Wild & Scenic Art Exhibit
Art Inspiring Environmental Activism
Each year Nevada County Arts Council partners with the Wild & Scenic Film Festival to mount a multi-venue exhibit of visual art presented in local galleries and businesses across the downtown areas of the Grass Valley-Nevada City Cultural District (a state-designated California Cultural District). Together, we offer a fresh dimension for more than 8,000 festival attendees to enjoy the work of our artists, and meet with filmmakers, social activists, and environmental leaders. The 2024 Wild & Scenic Film Festival took place from February 15-19th.
The Invaluable Role of Visual Artists
Wild & Scenic Film Festival, produced by South Yuba River Citizens League, inspires environmental activism and a love for nature. It shares an urgent call to action, encouraging festival-goers to learn more about what they can do to save our threatened planet.
At Nevada County Arts Council, we support the role of local and regional visual artists as they, too, are recognized for the invaluable role that they perform in delivering a meaningful message about environmental activism and relationships between society and the natural world.
Our 2024 Judges
MaryTess Mayall
MaryTess Mayall is Executive Director at Blue Line Arts, a vibrant arts center with an exceptional gallery in Downtown Roseville, California. Having lived for some time in the South of France MaryTess majored in Art from Fresno State University with a minor in French. As an artist herself, she enjoys curating Blue Line’s many shows, on and off site, as well as its diverse programs—drawing inspiration from, and support for, a rich regional ecosystem. More about MaryTess and Blue Line Arts can be found at bluelinearts.org.
Pat Kemeny Macias
Pat Kemeny Macias is Executive Director (and chief curator) at Museum of Northern California Art (MONCA) in Chico. She received her Bachelor’s degree in Art Education, and a Master’s degree in Printmaking, from Eastern Michigan University, then serving as an art teacher for eighteen years in Ann Arbor’s public schools system, and as Director for Summer Art Fairs. Pat relocated St. Louis, Missouri, to become Education Director at Laumeier Sculpture Park, a 105-acre open-air museum and sculpture park located in Sunset Hills. She later moved to California to complete her teaching career at Piedmont High School in San Francisco, over the course of thirteen years. In addition to her role as Executive Director at MONCA, Pat is a current board member at Inspire School of Arts & Sciences Foundation.
Piper Johnson
Piper Johnson is an award-winning painter living in Truckee, California who now brings many of the talents and skills learned in a 20-year career as a hairstylist to her art. As a master hair colorist for many years, her first canvas for her creative expression was coloring hair. Now she uses her love of color and texture to craft bold “en plein air” paintings. She recently re-located Piper J Gallery from Incline Village, NV to Truckee, CA.
Chelo Montoya, Assistant Vice President of Education and Public Programs at Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), and Chair, California Arts Council.
Nashormeh Lindo, Former Chair, California Arts Council
“Never before has the mission of Wild & Scenic Film Festival been more critical. Globally we stand at a crossroads in terms of our relationship to nature and the future of our planet.
The festival engages us as active participants in a giant adventure through film and discourse, and it offers filmmakers, naturalists, scientists, artists and ordinary people the opportunity to lend our voice to this critical conversation.
Through the festival’s accompanying art exhibit each year we challenge visual artists to share personal perceptions of the wild, whether intimate habitats close to home or wild tracts of nature untouched...”