The DANK New Works show opens on Friday, June 5th, in conjunction with the Nevada City First Friday Art Walk.  DANK Collective members Roseanne Burke, Sheila Cameron, Cynthia Levesque, Moira McLaughlin, Joseph Meade, Celine Adrianna Negrete, and Nancy Nelson will be showing their newest work, there will be musical performances by Music in the Mountains, and refreshments will be served.

Gretchen  Bond, Miners Foundry Executive Director says of this event “The Miners Foundry has a long tradition of supporting innovation in musical performance and fine art.  Partnering on this with both DANK and Music in the Mountains is an exciting new chapter for us.”

The DANK Collective artists will be showing work in a variety of mediums including oils, acrylic, encaustic, collage, fibers, mixed media, and photography.  Roseanne Burke will be showing an encaustic diptych including a portrait of local author and storyteller Steve Sanfield.  Burke will also be showing an oil painting, “Swimmer at Dawn (after W.T. Brown)”.  This painting presents the June Art Walk theme of “Water”, and proceeds from the sale of the painting will benefit Miners Foundry and Art Walk.

Sheila Cameron will be showing her most recent paintings (acrylic and graphite) and says, “I’m working on a series about transitions and the tension in deciding what to let go and what to capture.  I’ve been sharing the works in progress online and even painting at DANK so people can get a sense of the layers in one painting.  Working that way has definitely contributed to the theme.  Can’t wait to share the finished pieces and keep working on the series throughout the month.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Moira McLaughlin will be showing a collage piece and explains, “With my ‘Collage No. 33’ an explosive piece made from cut up catalogues and newspapers, I’m trying something new; not explaining what the work means.  I’m looking forward to hearing people’s responses to it on purely visual terms.”

Nancy Nelson’s piece, “I Know it is Time” is a fiber work with photo image, embroidery and crochet on silk and paper.  Nelson says, “This work began as a self-portrait, meant to define a current frame of mind.  Midway through the process my sister, who had been ill for more than 20 years, passed away.  While sitting with her in the final days and hours I wrote these words, which inspired me to include her image in the work:

Through the dark a light glimmers, a memory, of myself,
And why I bore this veil.
It has been an ordeal I would not wish on another,
I’m afraid but I know it is time.
I must prepare to cast off this robe,
And embrace the person that is hiding beneath,
Beautiful or hideous, living or dying,
Or be buried in its ever-increasing thread.”

Foothill Chamber Winds, a chamber wind group with local players, will be performing at 6:00 p.m.  Toby Thomas Rose, pianist and the winner of the Young Musicians Competition, will follow them.

“Music in the Mountains is excited to play a part in the First Friday Artwalk, and especially to be playing in the historical cultural heart of Nevada City at the Miners Foundry.  The new DANK Gallery is a great community gathering spot, and we are looking forward to bringing some awesome music to the space,” said Cristine Kelly, Music in the Mountains Executive Director.

The DANK New Works Show reception will begin at 5:00 p.m. on June 5th and refreshments will be available.  The gallery is the first stop on the First Friday Artwalk, and attendees will be able to pick up maps here.

 

The DANK Movement is an artist’s collective in Nevada City, CA.

It was founded in 2013 by a group of ten artists interested in collaboration, the rural ideal, post-Great Recession social issues, and the anti-urban aesthetic grounded in the legacy of the California Gold Rush.

The name DANK comes from the ubiquitous wet wood smell that permeates Nevada City, which is situated on the banks of Deer Creek.

It is also a nod to one of the area’s premier exports:  cannabis.

And it’s an acronym for Do Art Now Kids.