| |
The Educational programs are devised and led by Jane and David Brockhurst of OFF LIMITS DESIGN Inc, for and on behalf of Main St Murals and Discovery Trails.
EDUCATIONAL ART PROJECT 2008 WORKSHOP & PROGRAM OUTLINE
Following the success of the 2007 OLD SPANISH TRAIL educational art program, Main Street Murals have partnered with Discovery Trails to head a unique 2008 arts program entitled “Native American Voices of the Mojave Desert”.
This is a hands on multi curricular after school program involving elementary students from 7 schools in the Barstow area. Students will be led on a Journey of Discovery involving a diverse program that satisfies curriculum standards in Language Arts, Mathematics, History social science, science, visual and performing arts,
Additionally, a smaller group of 8-10 students pursuing an art’s major will be selected from the local high schools. This senior group will be encouraged to develop their design and composition skills with David Brockhurst the Master Mural artist. They will also take on mentoring roles with the younger students to learn administrative and organizational skills.
The educational program will run for a 5-month season and involve a series of presentations, fieldtrips and workshops. These activities are designed for the students to research several tribes of the region, their natural habitat and uses of their surrounding plant and animal life as a means of shelter, nutrition and natural remedy. Social structure, rituals and ceremonies within tribes will be explored as well as how tribal life adapted and changed through the development of the Americas.
Students will hear Native American stories from tribal families describing history and customs, which have been passed down in oral form through generations. Students will lead interviews with each “Story teller” which will be recorded on video and in written form and used as part of the project exhibition for public display at the Desert Discovery Center, a local environmental education and visitor center.
They will participate in authorized field trips to public lands where the remains of Indian camps can be seen and other sites showing petroglyphs and pictographs. Being there in person allows the students a visual interpretation of Native American history and challenges. The students will keep a journal detailing their discoveries and use all the information they collate throughout the project to create interpretative drawings which will be used as the basis of the final mural projects which will be displayed at two separate sites: 1.The Discovery Center on Barstow Road and 2. The Odyssey Building as an addition to the Historic Walking Gallery of Murals along Barstow’s Main Street, Route 66.
PUBLIC SEASON OF PRESENTATIONS, WORKSHOPS AND OPEN FORUM DISCUSSIONS BASED ON THE NATIVE INDIANS OF THE MOJAVE DESERT REGION
In addition to the educational program, the Desert Discovery Center and Mojave River Valley Museum will host a season of Native American history for the public in the form of evening presentations. Subjects will include: Discovering the Vanyumes (We’re Not Extinct), native plants and their medicinal uses, “Trails across the desert,” Native American slaves, Early Man Site, Newberry Caves and the Newberry period.
NATIVE AMERICAN CULTURAL ARTS FESTIVAL
An Indian cultural festival will be held in conjunction with the dedication of the mural project in which tribes will be invited to share their cultural arts, give exhibition dance and music presentations and show honor to their ancestors through story telling.
This project is important to the City of Barstow and its surrounding communities because it offers a whole season of learning, presentations and creative development to EDUCATE, ILLUSTRATE AND CELEBRATE the history and culture of the Native American from the Mojave Desert providing a permanent display to raise historic awareness and the significance of preserving the past for the future. All enquiries to Jane Laraman-Brockhurst, Artistic Coordinator Tel: 760 257 1052
www.californiastories.org
"This project is made possible, in part, by a grant from the California Council for the Humanities
as part of the Council’s statewide California Stories Initiative"
|
|
