to maintain the culture and history of a community and land. I view this image as a fingerprint of the land and find that it shows both nature and human presence. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/4035b4ef-891d-4bef-9df8-0ff23c8e578a/oppressionandthereturntoinnocence2-tracyparker-2018.jpg Invisible No More https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/529da427-866d-4ff3-9221-07697f43a708/babe-nikilabadua-2018.webp Invisible No More “BABE” - NISENAN/KONKOW BASKET WEAVER by Nikila Badua www.mamawisdom1.com Multimedia on wood. Ink and Graphite mixed with pigments sourced from local materials - rocks from the Yuba River and charcoal from burned oak ___________________________________________ Bear and Yuba River watersheds are the homeland of our Honored Elder, Helen “Babe” Rose Echols. Babe lives in Dobbins, California, and at nearly 80 years of age, is one of the Tribe’s last basket weavers. Konkow on her mother’s side, her father, Dan Rose, was Nisenan, and a very important medicine man in the family. Babe is known for her beautiful, large open-weave baskets made from redbud. The Nisenan honor their baskets as living beings, said to each have its own spirit. Though basket weavings are some of the oldest recorded textiles found in the world’s history, carbon dated back to 12,000 years, it is difficult to preserve them, as their natural materials wear out with age, and return to the earth in a living-dying cycle of life. It is also said that these baskets should not necessarily be preserved behind glass, as they are living beings that should be utilized. But for all practical reasons of protecting this endangered way of life, you can find some of the last local traditional Nisenan baskets displayed in Nevada City’s Firehouse Museum, which Tribal members still come to visit and sing to them to honor their spirits. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/9efc165d-2447-49b6-9d96-236ae47c425b/nisenanbelt2-victoriamoran-2018+copy.jpg Invisible No More https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/86841fbb-d7c5-4389-bb1c-2de9554be525/carmel-alyssawalz-2018.webp Invisible No More Carmel 1921-2014 by Alyssa Walz. Pencil, Ink & Pastel ___________________________________________ Carmel was born in Jackson California, her mother Mandy died from tuberculosis when Carmel was only 2 years old. She was then raised by a Southern Nisenan, Miwuk, and African American woman decent she called Auntie. Auntie raised Carmel on the Auburn Rancheria where they took care of Captain Jim Dick and Koto Jane Lewis. Carmel left Auburn Rancheria at 18 years old to marry Frances “Dutch” Rose and had 6 daughters, she was a midwife, healer, language keeper, and matriarch of our family until her passing in 2014. She left her songs to her descendants before she died and they will continue on. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/ce636f78-91f5-4f94-a4f3-33a369dc961e/P1222409.JPG Invisible No More https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/693f66c8-6598-4019-aab1-0ad35e457ac7/angkulaseo-andrewcerrona-2018.webp Invisible No More Angkula Seo by Andrew Cerrona. Digital Sketching ___________________________________________ The intention behind this piece is to help reclaim a name and space for the Nisenan. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/5f80c92a-e7b9-42f6-afd7-1d8f1152eccb/P1222284.JPG Invisible No More https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/28ef5ca3-606d-4a2d-aa68-fa797e9acae0/wheredowegofromhere-ruthchase-2018.jpg Invisible No More Where Do We Go From Here By Ruth Chase RuthChase.com. Acrylic on Canvas ___________________________________________ “Where Do We Go From Here" expresses the significance of the Nisenan to our community. How the American dream has played a roll in their development as a tribe externally and internally. ‘nisem humwa’a’ is Nisenan for : My family is from my heart or, my heart is drawn to my family (exact translation is difficult). An interpretation of a photo from 1967: Shelly Covert being held by Grandpa Ralph, her mother Ginger (Virginia) Lee Rose-Covert and her father. Created for Belonging, an arts initiative through Nevada County Arts Council and California Arts Council Grant Artist in Communities https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/3ce2e945-ed9d-4efa-bc44-1340e72822d8/2018.jpg Invisible No More https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/7ea53fa2-910e-45da-a84d-b06a90acceed/storyofgold-jenniferrugge-2018.jpg Invisible No More Story of Gold by Jennifer Rugge. Mixed media using natural mineral paints with cold wax on wood canvas. ___________________________________________ (Retold from S. Bray’s version) From Richard Johnson’s book, ‘History of Us, Nisenan Tribe of the Nevada City Rancheria.’ Hahatweenah, a young maiden, is to marry a young chieftain who lives in another tribe closeby. She dreams of the day they will be together. Soon she receives a message that her love has been kidnapped by an unfriendly tribe. The young chieftain is carried off and is offered to the Great Spirit as a sacrifice by his captors. Deeply saddened, she remains true and devoted to her lost Love. She gathers the tiny seeds of the golden poppy during the spring. She travels the hills and valleys scattering the seeds she has saved, planting them along her way as an expression of her love. The poppies multiply and fill the land with golden views of orange and yellow. The Great Spirit observes her devotion and consistency to spread more beauty. Therefore, the Great Spirit sends the roots of the poppy seeds to go down into the depths of the earth to unite with rock. Here under the clothes of the land rock forms into gold, gold that shimmers in the light as do the poppies. Through the winter winds and storms, the seeds are strewn further and further, covering more hillsides and valleys until the countryside is a vast garden of glistening golden poppies…and underground rests the treasures of the golden metal. California poppies - the true essence of gold. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/9f2567e2-914d-497d-9e0b-98b58d608f98/P1222392.JPG Invisible No More https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/edc8b11b-5102-4f27-8b51-3f2bf459a3a8/storiesfromthenisenan-jenniferrugge-2018.jpg Invisible No More Stories from the Nisenan By Jennifer Rugge. Mixed media using natural mineral paints with cold wax on wood canvas. *Read the painting from the right top to the left, follow the river down and once again read from the right (bottom) to the left. ___________________________________________ "The Gray Pines" The wind picks up and changes directions as the sun descends to rest behind the Earth and her mountains. The gray trees rustle their needles. They stretch their branches and creak their trunks. Then it happens! The trees come alive to begin their dance! The moon rises. The graceful movements of the gray pine trees look black against the darkened sky. The moonlight glistens over the needles bathing them in yellow and white as they flitter and twinkle. The trees sway, jump and dip, moving to the rhythms of the wind as it swirls around them. "What great joy to dance all night long." Day breaks creeping along the ridge, over the gurgling river waters to warm the Earth. The wind subsides. The gray trees return to the stillness of stiffened trunks and arching branches, frozen into positions at Dawn…until once again the dark night frees them into the delight of dance. Shh! These are the gray pines that come alive to dance at night. "Creation" The Great Creator is born first. Shining brightly, Coyote-Man is brought into being out of the clay by Creator. Next rises the Earth. Soon the mountains are reaching for the skies. Then springs bubble to the surface forming into rivers. The animals appear. Coyote helps creation be. He talks to Creator, speaking about what he thinks ought now to be done with all the things created. **The stories in the painting and this writing are inspired from the stories shared in the book by Richard B. Johnson, The History of Us, Nisenan Tribe of the Nevada City Rancheria. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/6464d4b9-3b96-480f-b0ad-977c1097dc84/Screenshot+2025-03-06+at+10.30.51%E2%80%AFAM.png Invisible No More Mother Earth by Mira Clark. Acrylic and Gold Leaf on Canvas. ___________________________________________ This piece was inspired in part by Ginger Covert’s poem with the same title. The image of the Earth as a living being and nurturing mother served as a cultural constraint restricting the actions of human beings in many cultures for millennia. The Nisenan are one such culture. One does not readily slay a mother, digging into her for gold or mutilate her body. The Gold Rush of the 1850’s was devastating to the environment and the Nisenan, reflecting a very different perspective of the Earth’s value. Commercial mining required a specific belief system in regards to the Earth to carry out destructive acts against the environment and other living beings. This painting captures the violation of mining and this clash of beliefs. The Gold baby in this painting represents the precious metal that is like the unborn child of the Mother Earth. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/dc27a68c-fe7f-49e6-9c2c-c34c47f389e1/plantmedicine-jessahurst-2018.jpg+.jpg Invisible No More Plant Medicine by Jessa Hurst. Acrylic on Canvas. ___________________________________________ Before this area became known for its abundance of Gold, it was known for being rich in other valuable resources such as medicinal plants. The Nisenan people cared for these medicinal plants, harvested them, and traded them to neighboring tribes. The plant keepers, where important members of the tribe. The knowledge of these healing plants was cherished and this wisdom was passed down from generation to generation. When colonizers came to this area, the Nisenan people were not able to tend to the plants as they once did and the wisdom of this resource was greatly diluted. A few members of the tribe remain who still carry this plant wisdom. In this painting Lorena Rose Davis, one of the remaining plant wisdom holders, is depicted, surrounded by several of the local medicinal plants. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/38382de3-e27a-4785-9857-147cc6c5ccc9/womanoftruth-chloeyoung-2018.jpg Invisible No More The Woman of Truth By Chloe Young. Acrylic on Canvas. ___________________________________________ My piece is of a Nisenan woman surrounded by the animal spirits of the local area as she stands strong in the woods with the sunset without fear. The mountains are of the Sierras with the grassy tree-covered hills of Grass Valley/Nevada City area below it with gold flakes freely flying around resembling freedom from the gold mining of the area. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/8fb96740-0ba4-4999-a1a7-3908f754f2cb/tree-lorilachman-2018.jpg Invisible No More Tree By Lori Lachman. Photographs on Wood ___________________________________________ The fence cannot stop the tree from growing and the spirts from moving. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/58e72b89-8672-490c-ac2e-86ca4d21738a/oustomah-lorilachman-2018.jpg Invisible No More “Oustomah” 'ustomah by Lori Lachman. Photographs on Wood ___________________________________________ The original name of the Nisenan town that lies beneath Nevada City, ever emblazed in our sidewalk, thanks ironically to the Oddfellows in the early 1800s. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/e7094d5f-865a-4291-9d67-21cf4d58c02d/truenames-boblain-2018.jpg Invisible No More True Names by Robert “Bo” Blain. Lawfully acquired aluminum street signs and spray paint. ___________________________________________ The disruption of indigenous languages as part of a broader infiltration of indigenous culture has been a strategy of empire building societies for ages. If a people lose their language they also lose the stories, memories, spirits, and connections to the land held within their original words and expressions. For the Nisenan the process of forced forgetting was done via various coercive means which forced them to assimilate to the point eventually trying to hide their indigenous identities to avoid discrimination and violence. Another strategy used to erase Nisenan language was the forced placement of Nisenan children into boarding schools where they were further severed from their words, traditions, and place. A remembering is taking place within the remaining Nisenan who have begun the challenging task of reincarnating their original language. This graffiti was created to support this Nisenan remembering process and in the spirit of reclaiming the true names, and with them the stories of the original people, of the lands on which we live. ‘ustomah (oo-sto-maa)– Is the true name for the place now occupied by the municipal incorporation called NEVADA CITY. daspah (da-sp-aah)– Is the true name for the place now occupied by the municipal incorporation called GRASS VALLEY. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/fb10d1c0-38b5-4b40-868e-255f9d0d2244/tektek-miraclark-2018.jpg Invisible No More Tek Tek by Mira Clark existinspired.com . ___________________________________________ “Language is power. Language is the main conduit for culture, our languages connect us to our people, our landscapes, and to each other. We were told the Nisenan Language, ‘was an extinct language,’ but our Elders were still speaking, singing, and telling stories. We have worked to have the language reclassified as a ‘sleeping language,’ we are reclaiming our connections and participating in our culture. ‘Tek Tek’ is the Nisenan word for a red tailed hawk. Tek Tek watches everything and sees this happening and stands witness to the revival of our past, history and culture.” -Shelly Covert https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/1b7fbb49-aee0-4cea-87b7-4e4dd4e5fdbb/estomyanim-ramacryer-2018.jpg Invisible No More Estom Yanim Yamanan by Rama Cryer. Acrylic on Plywood. ___________________________________________ Honor the land. Remember the time before the settlers, when the Nisenan were the guardians of the earth. A time when the elk & antelope would roam in herds so vast, they would blacken the hills. When the great condors soared above, and the stars in the sky shone so bright, a clear map to navigate by. Remember the time when the Jom Kapa (grizzly bear) ruled the hills. When mother ‘uba (Yuba) was rich with salmon and ran, uncontrolled, down from the foothills to the feet of the sacred ancestral home, Estom Yanim. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/0d8470d0-f41f-4196-aea6-c3f5116675ef/nisenanbelt-victoriamoran-2018+copy.jpg Invisible No More Replica of Nisenan Ceremonial Dance Belt by Victoria Moran. Made with beads and loom. ___________________________________________ “This is a beautifully crafted reproduction of a Nisenan ceremonial dance belt. The original piece is displayed at the Firehouse No.1 Museum in Nevada City where it is on loan from a Nevada City Rancheria Tribal member as part of the Nevada County Historical Society’s Nisenan Exhibit. The original piece is in extremely fragile condition and cannot be handled. The original piece was created in the late-1800’s and was well used until it was put away for safekeeping. The pattern is of the four directions and is an ancient power symbol used across the planet by many cultures for millennia. The ancient Hindu and Buddhist symbol of the “Swastika” used by the Nazi party, is possibly the world’s most famous example of cultural appropriation.” -Shelly Covert https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/b920b688-8637-450c-8adc-548c902f28bb/grindingstone-bishoprandall-2018.jpg Invisible No More 'eyi nik • pulu • baj (Grinding Stone) by Bishop Randall. Lampworked, sand carved glass ___________________________________________ First, there were the First People and the First People changed into trees, plants, rocks, rain, hail, and animals. And then Animals made Our People. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/88195a23-05e8-4521-81d4-2b371ddb9bc3/oppressionandthereturntoinnocence-tracyparker-2018+copy.jpg Invisible No More Oppression & The Return to Innocence by Tracy Parker. Found wood and nails. ___________________________________________ This piece explores at the cellular and mythic levels the energetic depiction of oppression, loss of innocence, taking of land, the crystallized energy found in the cellular memory of abuse, lying deep within the invisible underworld of remembering- A mapping of soul fracture and pain body afflicted by the unconscious masculine, onto the feminine, onto the indigenous lands of Nisenan and within the wombs and bellies of the Nisenan women, men, and children. Currently the Nevada City Rancheria Nisenan people, 144 remaining today, do not have a Ceremonial Round House for healing on land, collective prayer, and for practicing their ancestral ways of releasing the dead back to the source, the Milky Way, by way of fire. The intention of this piece is to activate awareness, resources and the funding necessary to construct a Ceremonial Round House for the Nisenan people. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/8aa400ce-d502-44ba-a2dd-5396a6f6274c/replica+skirt.webp Invisible No More Nisenan Inspired Skirt Replica by Teighlor Renee. Local Cattail. The replica on left, Original on right. ___________________________________________ This Nisenan skirt is an inspired replica made by artist Teighlor Renee. Skirts were used both ceremonially and as everyday wear by the Nisenan. However, this is not an exact replica and is made from local cattail where the originals were made from Tule. Also, this skirt would be one that was for everyday use and not ceremonial. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/278312ac-727b-46a8-b51b-0f5ed17b4a0f/motherearth-miraclark-2018.jpg https://www.ubaseo.org/vta-2017 daily 0.75 2026-07-23 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/611f42a0-856c-49e6-8f08-8f47c7b71c2e/evelyn-alexdita-2017.jpg Creating Conversations Through Art Four Generations: Evelyn Rose by Alex Dita. Format negatives processed and enlarged by darkroom process. ___________________________________________ Four generations of Nevada City Rancheria Nisenan Tribal Members. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/5108f33d-0678-4c7b-b3a2-df2728963ea4/IMG_4988.jpg Creating Conversations Through Art https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/f1399caa-1e67-40a3-bc25-a15ba29631a7/sarahthomas-alexdita-2017.jpg Creating Conversations Through Art Four Generations: Sarah Thomas by Alex Dita. Format negatives processed and enlarged by darkroom process. ___________________________________________ Four generations of Nevada City Rancheria Nisenan Tribal Members. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/32d9d8ab-b5b9-4391-a06f-d9d14f1ba8ba/23471978_10155845273529481_6257128562373517477_n.jpg Creating Conversations Through Art https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/013f8769-56e7-4d1f-940e-87a614b06134/saxonthomas-alexdita-2017.jpg Creating Conversations Through Art Four Generations: Saxon Thomas by Alex Dita. Format negatives processed and enlarged by darkroom process. ___________________________________________ Four generations of Nevada City Rancheria Nisenan Tribal Members. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/92cda5fb-a9de-458e-a185-52ecb9b58908/IMG_4990.jpg Creating Conversations Through Art https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/ae4a51b7-9c24-4262-baaa-e88fff38fed8/nataleethomas-alexdita-2017.jpg Creating Conversations Through Art Four Generations: Natalee Thomas by Alex Dita. Format negatives processed and enlarged by darkroom process. ___________________________________________ Four generations of Nevada City Rancheria Nisenan Tribal Members. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/00da0d1c-91d5-42a0-97d6-66f5ffed0541/IMG_4983.jpg Creating Conversations Through Art https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/c90fdd9c-1e1c-4d5f-a8ff-0dabf1cb2531/thematriarchwithherdaughters-alyssawalz-2017.jpg Creating Conversations Through Art The Matriarch With Her Daughters by Alyssa Walz. Pencil, Charcoal, Pastel on Paper. ___________________________________________ “Pictured in this image are Carmel Rose Burrows and her eldest four daughters, Alberta ‘Birdie,’ Virginia ‘Ginger,’ Doris ‘Doedoe,’ and baby Lorena ‘Lori.’ The picture was taken in front of their new cabin in the “diggings.” While this photo looks like it could be a snapshot from the 1800s, it was actually taken in 1948, Native Americans lived then, and today, in disadvantaged communities and at a deficit in comparison to much of the rest of the country.” -Shelly Covert https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/1961ad2b-c1dc-4880-9af6-fd4e2254a989/23434984_10211027121301064_1544297404201917290_n.jpg Creating Conversations Through Art https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/ea93c88c-c8fd-4e56-b0f1-df913803b33c/richardjohnson-josedominguez-2017.jpg Creating Conversations Through Art Richard B. Johnson by Jose Dominguez. Colored Pencils on Paper. ___________________________________________ Portrait of Nevada City Rancheria Nisenan Tribal Chairman Richard B. Johnson. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/72c3306b-03e1-411f-97b9-174b64737205/IMG_4991.jpg Creating Conversations Through Art https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/5c02d1b5-8d32-49bd-8740-4ce4739c21c1/firstdeath-shellycovert-2017.jpg Creating Conversations Through Art First Death by Shelly Covert, Nevada City Rancheria Nisenan Tribal Council Spokesperson. Acrylic on Canvas. ___________________________________________ It is said that when the Nisenan people were first on the earth they were not meant to die a permanent death. But, as was his way, Coyote meddled. Coyote argued that those who died should stay dead; for if they weren’t dead, how could the people have a burn or a cry? After much insisting on Coyote’s part it was such that those who died would stay dead. Sadly for Coyote, it was his own son who would be the first to lose his life in an unfortunate fall. In his grief, Coyote demanded that the Creator bring his son back to life. After all, the fall had been an accident! But dead was dead and Coyote could only mourn for the loss of his son. Coyote’s character and moral compass are the center point for many of the Nisenan stories that involve him. In a great number of these stories, Coyote portrays who we don’t want to be; Coyote does what we shouldn’t do, and Coyote says the things that shouldn’t be said. In this painting, First Death, Coyote suffers the direct outcome of his meddling ways and loses his son in an unforeseen consequence of his own making. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/c8d9b566-acca-40cc-b676-82142f5ee87b/IMG_4987.jpg Creating Conversations Through Art https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/acf2b611-5bf2-4538-b9f1-a67beb3c05c2/invisible-ashelyforeman-2017.jpg Creating Conversations Through Art Invisible by Ashely Foreman. Acrylic on Canvas. ___________________________________________ “Regalia: When dawning regalia, we are captured by our culture. We are enfolded into ancestral history thousands of years old. We may be physically separated from our Ancestors by great distances of time, but when we dance, sing, pray, we are transported to a place where time doesn’t exist. We share the songs and lives of the culture together as if mutually incarnated at that very moment; at every moment.” -Shelly Covert When I heard of the erasure of the Nisenan, a vision came to mind of a Tribal Member in full regalia, but with the person removed entirely. It was an image inspired by the erasure of their culture. It is meant to be metaphorical for the disappearance or invisibility that the Nisenan experience here in there Ancestral Homelands. The relics, artifacts, and evidence of their existence are still here, but the knowledge of their existence to non-Nisenan is minimal. They are still present, still alive… but often made invisible. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/b8ec4e88-ccb8-4b02-823f-c36f62450352/IMG_4992.jpg Creating Conversations Through Art https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/8b77a7df-ac0d-41da-9e3d-be58500a0663/ritual-miraclark-2017.jpg Creating Conversations Through Art Ritual by Mira Clark. Acrylic on Wood with Stones. ___________________________________________ “The Nisenan people were a cremating society. Their ancient ritual of burning the dead dates back thousands of years and countless generations. Steeped in protocol and social design were the means to burn the departed and all their belongings, to cry and mourn their death, and to honor their remaining family members. Then, the spirit released, would travel to the sacred mountain where the first spirit food was eaten. Finally, the spirit would travel on to the Milky Way. After the Nisenan were forcibly removed and their lands taken from them, the colonizing settlers outlawed the burning of the deceased.” –Shelly Covert The small stones in this piece are from the Yuba River and represent the Nisenan's continued connection to this land. The word Yuba comes from the Nisenan "Uba" and is the only Nisenan word that remains on the landscape. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/d9cbb050-9ffd-4abb-a244-bd4a7113e013/IMG_4981.jpg Creating Conversations Through Art https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/6e7027e2-48c9-446a-9ea4-1c63d582c988/hiddenvoices-jenniferrugge-2017.jpg Creating Conversations Through Art Hidden Voices by Jennifer Rugge jenniferrugge.com . Papers, photos, gold leaf and oil on wood. ___________________________________________ Inspiration for this painting comes from the stories told by Richard Johnson, author of History of Us. The acorns of the Live Oak were important to the Nisenan people for food. They replanted and grew orchards of oak trees to keep a good supply. Deer Creek was a source of water. The grasses and reeds were essential for weaving baskets. Everything changed quickly in the lives of the Nisenan with the Gold Rush in northern California. The Nisenan dwindled in numbers and their voices silenced at the hands of miners and government laws. Now the voices from the hidden past are heard once again. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/725cf878-25e1-4976-a288-8405a4cc1f75/23434998_10211027118901004_6425479038840808035_n-1.jpg Creating Conversations Through Art https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/2cbedb5e-de73-4bea-aec7-ace4cbcad3a7/yubaalive-andycerrona-2017.jpg Creating Conversations Through Art Yuba Alive by Andy Cerrona. Digital Sketch. ___________________________________________ Celebrating the life-giving force of the Yuba, and the beautiful canyon that it feeds. Expressed through shapes and angles. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/c7fbdb16-1df4-40db-8143-5a21efe63467/NHD2017.png Creating Conversations Through Art https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62872ea2852eaf2a0473a2de/12dd68a7-03a0-4358-ad1a-4b2db8db9584/motherwiththekey-andycerrona-2017.jpg Creating Conversations Through Art Mother With The Key by Andy Cerrona. Digital Sketch. ___________________________________________ This piece was sparked from a conversation with Shelly Covert about her experience of separation from place and earth that her Tribe experienced in the trauma of North American colonization. I strongly imagined that the earth felt this separation too, and even though it experiences loss it still holds the key for reuniting.