Suggested Donation.

Winnemem Wintu artist Michael Preston’s first solo exhibition features works inspired by the region. Bill Miesse will give a lecture on another Wintu artist, Frank LaPena.

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MICHAEL “POM” PRESTON is an artist, activist, ceremonial dancer, member of the Winnemem Wintu tribe and the son of the current tribal chief, Caleen Sisk. He grew up going to his tribe’s sacred places and has been dancing in the Winnemem way since he was four years old. He continues to protect sacred sites for the return of the Chinook salmon and the health of the water and lands along the McCloud River, which have been under threat of inundation from the Shasta Dam raise effort by the US Bureau of Reclamation. The Winnemem Wintu are from the McCloud River and their name means "Middle River People". This acclaimed short film describes more about Pom's life.

BILL MIESSE is a local historian, art curator, and author, and considered a world expert on Mount Shasta. He will be presenting more about Frank LaPena who was a Nomti Pom Wintu artist. The Nomti Pom were the original inhabitants of the land under the Crags and Frank LaPena was an acclaimed artist, author, and professor who wrote and made art about the ways we are to live well here. More about his life here.