Art From the Heart: Free Family Fun, Community Cheer, Native American Culture & Gifts

Enjoy free family fun, music, and more, and shop for unique, affordable, beautifully handmade and Native American gifts at “Art From the Heart” from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 3, in downtown Banning. 

"Art from the Heart,"  centered at Dorothy Ramon Learning Center, 127 N. San Gorgonio Ave., supports Native American cultural work and education. Instead of shopping til you drop, we welcome you to the Center, 127 N. San Gorgonio Ave., Banning, where you can relax, enjoy free refreshments, free family fun, cultural entertainment, and discover and explore our Learning Center, where we save and share Southern California's Native American cultures, history, languages and traditional arts. Come check out our new reference library! AND you can buy Native American and beautiful, eclectic gifts, including books, that benefit Native Americans and local artists and not-for-profit Native American causes.

Highlights: A FREE basket-making workshop throughout the day led by Malki Museum. Free performances include Dragonfly Wind Flute Ensemble, traditional American Indian songs and stories with Ernest Siva, and a special, free sneak preview at 2 pm of the Pass Chorale's upcoming Dec. 11 Christmas concert, which features a cantata by Banning composer Bill Bell, and is directed by Ernest Siva.

Vendors will offer Native American jewelry, beadwork, basketry, pottery, good books, and more, and local, unique, handmade affordable art and gifts. The Market at Dorothy Ramon Learning Center will include the Native American Christmas ornaments, pottery, beadwork, and gourd jewelry of Native American artisans Ron and Geneva Moore of Parker, AZ; the flint knapping, blacksmithing and silver-jewelry-making art of Past to Present Programs and Trading Post of Redlands; gifts from Morongo Cultural Resources that will benefit Morongo students; and Native American crafts and more from Chia Café Collective, that benefit this not-for-profit group's work to preserve, educate, and enrich new generations with knowledge of traditional Native uses of native plants. Other arts and crafts include Barbara Drake’s Victorian-themed Christmas gifts; Beaumont artist Kristy Christopherson’s fun and functional handmade purses, totes, wallets and more; David Fairrington’s art, and Cheryl Blaum’s crafts. Nonprofits Dorothy Ramon Learning Center, Heyday Books and News From Native California, and Malki Museum will offer Native American books and publications.

Joining in the fun

Also participating in “Art from the Heart” are Super Subs, serving subs across the street from the Learning Center at 112 N. San Gorgonio Ave., and Toti’s Art Studio, just a block away at 235 N. San Gorgonio Ave., Banning. Gloria “Toti” Bell will offer free entertainment and an open house of her Day of the Dead-style art, joined by local artists offering pottery, paintings, and more. Ramona’s taco truck will offer delicious foods there.  

Culturally Inspired Banquet

Best banquet food, ever. Check out the culturally inspired menu at the August 13, 2016, Dragonfly Gala from the amazing Chia Cafe Collective. It's not too late to reserve your spot. 951.849.7736 or info @dorothyramon.org. 

Dragonfly Gala 2016

Ernest Siva, Center President, sings. (Carlos Puma Photo)

Dragonfly Gala 2016!
On August 13, 2016, at Morongo Community Center we will be celebrating Southern California's Native American cultures. This year's theme is YUCCA. We will highlight these native plants' longtime relationship with Native people.
DETAILS: 
WHO: Proceeds benefit the nonprofit Dorothy Ramon Learning Center's work. 
WHERE: Morongo Community Center, 13000 Malki Road, Morongo Reservation 
WHEN: Aug. 13. Reserve your spot now!
TICKETS: $45 each. Tables: $1,000, $2,000, or $3,000.
TO RSVP : CALL US, 951.849.7736 or, 951.849.4676 

Delicious food by Chia Cafe! (Carlos Puma Photo)

Birds! (Carlos Puma Photo)

Birds! (Carlos Puma Photo)

Birds! (Carlos Puma Photo)

Community Celebrating our Native Cultures (Carlos Puma Photo)

Flute Music by Dragonfly Wind Flute Ensemble (Carlos Puma Photo)

Shop at the epic Silent Auction (Carlos Puma Photo)

Did we mention Birds! (Carlos Puma Photo)

Dragonfly Gala on August 13, 2016

Spring into spring! Sunday Concert

Note that our concert is a bit early this month, but just in time for spring. Your $10 helps our nonprofit save and share Southern California's Native American cultures, languages, history, and arts.

Learn about Yucca!

This Dragonfly Lecture is one not to miss.

About Daniel McCarthy: Daniel McCarthy received his BS and MS in anthropology from the University of California, Riverside.  For the past 40 years, he has worked at Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, Joshua Tree National Park, the western states and throughout Southern California, compiling photographic inventories of rock art sites.  He has worked with Elders and Traditional Practitioners for more than 35 years throughout Southern California. 

For 17 years he was Tribal Relations Program Manager for the San Bernardino National Forest and recently received the National Lifetime Achievement award by the Office of Tribal Relations. Currently he is Director of the Cultural Resources Management Department, San Manuel Band of Mission Indians.

Research interests include desert archaeology, aboriginal trail systems of the Sonoran, Mojave, and Colorado deserts; rock art distribution, documentation, interpretation and working with tribal communities in public education of Native culture; and recording string figures.  

He conducts Southern California Native American cultural awareness classes, providing information about native plant uses (particularly agave, acorns, yucca, prickly pear cactus and pinyon), rock art, and material culture. He organized the annual Malki Museum Agave Harvest and Tasting, now more than two decades strong.  He was co-instructor in offering an Applied Archaeology field school for six years (2006-2011) and in 2013 where half the students were Native American from local tribes. He worked with several tribal governments (particularly Serrano, Cahuilla, and Luiseño), traditional practitioners and Native organizations such as the Southern California Indian Basket Weavers Organization, where he is currently vice president. He also is president of Malki Museum Board of Directors. And he is a cherished member of Chia Café, which incorporates Native foods into contemporary cuisine, such as at Dorothy Ramon Learning Center’s annual Dragonfly Gala.

Daniel has published several reports and articles, including, “Medicinal Plants Used by Native American Tribes in Southern California” with Donna Largo and Marcia Roper. 

Dorothy Ramon Learning Center awarded Daniel McCarthy our 2013 Dragonfly Award for high-soaring achievements in saving and sharing cultures.

February Concert 2016

Dragonfly Lecture on February 22nd

Concert: Traditional and New Music from Southern California Indian Nations

Georgiana Sanchez has a gift for you. She drove a very long way to share her beautiful stories and poems at the January 23 Native Voices Poetry Festival. Today, Sunday, January 24, she is turning around and commuting many miles again. She and her family will sing and tell traditional and new Chumash songs and stories at a benefit concert. Dorothy Ramon Learning Center is so grateful that this Elder is honoring our nonprofit this way. Please come and support, 3 p.m. at 127 N. San Gorgonio Avenue, Banning, and accept her gift of beautiful songs and stories from the Chumash culture. Sean Milanovich will share beautiful songs he wrote in Cahuilla. Ernest Siva, Bill Bell & Don Strandberg also will share traditional songs. Your $10 will help Dorothy Ramon Learning Center save and share Southern California's cultures, languages, history, and arts. 

Photo by Carlos Puma for Dorothy Ramon Learning Center

Come to Native Voices Poetry Festival!

Poetry Festival: Native Voices 2016

Inspire. Discover. Explore. Create. The second annual Native Voices Poetry Festival at Dorothy Ramon Learning Center in downtown Banning on Saturday, January 23, will celebrate the human voice in all the arts. 

Explore the richness of Southern California’s Native cultures, languages, history, and traditional arts. Discover and be inspired by our region’s beauty, vitality, and uniqueness. Enjoy Native American songs, storytelling, poetry, and more in family-friendly, free performances. 

Create poetry, stories, and art in free workshops for all ages.

 

DETAILS:

When:  9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, January 23.

Where: Dorothy Ramon Learning Center’s San Manuel Band of Mission Indians Gathering Hall at 127 N. San Gorgonio Avenue, Banning.

What: Free, family-friendly performances and workshops.

Who: Native American storytellers, singers, and poets from the region and from throughout Southern California, including Georgiana Sanchez, Ted and Dennis Garcia, Ernest Siva and family members, Kim and Mallory Marcus, Raymond Huaute, the Morongo Bird Singers and Dancers, Madrigal Family Bird Singers and Dancers, and other bird singers. 

Dragonfly Wind Flute Ensemble returns for the 2016 Festival, along with musicians Bill Bell and Don Strandberg, who again will perform local historian Bell’s “Ballad of Willie Boy.”

Food: Festival participants can enjoy lunch from Ramona’s food truck and Super Subs restaurant nearby.

Other Poetry Festival highlights are:

• Free workshops throughout the day, many for children, teens, and their families, offering ways to explore their own creativity through writing and art. First-come, first-serve signups will be available at the event.

• A Native Garden area with demos and displays of how native plants provide foods, medicines, tools, and have served Native cultures through time. 

• Shopping, browsing, and enjoying poetry in the Literary Café sponsored by the nonprofit Inlandia Institute, with poetry readings throughout the day.

Browse among books offered by vendors Malki Museum/Ballena Press; Heyday Books and News From Native California magazine; Scarlet Tanager Books; Dorothy Ramon Learning Center’s publishing arm, Ushkana Press; UC Riverside Costo Chair; and Inlandia Institute.

• Tours of Dorothy Ramon Learning Center’s new library, along with information on local history resources in Banning Library. The nonprofit Dorothy Ramon Learning Center since 2003 has saved and shared Southern California’s Native American cultures, languages, history, and traditional arts.

Festival sponsors Include California State University, San Bernardino, and CSUSB Palm Desert;

Banning Community Fund; Mt. San Jacinto Community College; College of the Desert;

Inlandia Institute; Banning Schools Indian Education Program; UC Riverside Costo Chair; Poets and Writers; PoetrIE; Morongo Cultural Resources; Morongo School, and Banning Library District, which is kicking off its 100th birthday celebration at the Poetry Festival.

For more information: Call 951.849.7736; email info@dorothyramon.org, or come back here.