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 2025 Wild & Scenic Film Festival takes place from February 13-17th.

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 2025 Judges

Mira Clark, Coordinator & Curator, CHIRP Visibility Through Art

Mira Clark was born and raised in Nevada County. She has over 15 years of experience as an independent artist. Her work emphasizes collaboration, curiosity, and interconnectedness, using mixed-media storytelling to promote social and environmental awareness. For the past seven years, Clark has coordinated CHIRP’s Visibility Through Art Initiative, facilitating collaboration between Nevada County artists and the Nevada City Rancheria Nisenan Tribe. In addition, she assists the Tribe in managing and curating ‘Uba Seo: Nisenan Arts and Culture. Her artistic mission is rooted in building bridges across diverse communities and driving social change through the arts.

Christine Koppes, Independent Curator

Christine Koppes is an independent curator, art consultant, and writer based in the Bay Area focused on building art and community programs. Prior to starting her own business, she was the Founding Curator and Director of Curatorial Affairs at the Institute of Contemporary Art San Francisco’s (ICA SF), a museum that opened in 2022 in the Dogpatch neighborhood of San Francisco. She also served as the ICA San José’s Curator and Director of Public Programs. Her career began at the Bedford Gallery in Walnut Creek, California, as the Assistant Curator of Exhibitions and Programs, which included a visual arts gallery and a public art program. She holds a BA in Art History from UC Berkeley.

Cheri Awalt, Deputy Director, Verge Center for the Arts 

Cheri Awalt is the Deputy Director at Verge Center for the Arts in downtown Sacramento, California. A life-long appreciator of the arts, she holds a degree in Art History from the University of California, Davis. During her studies, she was given the opportunity to intern at the Sacramento Fine Arts Center, which kicked off her career and laid the foundation for her passionate support of artists, arts organizations, and the broader creative community in the Sacramento region and beyond. Over the intervening years since, she has held key positions at multiple nonprofit galleries in the greater Sacramento area, providing crucial support to local and nationally touring artists and exhibitions, and ensuring that the public can access and engage with the arts in a meaningful way. Since joining the Verge team in 2022, she has overseen Sac Open Studios, a free-to-the-public studio tour serving nearly 300 artists and 30,000 attendees annually, among many other programs and shows that continue to bolster the vitality of the arts in her community