THE RIVER WE HEAL WITH
Art exhibition & Benefit Concert July 2nd 2026 at the Miners Foundry
The River We Heal With is an art project by award winning visual artist Julie Romano. She brings together personal storytelling and the restorative energy of the natural world. At its heart, the project gathers intimate, transformative stories from individuals who have experienced the healing properties of the Yuba River’s waters.
The gallery opens at 5:30 PM, followed by an opportunity to join a panel conversation with Julie and participating storytellers. Come enjoy this exhibition, buy prints, and connect with the community.
The evening will continue with a benefit concert in honor of the Yuba River—an opportunity to give back to this vital and cherished part of our community. Talented local artists : Ayla Nereo, Marya Stark, Honey of the Heart, Child Mosey, Ruby Chase, Tete Bero, and Diamonde, will come together in celebration, raising funds for South Yuba River Citizens League (SYRCL). SYRCL is leading the effort to rehabilitate the lower Yuba River for salmon, steelhead, riparian habitat, and wildlife.
Kids are welcome - free under 7 years old - note that you are entirely responsible for them during the all time of the event.
Julie Romano’s practice extends into fine art and the healing arts, where imagery becomes a space for reflection, embodiment, and transformation. Julie offers cinematic, impactful visual content alongside branding strategy for movers, conscious creators, and purpose-driven brands. Her work supports clients in expressing their essence with clarity, coherence, and depth. In parallel, she offers embodiment coaching, guiding individuals to feel grounded, present, and authentic in front of the camera, so imagery emerges from alignment rather than performance.
Ayla Nereo is a singer, composer, producer, dancer, and visual-poetry creator from the mountains of eastern California. Grown in forests and rivers, she is a bridger of the timeless and modern, weaving poetry and sound into a magical and emotional world of sonic beauty.
Marya is a bard, storyteller, and embodied muse. Her cinematic folk music takes the listener on imaginative journeys through the depths of the soul, paradoxical epiphanies and opulent visions. Her songs are inspired by alchemy, mysticism, reverence, and the etchings of longing across the dark night sky.
Justin Ancheta and Maren Metke have musical nectar flowing through their veins. The dynamic Grass Valley duo is the driving force behind a project that is even sweeter than it sounds. Honey of the Heart is an ambrosial mix of musical interpretations influenced by folk, soul, roots, and world/flamenco styles.
Child Mosey’s original songs weave deep melodies into a future folk sound. Their rhythmic hymns and mystic poetry bring ancient stories to current times. Robin and Emma of Child Mosey strive to make music for the heart of the people. The duo hales from the mountains of northern California and their relationship to their home range as well as their ramblings of the west heavily inform their song writing. Their goal is to create an experience with the listener that reminds us what it is to be human in all of its joy, sorrow, and mystery. If all goes right there will be laughter, there will be tears, there will be dancing.
Ruby Chase is a vocalist, music producer, and ceremonial performer known for weaving electronic music, deep bass, and ritual into immersive live experiences.
Her work lives at the intersection of dance-floor energy and devotional presence, creating spaces where audiences drop into the body, open the heart, and reconnect to something deeper.
Blending ethereal live vocals, ritualistic textures, and global rhythms, Ruby’s performances are carefully curated journeys - moving fluidly between high-energy release and moments of stillness. Whether performing on festival stages, in theatres, or within ceremonial contexts, her sets invite embodiment, connection, and transformation.
The multi-faceted vocalist/producer Diamonde draws from a rich musical background to craft refined live-electronic compositions with stunning vocal tapestries on top. Her sound is slow, sultry, sexy and deep. Diamonde weaves lush guitar and piano melodies with progressive, minimal production to create a vibe that is somehow familiar but fresh all the same. Her voice maintains an intoxicating space that draws you into a realm where the dark meets the light; pure to the core with a bit of grit like a diamonde in the rough.
The Medicine Sessions is an artist collective of musicians embodying the Dieta path of the Shipibo tradition of Peru and walking the Red Road traditions of the North Americas. At our core are Maestro Tete Bero, a recognized Shipibo Curandero, platinum-selling songwriter, producer, and multi-instrumentalist, alongside his wife Angelina Oka’s Voice and Guitar and their brother on this path, Michael Gazzo, also a platinum-selling songwriter, producer, and multi-instrumentalist. Together they create Music as Prayer-formance: songs offered as living medicine for the heart.
Drawn by a strong calling, Michael and his family of four, along with Tete and Angelina, moved to the Grass Valley area just over a year ago to live close to the Yuba River and to be baptized and cleansed in her sacred waters. We are deeply honored to share our songs in service to the Yuba and all rivers, offering sound as ceremony to uplift her resilience and the healing her waters provide to all who seek her.