VISIBILITY THROUGH ART
2020 PROJECTS
2020 was unlike any other year in the history of Visibility Through Art.
Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, artists and community members were unable to gather in the ways that had shaped previous exhibitions. Rather than presenting a single culminating exhibit, Visibility Through Art evolved into a series of interconnected projects that continued to celebrate Nisenan art, storytelling, and visibility while adapting to public health restrictions.
Together, these projects honored the first three years of Visibility Through Art, brought artwork into public spaces throughout Nevada City, and found new ways to connect with community through both in-person and virtual experiences.
CULMINATING EXHIBIT
at the Granucci Gallery
Visibility Through Art 2020
In 2020, we had a beautiful culminating exhibition at the newly remodeled Center for the Arts in downtown Grass Valley.
All three previous years of the Visibility Through Art | Invisible No More Collection were up together in one space for the first time. It was impactful to see all of these stories, history, and artworks together in one place and feel how far this project has come.
Granucci Gallery Exhibition
2020 VIRTUAL FUNDRAISER
The Gallery exhibition was accompanied by a multimedia virtual event A Night of Music & Art, as a fundraiser for CHIRP on September 12th, 2020. This fundraiser featured renowned musical artists Lyla June and MaMuse. Nevada City Rancheria Tribe members shared history, stories and song.
PE’AMEN
2020 ART IN STOREFRONTS
This project brought together CHIRP volunteers and Shelly Covert to create a public installation as part of the The Grass Valley-Nevada City Cultural District and Nevada County Arts Council project Art In Storefronts.
CHIRP was selected to participate in the local Art in Storefronts program, through which we created five large art pieces addressing the erasure of the Nisenan and their language.
Pe’amen means “don’t speak”. The Indian Boarding Schools were created to “kill the Indian and save the man” and they successfully “civilized” generations of Native people; successfully breaking that which previously could not be broken….their Ancient Culture.
Shelly Covert brought together several artists from CHIRP’s Visibility Through Art initiative to help her actualize and implement her vision.
Inspired by Teighlor Renee's watercolor series 'Look Around' created for the 2019 Visibility Through Art exhibition, and with help from Ruth Chase, Mira Clark and Dani Joy, Pe’amen was realized and installed in the windows of the Alpha Building in Downtown Nevada City. To help the viewer understand what they are seeing, an audio piece complements the installation.
Pe’amen stands as witness to the fact that the Nisenan language is not extinct. Language is reflective of the Culture, the people, the landscape and all who inhabit a place. As the Nisenan become “unerased”, so too does the Nisenan language.
Archival Note
The projects featured on this page took place before the opening of the ‘UBA SEO: Nisenan Arts & Culture gallery in downtown Nevada City.
These archival exhibitions were originally organized through CHIRP (now HUṠWEJ) as part of the ongoing Visibility Through Art initiative.
Today, ‘UBA SEO serves as the permanent home for Visibility Through Art exhibitions while preserving the history of the program's earlier projects.