Our contributors
The South Yuba River Almanac includes the work of over 40 different artists and organizations—
florence carland . cindy buero . huswej . hank meals . kat alves . saxon thomas . roseann bath . julie quillen . nikiya schwarz . lucas turner . mira clark . jill mahanna . andres amador . jimmy lizarde ramirez . peter blue cloud . kirsten casey . jack devlin . kian berreman . the yuba project . jamie hunyor . cody curtis . bishop randall . dale pendell . grayson curtis . cortney dodge . alex lerch . jacquie bellon . keri rinne . joel murnan . sol henson . louis blue cloud . kim goode . kyla roessler . maya trace borhani . molly fisk . syrcl . jennifer rain crosby . wendy boes . ani kington . kale riley . tom wade . *and more!
Read more about our featured artists below!
had a winding life that now finds him living in the foothills of the Sierra Nevadas in California where he lives in the forest homeschooling his son and spending summer free time canyoneering in the local river. He calls himself an Earthscape artist, a title that came to him as one that encompasses both the work that he does while also suggesting new possibilities. He is best known for creating large-scale artworks across the landscape. Andres prefers to create with local materials that can eventually dissolve back into nature. He has worked around the US and on beaches in many countries. His other specialty is leading groups and teams in creating art together, ideally in nature.
Cindy Buero
Cindy Buero was born and raised in Nevada County and is a Nevada City Rancheria Nisenan Tribal Elder. Cindy has only been exhibiting her artwork more recently, however her connection to creativity has always been part of who she is. Expressing her Tribal heritage has been key to participating in CHIRP's Visibility Through Art which has opened a door for reconnection to her Tribal Ancestry and Culture.
Cody Curtis
Cody Curtis grew up on Banner Mountain, outside Nevada City with his three siblings: Grayson, Bob and Emma. Now he farms vegetables in the Sonoma Valley, with his wife, Lucy. He likes to visit with a live oak tree on Sonoma Mountain when he has time.
Florence Carland
Florence Carland is a landscape artist residing in Nevada City ca . She started painting after retiring from teaching Montessori to young children for many years . She loves taking walks, photographing and painting the landscapes of our wonderful county, especially the ever changing Yuba river.
Andres Amador
Focused, approachable, and driven by results, our sales manager is all about building strong relationships. They help connect people to the right solutions—with clarity and care.
Jacquie Bellon moved to the San Juan Ridge in 1969. The place and community fueled much of her passions, obsessions, and life work in watercolor and writing in her illustrated journals. She loved her view over the South Yuba River canyon.
Molly Fisk
Molly Fisk was the first Poet Laureate of Nevada County. She's the author of The More Difficult Beauty, Listening to Winter, and five volumes of radio commentary, and edited California Fire & Water, A Climate Crisis Anthology as an Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellow. Her historical novel-in-verse, Walking Wheel, was just published by Red Hen Press.
Kat Alves//Gold Dust Collective
Kat was born in an old creekside gold mining cabin in Nevada City in the late 70's. She returned to raise her family in her home town after living in urban cities around the world. Kat is a freelance interiors and architectural photographer with a background in interior design. She works with both commercial and residential clients. She loves to capture the process of design, working with makers of all kinds. She is always exploring and seeking unique dwellings to photograph, she has a deep interest in the way in which people inhabit the spaces they call home. Her work can be seen at her website katalves.com.
Roseann Bath
Roseann Bath is a portrait and wedding photographer and a mother. Raised in Mendocino County, her life carried her through the San Francisco Bay Area to Norwich, England, where she studied poetry at the University of East Anglia, before landing in Grass Valley, where she has been rooted for over a decade. She loves to read achingly beautiful love stories, spend time with flowers, swim, cook for her family, and cuddle her cats.
Nikiya was born and raised in rural Nevada County. Drawn away in pursuit of learning and perspective, she returned to the Yuba River Watershed to raise her two daughters in the place she feels most at home. She has a background in the visual arts (interior styling, ceramics, metalsmithing) and currently splits her time between the healing arts as a holistic counselor and as a copy writer/editor and founder of a non-profit. She harbors a lifelong passion for spaces and a special affinity for elementally inspired designs and handmade houses. She is intrigued by the interface of nature and culture as well as the tiny things that sit on window sills and bedside tables.
Nikiya Schwarz//Gold Dust Collective
Lucas Turner
Lucas Turner is a musician who enjoys writing poems. He was a contributing editor to the Montezuma Hill literary journal, and self-released his first collection of haiku, Hail, as a Spider, last year. He records music as De Leon, and has released records on the Aught and Mana labels.
Mira Clark
Mira Clark was born and raised in Nevada County. An illustrative artist, curator, and dedicated community collaborator, she has contributed to numerous local arts projects. For the past seven years, Mira has coordinated the Visibility Through Art Initiative, a tribally guided collaboration between the Nevada City Rancheria Nisenan Tribe and Nevada County artists. Inspired by the natural world, extensive travel, and engagement with diverse art traditions, she approaches creativity as a bridge connecting people, cultures, and stories. Her artwork blends photorealism and fantasy surrealism, inviting inquiry, cultivating social and environmental awareness, and encouraging cultural growth through imaginative mixed-media artworks.
Jill Mahanna
Jill Mahanna is an award-winning oil painter of abstract and expressionist landscapes. She lives and works in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada, where she finds her inspiration and her own sense of place. Previous honors include acceptance to the prestigious Crocker Kingsley Competition in 2021 and having her work published in Tree Rings, the Journal of the Yuba Watershed Institute. Her paintings may be found in private collections across the U.S. and Canada. She is a graduate of Duke University, with degrees in both fine art and art history. She has been painting professionally for 30 years.
Jimmy Lizarde Ramirez
Jimmy Lizarde Ramirez is a video and performance artist born at the edge of the Delta where saltwater from the Great Ocean meets freshwater. Ramirez is a Xicanx, Two-Spirit educator serving in their hometown school district. Ramirez leads the Tule Root Initiative an organization dedicated to cultivating arts, culture, and sustainability projects. A lover of flavor, Ramirez finds happiness in the kitchen and making with others.
Peter Blue Cloud
Peter Blue Cloud/Aroniwenrate (1933-2011) was a Mohawk poet, writer, artist and editor who also worked variously as a high-steel ironworker, logger and carpenter. Born in Kahnawake Mohawk territory (Quebec, Canada), he lived for some years in the South Yuba watershed with his family. His poems and coyote stories have appeared in numerous books and anthologies, including Clans of Many Nations, Selected Poems 1969-1994.
Kirsten Casey
Kirsten Casey is a California Poet in the Schools and poet laureate emerita, of Nevada County. Her poetry collection, Ex Vivo: Out of the Living Body, published in 2012, is inspired by odd stories, remarkable words, and the mysteries of the human body. Her second book of poetry, (with the working title Grieving Birds,) explores historical and literary characters struggling with social media. It was a recent finalist for the Gunpowder Press Dryden-Vreeland Poetry Prize. She has lived in Nevada City for over 30 years with her husband, and has three adult children, who patiently assist her with technology.
Jack Devlin//The Yuba Project
Jack Devlin is a conservation photographer and storyteller who grew up in the Yuba River Watershed in Nevada City. He has always been passionate about the Yuba River, and for his high school senior project created “The South Yuba”, a photo book about the watershed, with a fellow classmate. Together with Kian Berreman, Jack founded The Yuba Project, a storytelling non-profit expressing the profound energy of the Yuba River Watershed and its relationships through photography and artistic media. The Yuba Project partners with organizations and communities working to foster connection, provide advocacy, and inspire conservation of the watershed.