MAPOM CLASSES IN CALIFORNIA INDIAN SKILLS Spring Series 2008 at Point Reyes National Seashore The Miwok Archeological Preserve of Marin (MAPOM) sponsors classes in California Indian Skills in western Marin County each spring and fall. MAPOM's classes are designed to give students a concentrated look at one aspect of California Indian culture. Some of our instructors are California Native Americans with a special interest in their tribal traditions. Others are non-Indians who have actively studied traditional skills for many years. Classes are held in the reconstructed Coast Miwok village, Kule Loklo, at beautiful Point Reyes National Seashore, near Olema in western Marin County. The subjects of all classes are adult skills taught at an adult level, and usually involve hands-on participation by students. Children under 16 rarely have the patience or the ability to handle traditional materials used in the classes. A special Family Day class is available for children. Traditional materials are used in our classes. Former students have the opportunity to serve as a monitor at these classes in exchange for attending a free class as a student; contact Sylvia at (415) 479-3281 or at sylthal@aol.com if you are interested. FIREMAKING April 26, Saturday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Make fire by friction with your own hand-drill firemaking kit made from native materials. Both hand-drill and bow-drill techniques will be explored, and you will have ample opportunity to practice making fire. Time permitting we will also try other firemaking techniques. Limit: 20 people. Instructor: Tamara Wilder $75 COILED POMO/COAST MIWOK BASKET April 26-27, Saturday and Sunday, 10 a.m.- 4 p.m. Participants will create a small diameter coiled Coast Miwok/Pomo style basket from willow and sedge with the design in redbud. Pomo baskets are among the most outstanding in California, and students will learn from a master. Instructor: Julia Parker $140 CLAM SHELL BEADS AND ABALONE ORNAMENTS May 3, Saturday, 10 a.m.- 4 p.m. Beads made from clam shells (Saxidomus nutalli) traditionally were used as money by Coast Miwok and their Pomo neighbors. Abalone ornaments were part of dance regalia. Clam beads and abalone were traded from this area to distant parts of California and beyond. You'll make a clamshell bead and abalone necklace with traditional methods and tools including pump-drills and rock grinding. Limit: 16. Instructors: Pat Rapp and Sylvia Thalman. $75 WHOLE STEM RUSH TWINED BASKET May 3-4, Saturday and Sunday, 10 a.m.- 4 p.m. In northern California, rush or wire grass has a reputation for being a material for children's practice baskets, but in Oregon skill and artistry has been lavished on this plentiful plant's use in twined baskets. Students can choose from a variety of "start" designs, and use overlay or weaving stroke designs on the sides of their baskets. Students may also bring along any ongoing weaving projects. Instructor: Charles Kennard $130 BRAIN TANNING BUCKSKIN May 10-11, Saturday 9 a.m.- 5 p.m., and Sunday 9 a.m.- 6 p.m. Participants will partake in the whole process, from scraping the hide to smoking the softened buckskin. If all goes well, each person will take home about a quarter of a finished buckskin. Limit: 20. Instructor: Tamara Wilder. $130 SELF BOW AND SOME ARCHERY May 17-18, Saturday and Sunday, 10 a.m.- 4 p.m. This class is designed for beginning bow makers, but will also be rewarding for people who have already made traditional bows. The self bow is larger than the sinew-backed bow and will be finished during the class. The goal is to help people to become competent in bow design and enable them to make fast and efficient bows of any type of wood. Bay laurel, oak or cedar staves will be used, and staves of other woods will be on hand. Students will steam-bend wood for reflex and recurve. Sunday afternoon will be devoted to archery practice with your new bow. Instructor: Joe Dabill. $130 ARROW MAKING May 24, Saturday, 10 a.m.- 4 p.m. Arrows, fashioned from local woods, will be straightened over heat, and then feathers will be added to make them shoot straight. The instructor will provide stone points. Instructor: Joe Dabill. $75 TWINED TULE SIERRA MIWOK BASKET May 31-June 1, Saturday and Sunday, 10 a.m.- 4 p.m. Making a Twined Tule Sierra Miwok Basket. Instructor: Lucy Parker $130 FAMILY DAY June 1, Sunday, 10 a.m.- 4 p.m. Hands-on introduction to old ways living skills for children and parents alike. Drill holes in soapstone with sticks, grind pine nuts into beads, and make string from natural fibers. Parents need to be present with the children to help the program run smoothly. For children ages 6-14. Instructor: Tamara Wilder. Limit 30 children. $55 per family FLINTKNAPPING: MAKING BLADES AND POINTS OF STONE June 14, Saturday, 10 a.m.- 4 p.m. Arrow, spear and drill points and knife blades of obsidian (volcanic glass) and chert have been made in California for thousands of years. In this introductory class you will learn about styles of points and blades, and how they were made and used. You will also see numerous examples of stone tools and the different kinds of stone used to produce the points. Your own flintknapping kit will be provided and used to make obsidian points. Instructor: Ken Peek. $75 About Our Instructors Joe Dabill, survival specialist, has taught classes for the Santa Cruz Mountains Natural History Association, the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, and for the California Academy of Sciences, as well as at Rabbit Stick gatherings and at his own home in Atascadero. Charles Kennard of San Anselmo is a long-time weaver of twined and coiled baskets, and teacher of adults and youth. He is active in habitat restoration in Marin with Friends of Corte Madera Creek. Julia Parker, Kashaya Pomo/Coast Miwok, is a renowned basket weaver and cultural demonstrator at Yosemite National Park and the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco, as well as elsewhere in the United States. She is co-author of It Will Live Forever: Traditional Yosemite Acorn Preparation. Julia, whose home is in Midpines, stars in the documentary Grandmother's Prayer, and recently received an Honorary Doctorate Degree from the California College of the Arts. Lucy Parker lives in Lee Vining on the eastern side of the Sierra. She is Sierra Miwok/Kashaya Pomo/ Coast Miwok. Lucy is a basket weaving instructor and a well known demonstrator in the Bay Area, Yosemite National Park, the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco, and in Nevada. Lucy and her mother Julia have also demonstrated their art in New York City and Milwaukee. She is Chairman of the California Indian Basketweavers Association. Ken Peek has been flintknapping for over 15 years and is a longtime student of California history, geology, archeology, and primitive skills. He has presented numerous flintknapping workshops and demonstrations for the East Bay Regional Parks District, in Henry Cowell State Park, and in public schools. He lives in Castro Valley. Pat Rapp on the staff of A_o Nuevo Historic Site near Santa Cruz, which boasts a very large population of elephant seals. She has taught bead making at Kule Loklo with Sylvia Thalman for many years and is a talented bead maker, living in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Sylvia Thalman of San Rafael is a founding member of MAPOM. She is a regular demonstrator at Kule Loklo, and has been an instructor for the Santa Cruz Mountains Natural History Association, the Jesse Peter Memorial Museum in Santa Rosa, and the Effie Yeaw Nature Center in Sacramento. Sylvia is the author of The Coast Miwok Indians of the Point Reyes Area, and co-editor of Interviews with Tom Smith and Maria Copa. Tamara Wilder of Ukiah has taught and demonstrated skills in California at the Academy of Sciences in San Francisco, as well as in Oregon, Arizona, and Idaho. She is co-author with Steve Edholm of articles in The Bulletin of Primitive Technology, in Woodsmoke: Collected Writings on Ancient Living Skills, and of their book Buckskin: The Ancient Art of Braintanning. Fee Policy Pre-registration with payment in the form of a check or money order is necessary unless special arrangements are made. Tuition is returned in full if you cancel one week or more before the class. Materials fees usually cannot be returned. Minimum class size is six. Most classes have a maximum limit. For more information, call Sylvia Thalman at (415) 479-3281, or e-mail us at sylthal@aol.com. Special rates are available for California Indians. Fee reductions are also available for people working with groups of Indian children. Classes Enrollment Form Print out and complete the form, enclose together with your check or money order and mail to: Miwok Archeological Preserve of Marin, PO Box 481, Novato CA 94948. Tuition fees given below are for members of Miwok Archeological Preserve of Marin; if you are not already a member of MAPOM please add $10 to cover your initial annual membership at our one-time-only class participant rate. Annual MAPOM membership helps to support us in our mission of education and includes our semi-annual newsletter The Acorn. We are a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Membership rates are $10 for seniors, full-time students and first-time MAPOM students; $20 for individuals; and $25 for families. Memberships are paid annually, due on April1. Classes are sometimes cancelled the Wednesday before the class because of low enrollment. Please get your application in early. You will receive a confirmation notice. Name Street/Mailing Address City, State, Zip Email, Telephone Enclosed is $ _______ for class fees. I am ___ am not ___ already a MAPOM member. ___ I can provide a ride for class participants from my area. ___ I can't take classes this time, but put me on your mailing list. Check the class(es) you wish to take: ___ FIREMAKING April 26 ___ COILED POMO/COAST MIWOK BASKET April 26-27 ___ CLAM SHELL BEADS AND ABALONE ORNAMENTS May 3 ___ WHOLE STEM RUSH TWINED BASKET May 3-4 ___ BRAIN TANNING BUCKSKIN May 10-11 ___ SELF BOW AND SOME ARCHERY May 17-18 ___ ARROW MAKING May 24 ___ TWINED TULE SIERRA MIWOK BASKET May 31-June 1 ___ FAMILY DAY June 1 ___ FLINTKNAPPING: MAKING BLADES AND POINTS OF STONE June 14