PAMBLO: Remembering a Forgotten Leader is the seventh exhibit showing at ‘Uba Seo: Nisenan Arts and Culture in downtown Nevada City. This powerful exhibition is part of CHIRP’s Visibility Through Art (VTA) initiative, which brings together artists and Tribal Culture Bearers to raise public awareness about the Nevada City Rancheria Nisenan Tribe. Focusing on Chief Pamblo—also known as Owly, Pamlo, and High Chief Toley—who lived from around 1830 to 1905, the exhibit honors his legacy and that of his descendants.
Through educational panels, never-before-seen images, and significant cultural artifacts, visitors will learn about the Nisenan people’s enduring history before colonization, through the Gold Rush, and into the present.
The exhibit also features contemporary artworks and a striking textile installation created by living Tribal members, descendants of Pamblo, and collaborating artists, celebrating cultural memory and resilience.
PAMBLO: Remembering a Forgotten Leader is funded in part by the Decolonizing Wealth Project: California Truth and Healing Fund (CATH), which supports California Native American tribes and Native-led organizations advancing truth, healing, and repair across the state.
Visibility Through Art is a community art initiative produced annually as part of CHIRP’s Arts & Culture Program. Visibility Through Art is an intentional and informed collaboration between local artists and members of the Nevada City Rancheria Nisenan Tribe. Each project year explores a theme or subject of importance to the Tribe, culminating in an annual exhibition. Art opens the way for meaningful conversations around topics that can reveal solutions that may otherwise remain unseen.
The Nisenan people are working to revitalize their Culture and traditions after the intense erasure of colonization and the California gold rush. Many traditional lifeways and ecosystems were completely disrupted by exploitation and modernization. The once intimate, traditional, intuitive connection and understanding of the land was forever altered. Current revitalization efforts for earth-based traditional Nisenan Culture are made nearly impossible by the compounded layers of deracination, historic and generational trauma caused by genocide, removal from sacred lands, the forced assimilation of Indian boarding schools, outlawing of traditional and religious practices, and the prohibition of Native Language and Culture. Through creative and artistic means, the Nisenan are gathering and re-weaving the remaining traditional Indigenous knowledge to process the complex layers of trauma, bring visibility to their stories, history, and Culture, and to envision a path forward in a forever-changed landscape.
‘Uba Seo: Nisenan Arts & Culture is a Indigenous gallery and Culture space in downtown Nevada City. The gallery project falls under CHIRP’s Art & Culture Program and is another way to bring visibility to the Nevada City Rancheria Nisenan Tribe while fulfilling CHIRP’s mission: to preserve, protect, and perpetuate Nisenan Culture. ‘Uba Seo is another step toward the restoration of the Tribe’s Federal Recognition. Since opening its doors in the Spring of 2021, ‘Uba Seo has created rich opportunities for visibility, advocacy, healing, and community education. This unprecedented social space is curated through the perspectives and voices of the Nevada City Rancheria Nisenan Tribe.
WHY AN ART EXHIBITION
This exhibition was created as a response to the urgent need for deeper understanding and dialogue about the original people of this land. Through creative expression, the project opens space for reflection on disrupted histories and living cultures. As Shelly Covert, Tribal Council Spokesperson and Executive Director of CHIRP, explains, “we were searching for a meaningful way to tell our story, and art continues to be one of the most impactful tools we have. It invites people in, encourages questions, and makes space for truths that are often left out of the historical record.” By working closely with culture bearers and artists—many of whom are descendants of the leader at the center of this exhibition—CHIRP has helped foster unique works that speak to identity, memory, and place. Over time, these pieces have formed a growing collection that serves not just as a tribute, but as an evolving record of Nisenan presence and perspective.
Participating Nevada City Rancheria Nisenan Tribal Member Artists: Shelly Covert, Lorena Davis, Sarah Thomas, Cindy Buero, Debra Mcbrien, Saxon Thomas, Brittney Depew, Heidi Noel Native | Nisenan Special Guest Artists: Tiffany Adams Participating Artists: Maile Claire, Mekdela Maskal, Bishop Randall, FluxFlow Glass, and Miles Dearling.
PAMBLO: Remembering a Forgotten Leader
Curated by Shelly Covert, Mira Clark & Ruth Chase
On View: October 11th, 2025 – November 2026
Opening Art Reception: October 11th, 6 – 9:30 PM
‘Uba Seo: Nisenan Arts & Culture, 225 Broad Street, Nevada City CA, 95959
Regular Gallery Hours: Thursday & Sunday, 12 – 6 pm | Friday & Saturday, 11 am – 6 pm
WHO ARE THE NISENAN AND WHAT IS CHIRP
The Nisenan are the Indigenous People who were here thousands of years before the California gold rush. Despite the destruction of their homelands, broken treaties, and forced assimilation, they remain here in their homelands today and strive to have their identity reflected in the fabric of the community. President Woodrow Wilson signed an Executive Order in 1913 that created a Reservation on Cement Hill and gave Federal Recognition to the Tribe. In 1964 the Nevada City Rancheria was one of forty-four California Rancherias wrongfully “terminated” by US Congress and today is one of three California Rancherias awaiting restoration. True and correct knowledge of the Nisenan and their ancient existence on this land, up until very recently, had been fully erased from history and the Tribe was nearly forgotten. The need for visibility as the Tribe fights to have their Federal Recognition and sovereignty restored has begun to turn the tide of historic amnesia. Up until very recently, most of that education and change has had to be shouldered by the Tribe itself. Thus, the California Heritage: Indigenous Research Project, aka CHIRP, was created to assist the Tribe in areas of Federal Recognition, Education, Art, Cultural Resource Protection, Land Back, Community Education & Communications, Media, Fundraising, and more. CHIRP’s mission serves the needs of the Nevada City Rancheria Nisenan Tribe, guides and informs Right Relations with Indigenous communities, and stabilizes Nisenan Culture and community, all while bringing education and connection to the public through its charitable purposes. CHIRP’s 501(c)(3) status brings opportunities that as a terminated Tribe, the Nevada City Rancheria does not have.