Keenly aware of how much the outside world has dictated our choices. She is a mother, a rebel, a brut, and a temptress; her body is an expression of her genetics but does not define her. She liberates herself from old ideas; she releases herself from needing to find new ones. She declares separation from all outside governing parties to determine her worth and responsibilities. She is willing to walk alone, knowing she is never alone. She is a sister amongst many.
hu·tum kʉle
The Dreamers Show Us The Path acrylic and wax on canvas, | Video 24 x 24, 2024 in CHIRP Collection
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
Empathy
acrylic and wax on canvas, 10 x 10, 2023 in Williams Collection
The emotion of empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings of another.
If we are made of stardust, can the emotions we experience here as humans be felt in the cosmos and vice versa?
Unearthed
acrylic and wax on canvas, 24 x 24, 2024 framed
We are more than our bodies, our material selves, we have a spirit, a soul, a quality that lives within us that is not physical and is beyond dense matter but rather made of light.
Cosmos Concealed
acrylic and wax on canvas, 20 x 24, 2023
While painting this piece, I was being led to depict how the cosmic body would appear in human form. If we are infinitely connected to the universe then within each of us is a mysterious, powerful, earthy, gritty, and soulful spirit capable of creation.
Birth of A Universe
acrylic and wax on canvas, 12 x 12, 2024
To be born is to birth another star in the galaxy.
Star Dust
acrylic and wax on canvas, 24 x 24, 2024 in Delgado Collection
Unraveling
acrylic on canvas, 40 x 60″, 2020
Over time, her environment has informed what she should look like, act like, and want. At the time of her becoming, she discovers she must unravel, pick apart, and separate her relationship with the natural world from everything else that has led her astray.
One of the most challenging paintings I’ve done recently. This puzzle took almost two years to solve.
Inspired by Nicole Weaver and Kim Stewart
She Remembers Everything
acrylic on canvas, 40 x 60″, 2020
Finding Another Way
acrylic on canvas, 40 x 60″, 2020 In Williams Collection
Looking at the way girls and women challenge the barriers they face. From discrimination to lack of resources, women have a long history of making shit happen regardless of being told they can’t. Strong, resilient, and wise, women will find ways around systems that hold them back.
Inspired by Adrienne, Carolyn Crist Wright, and Be Boggs.
“Innocence as a Privilege”
acrylic on canvas, 55 x 55″, 2019
Remembering feelings of profound loss as the adult world begins pushing itself at her while she is still in the fog of her juvenescence. Now, she questions her innocence? Will she have the right to choose? How will the pace of her maturity affect her longterm development?
“What Does it Mean To Be A Woman”
Sample draft for art film 2021
What Does it Mean to Be A Woman is an art film taken from 30 zoom interviews intended to encourage meaningful conversation that exposes fuller gender representation—providing a platform for perspectives and experiences to shape our collective future.
ARCHIVE OF OLDER WORK
“Where Do We Go From Here”
acrylic on canvas, 48 x 48″, 2018 In the CHIRP Collection
An interpretation of a photo from 1967: Shelly Covert being held by Grandpa Ralph, her mother Ginger (Virginia) Lee Rose-Covert and her father. ‘Nisem humwa’a’ is Nisenan for > my family is from my heart or, my heart is drawn to my family (exact translation is difficult).
Completed with permission from the Covert family, this painting expresses the significance of indigenous people to a their community. How the American dream has played a roll in their development as a tribe externally and internally. This painting is a gift to the Covert family.