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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
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