DANK, the seven-person artists collective based in Nevada City, is proud to present their new show, “Cinema,” at the Miners Foundry Cultural Center, featuring work inspired by favorite films and filmmakers. The exhibition, which runs from September 4 to October 4, is a collaboration with the Nevada City Film Festival (also at the Miners Foundry, September 10 – 12), and aims to give both events richer context and depth.

Sheila Cameron

DANK artist and exhibition curator, Celine Adrianna Negrete, conceived the show in response to the collective’s interest in working with different themes. “’Cinema’ was the first thing that popped into my mind,” says Negrete, “because film is my most-loved art form. And I was curious to see what the concept would spark in the DANK artists. I’m also interested in the bigger conversation of lack of funding for film within the arts community. To me film as art is self-evident, but when comparing support for it to opera or ballet, for example, there is a noticeable dearth that perpetuates bias and widens the gap. A show like this can re-frame that bias, and that is exciting to me.”

Roseanne Burke

All the DANK artists address the theme from different perspectives. For example, Sheila Cameron is interested in David Lynch’s iconic imagery and his ability to elicit feelings of dread within the familiar. Roseanne Burke is inspired by Stanley Kubrick’s “The Shining,” and by the director’s history of referencing art in all his films. Nancy Nelson, working from Deepa Mehta’s film “Water,” explores misogyny and the ostracism of women in rural India. Other artists will include Cynthia Levesque, Moira McLaughlin, and Joe Meade.

Nancy Nelson

“DANK is thrilled to be collaborating with the Nevada City Film Festival and Festival Director Jesse Locks,” says McLaughlin. “We are so inspired by the passion for film that bubbles up in our town every year and feel honored to be included in the festivities.”

DANK is a seven member artists collective in Nevada City, California interested in post-Great Recession social issues, contemporary art, and community-based, experimental happenings. The name DANK comes from the smell of wet wood that permeates the Gold Rush town situated on the banks of Deer Creek in the Sierra Foothills.  It’s also a nod to one of the area’s premier exports, cannabis, and an acronym for Do Art Now Kids.