CHIRP’s Visibility Through Art Initiative
For the past seven years, I have helped to organize, curate, and participate in this meaningful exhibition. This project was inspired by the Nevada City Rancheria Nisenan Tribe's desire to engage local artists to create artwork that authentically represents the Nisenan and their rich but nearly forgotten history here in Nevada County. The annual exhibit aims to create conscientious art pieces that engage around the history and culture of the Original Peoples of Nevada County. This exhibit requires continuously navigating the sensitive and real topics of cultural appropriation, privilege, and erasure, especially with many of the artists being non-Nisenan. This is not a simple journey; artists are asked to deeply listen to the stories and history shared with them by the Nevada City Rancheria Nisenan Tribe. Each artist collaborates individually with Tribal Spokesperson Shelly Covert or Tribal Members on their art pieces to create respectful and reflective works. Creating artworks that express the Nisenan people, culture, and history is another way to preserve their culture in the face of erasure and bring visibility to the Nevada City Rancheria Nisenan.
Learn more about the Nevada City Rancheria Nisenan and their Non-Profit CHIRP at: chirpca.org
Visit the Visibility Through Art Website
“The artwork below was created in collaboration with the Nevada City Rancheria Nisenan Tribe guided by CHIRP's Visibility Through Art (VTA) Initiative. This intentional and informed collaboration includes hours of consultation with the Tribe and each year a theme is produced to best address their visibility needs. VTA is intended to generate cultural awareness and build understanding of the Nisenan through art.”
Ritual
Acrylic on Wood, Yuba Rocks - 2017
“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 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.
Mother Earth
Acrylic and Gold Leaf on Canvas - 2018
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.
tek tek
Acrylic on Canvas - 2018
“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
This piece honors the wildlife of this area and revitalizing the Nisenan Language.
Home | Recognition
Watercolor and Pen on Paper - 2019
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 of 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.
The Land is the Gold
Acrylic on Canvas and Food Wrappers - 2021
Collaboration with Jessa Hurst, 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.
‘estom yanim
Photograph - 2022
12x12"
'estom yanim the Sacred Mountain is featured numerously throughout the Perspectives on Erasure 2022 VTA exhibit because of its importance in Nisenan cosmology. For the Nisenan people, it is the origin of all life and the place where Nisenan Spirits go when they die.
The Great Grizzly
Acrylic on Canvas and Gold Wrappers - 2023
16x20"
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.
