Culture Night, Culture Days

Next! This Thursday we co-sponsor the 13th annual Native American Cultural Celebration at Banning High School.

A special presentation of Sean Owen's film, "Sing Birds" will highlight the family event.

We congratulate film maker Sean Owen. "Sing Birds" was just nominated for best documentary feature at the American Indian Film Institute in San Francisco.

If you haven't seen this powerful film yet, the Banning High event is your chance.

The event also will feature:

Morongo Bird Singers & Dancers.

Gourd Rattles and Other Crafts.

Delicious Frybread and Other Foods.

Demos, Displays, Cultural Activities.

Details: 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. Nov. 19

Banning High School, 100 Westward, Banning

Sponsors: Banning Unified School District, Banning Unified Indian Education Program, Banning High/Nicolet School Indian Club; RSBCIHI Native Challenge Project, Dorothy Ramon Learning Center.

On Nov. 19 and 20 Dorothy Ramon Learning Center also is participating in and co-sponsoring Waat: A Celebration of First Cultures, at Crafton Hills Community College. This excellent program offers fun, hands-on education programs for the region's elementary students and their teachers.

Art and Humor on Nov. 16

By Gerald Clarke, Jr. for Dorothy Ramon Learning Center

Our next Dragonfly Lecture features Gerald Clarke Jr. of Cahuilla Reservation.

His art often explores what it means to be Cahuilla in the modern-day world.

Sometimes it's performance art, sometimes it's sculptures made from melted-down faucets, or paintings, or any medium you can think of (and some media you probably WON'T think of).

Gerald Clarke has been a practicing artist for close to 20 years. He has exhibited his art nationally and internationally.

In 1997, he was one of five Native artists chosen to exhibit at the Heard Museum's Seventh Invitational Exhibition.

In 2007, the Eiteljorg Museum in Indianapolis awarded Gerald with a Native Artist Fellowship Award, and this year he was nominated for a Joan Mitchell Award. Gerald's work spans painting, sculpture, installation and performance.

In his own words he refers to his medium as "kitchen sink- anything and everything I can use to convey thoughts and feelings."

Gerald will discuss his development as an artist and his beliefs on how art can engage society.

Gerald also suggests that the audience be prepared for the unexpected!

DETAILS

6 p.m. Nov. 16

Dorothy Ramon Learning Center

17 W. Hays, Banning

Donations at the door help our Nonprofit save and share Southern California's Native American cultures, languages, history, and traditional arts.

Read more about Gerald Clarke's life here.

Eight-legged messenger

© Pat Murkland

For all those who partake in Oct. 31 tricks or treats,

And for all who appreciate large and intensely hairy-looking crawling beings,

here is Tecqwac.

That's Tarantula in Serrano.

This male was out and about, creeping around looking for Mrs. Right several weeks ago.

In our canyon in Inland Southern California, we have a species that comes out in early fall, and a different Tecqwac who comes out in spring.

Dorothy Ramon recalled in Serrano in her cultural biography Wayta' Yawa' (2000) that when the spring Tecqwac appeared, it was a messenger:

Time to go looking for yucca blossoms to harvest for food.

More Dragonfly Lectures

The last two Dragonfly Lectures for 2009:

November 16, 6 p.m.

The Art of Gerald Clarke, Jr.

Gerald Clarke is a contemporary Cahuilla artist. There seems to be no limit on the media he explores, whether it's bronze or video or a combination of both.

We'll be posting more about Gerald Clarke's art.

BIO: He was born in Hemet in 1967 and is a tribal leader on the Cahuilla reservation near Anza.

He has a bachelor of arts degree in painting and sculpture from University of Central Arkansas along with an M.A. (1992) and MFA (1994) from Stephen F. Austin State University in Texas.

He then spent about 10 years teaching at the community college and university levels, but he left his teaching job at East Central University in Oklahoma in 2003 and returned home to the reservation after his father's death.

He and his wife Stacy run cattle and own a storage business. Gerald teaches art classes at Idyllwild Arts.

Gerald has devoted his life to saving and sharing Cahuilla culture and songs.

Dec. 7, 6 p.m.

Ernest Siva: The bighorn sheep songs.

Our Dorothy Ramon Learning Center president's first Dragonfly Lecture at Dorothy Ramon Learning Center will be about the Serrano bighorn sheep songs.

Ernest Siva is believed to be the only person singing these songs recently. In 2008 he taught the songs to an apprentice and Dorothy Ramon Learning Center has been working to document and share these songs more.

Read more about the bighorn sheep songs here.

DETAILS: Lectures start at 6 p.m. at Dorothy Ramon Learning Center, 17 W. Hays, Banning.

Donations at the door help us save and share our Southern California cultures, languages, history, and music and other traditional arts.

Honk if You Love Native Plants

We have had so much fun with our back-to-back Native American & Native Plant lectures.

They each drew a wonderful group of people intensely interested in the demos and discussions. If you missed these, we are going to share some info. in our upcoming blogs.

Stay tuned, because we surely will have more plant lectures.

Here is one of the videos shared by Deborah Small & Rosie Ramirez during their Dragonfly Lecture on Oct. 19, a planting song.

Native Uses of Plants, continued

If ever there were a photo to illustrate contemporary Native American uses of native plants, this is it.

Thank Rosie Ramirez and Deborah Small, our next Dragonfly Lecturers.

Yes, they will be giving a multi-media presentation:

Edible, Medicinal, Material, Ceremonial

Contemporary Ethnobotany of Southern California Indians

Who is this beautiful elder?

What plant has she gathered?

What is she going to use it for?

How is she going to prepare the plant?

Find out at our Dragonfly Lecture on Oct. 19 ... and discover much more.

Deborah Small and Rosie Ramirez also will have copies of their 2010 calendar available. Check out sample pages and see other information about native plants here.

DETAILS: 6 p.m., Oct. 19, 17 W. Hays, Banning

Donations at the door will help the Learning Center save and share Southern California Indian cultures, languages, history and traditional arts.

Contemporary People & Plant Uses

Our Dragonfly Lecture on Oct. 19 is our next exploration of modern Native American uses for native plants.

This time, Rose Ramirez and Deborah Small will give their well-received and informative multi-media presentation,

Edible, Medicinal, Material, Ceremonial, Contemporary Ethnobotany of Southern California Indians.

Their 2010 calendar also will be available.

About our Dragonfly Lecturers:

Rosie Ramirez (Chumash/Yaqui) is a contemporary basket weaver who works hard to help save and revitalize cultural traditions. She also works to protect culturally important native plants, their landscapes and habitats.

from the book Seaweed, Salmon, and Manzanita Cider: A California Indian Feast By Margaret Dubin & Sara-Larus Tolley Heyday Books, Berkeley © 2008:

"Deborah Small is a writer, artist, and teacher and one of the cofounders of the Indian Rock Native Garden Project, an ongoing collaboration between art and anthropology students at California State University, San Marcos, and the San Luis Rey Band of Luiseño Indians. She documents the cultural revitalization of Native traditions in southern California, focusing on edible, medicinal, material, and ceremonial plants and their uses."

DETAILS:

Monday Oct. 19, 6 p.m.

Dorothy Ramon Learning Center, Banning

Donations at the door will benefit the Learning Center's nonprofit mission to save and share Southern California American Indian cultures, languages, history, and traditional arts.