MIDDLETOWN – It was brisk and blustery in the shade atop Rabbit Hill on Sunday Jan 12, but it was warm in the sun. VIP’s and special invitees scaled the hill from both sides while a van ferried some to the peak between the two water towers. The site affords a spectacular view overlooking Middletown and out to the western hills. The group assembled to celebrate and dedicate the powerful paintings that adorn the water towers there. It is a project conceived and realized by Lisa Kaplan of the Middletown Art Center (MAC) to bring the community together, acknowledge indigenous land and transform the mundane storage units into community expression as Middletown moves on from the Valley Fire.
Kaplan explained that while doing recovery work at MAC in the wake of the Valley Fire, she would drive past Rabbit Hill looking at the charred landscape. Over time she moved from a sense of tragic loss to finding “beauty in the transformative power of fire”. Looking up at the towers on Rabbit Hill. “I thought, what if we do something up on Rabbit Hill? We have these tanks sticking up there that need attention. Why not beautify them? That was 2018.”
It wasn’t until 2020-21 that the idea of using Pomo basket designs occurred to her. When the Middletown Rancheria approved the idea there was a MAC-sponsored design competition and a community vote that engaged the Middletown Area Town Hall. The winning designs, TSUKLI – TO SHINE FORTH by Trelasa Baratta and ECHOES OF THE LAND by Lorraine Triana Rueda are both inspired by Pomo basketry.
Moke Simon, Middletown Rancheria Tribal Chair, began the ceremony. “It’s been a long time since you heard drums from the top of this hill but in our culture, when you’re doing your ceremony or having your sweat, you’d find the highest point so you could communicate with the gods and everyone around.”
Simon continued. “I want to say thank you to the power that is here. I want to thank you for the collaboration of the Callayomi Water District, the Middletown Art Center, Lisa Kaplan, who’s always pushing us to bring art and culture to our community here in Lake County.”
“Today is a collaboration. It may be hard for change to come to communities, but once it’s here, you see the beauty, the love, and the intention behind it. It helps bring communities together no matter what happens. It’s very powerful. Water is life. Water has been sustaining us.”
After a blessing of songs by members of the Rancheria, addresses by Mary Wilson and Lisa Kaplan of MAC, Todd Fiora, General Manager of the Callayomi Water District, spoke. Fiora told of being asked to delay repainting one of the water tanks while Kaplan wrote and re-wrote grants to the National Endowment for the Arts. Xavier Pina of West Coast Painters spoke of the challenges of transcribing the designs onto the tanks, and the beauty of working in such a vista.
Kaplan pointed out, “the arts make a difference. The arts and culture bring us together. They bring us life, and they give us what we need beyond just survival.”
Assemblymember Cecelia Aguiar-Curry commented, “it is absolutely gorgeous. It fills my heart to see the project that’s come to life here on this hill.”
Perhaps the most poignant moment of the dedication came when Moke Simon invoked a 30-second moment of silence for the fires raging in Los Angeles. Beside the shining expression of a community that has resurrected itself from the destruction of the Valley Fire, the conflagration to the south reminded the group of the impermanence of nature and the essential nature of the water vessels atop Rabbit Hill. In that moment they seemed a monument to both resilience and vulnerability.
The dedication then moved on to a larger public reception at MAC where more people could be accommodated.
“Water Basket is a collaboration between Middletown Rancheria of Pomo Indians, of California, Callayomi County Water District, and the Middletown Art Center (MAC).
The project is funded in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts, with additional funding from the Middletown Rancheria, the Water District, Calpine at The Geysers, and Lake County Tribal Health Consortium.”
Go to https://middletownartcenter.org/water-basket.html for more information and a stunning fly-over view of the project.
The new MAC exhibit ENTANGLEMENT officially opened on January 18.
