Kashaya Portraits:
Historic and Contemporary

Canceled

Opening Reception: Friday, March 2 at 5:00 p.m.
Exhibit remains through April 1, 2012
Gualala Arts Center
Elaine Jacob Foyer

Kashaya Portraits: Historic and Contemporary, a selection also on view at Sonoma County Museum, highlight the cultural heritage and generational continuity of the Kashaya Pomo people through past and recent photographs.

In the early 1960s, photographer William Heick, working on the American Indian Film Project for the Anthropology Department at the University of California, Berkeley, visited the Stewart's Point Rancheria. He recorded images of the Kashaya Pomo, including iconic photographs of revered spiritual leader, Essie Parrish. Parrish, the last local Kashaya spiritual leader, passed away in 1979, but her daughters and close family members have carried on the Kashaya language and traditions in a secluded corner of northern Sonoma County.

Fifty years after his father, William Heick, Jr., has photographed the Kashaya, portraying a living, contemporary culture, as well as the remarkable legacy that is passed from generation to generation. The exhibition will feature the photographs of William Heick, Jr. and selected photographs by his father. Kashaya Portraits is part of the ongoing commemoration of the 200th anniversary of Fort Ross.

© 2011 William R. Heick, Jr.

The Kashaya were the first people known to have lived in this coastal area. This exhibit not only records the people whose oral tradition tells us of this history, but also highlights the fact that the Kashaya live here to this day and have an oral history of the events of the last two hundred years.

The exhibit was arranged with the kind permission of the Kashaya elders, Violet Parrish Chappell and Vivian Parrish Wilder, in conjunction with Daniel Murley who worked for 25 years as a ranger in Fort Ross Historic park and for 10 years as Director of Healdsburg Museum, photographer William Heick, Jr. and Marion MacDonald of The Society of Living Traditions, long time resident and former Board member of the Fort Ross Interpretive Association and member of the Fort Ross Bicentennial Committee. The Kashaya people will be officiating and speaking at the Fort Ross Bicentennial Conference and Events April 23 - 27 to be held at the Hyatt Vineyard Creek Hotel, Santa Rosa, and at Fort Ross. Further information and tickets at www.societyoflivingtraditions.org.

The Gualala Arts Center, located at 46501 Gualala Road in Gualala, CA,
is open weekdays 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., and weekends from noon to 4:00 p.m.
Please call (707) 884-1138 for more information, or email info@gualalaarts.org.

Serving the coastal communities of northern Sonoma & southern Mendocino Counties.