California Indian Skills
MAPOM Classes at Point Reyes National Seashore and Olompali State Park
Fall 2010 Class Schedule (Closed)

The Miwok Archeological Preserve of Marin (MAPOM) sponsors classes in California Indian Skills in Marin County, CA each spring and fall. MAPOM's classes are designed to give students a concentrated look at California Indian culture. All classes are held in the reconstructed Coast Miwok village, Kule Loklo, at beautiful Point Reyes National Seashore, near Olema in western Marin County and at Olompali State Park in Novato.

The following classes were offered in the Fall of 2010:


BEADED TULE BASKET
September 11 & 12, Saturday & Sunday 10 – 4 pm.  Kule Loklo

Each student will make either a Salinan-style beaded tule basket, or a basket with Juncus warps and tule weavers. We will use very slender tule stems in these fine pouch- or bowl-shaped baskets.  Materials fee included.  Limit: 12 people
Instructor: Charles Kennard $140

CLAMSHELL BEAD MAKING AND ABALONE ORNAMENTS
September 18, Saturday 10 – 4:30 pm.  Olompali

Beads made from clam shells (Saxidomus nutalli) traditionally were used as money by Coast Miwok and their Pomo neighbors.  Abalone ornaments were part of the 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 people.
Instructor: Pat Rapp $75

FLINTKNAPPING: MAKING BLADES AND POINTS OF STONE
September 18, Saturday 10 – 4 pm.  Olompali
important note: this class was originally listed incorrectly as a Sunday class.

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

INTERMEDIATE FLINTKNAPPING: MAKING BLADES AND POINTS OF STONE
September 25, Saturday 10 – 4 pm. Kule Loklo
important note: this class was originally listed incorrectly as a Sunday class.

This class is for those who have completed the introductory flintknapping class and wish to further their skills. Areas to be covered will include biface reduction, spalling techniques, improving pressure flaking techniques, and other topics to help students move forward with their knapping skills. Please bring your own eye and safety protection equipment, as well as tools. Raw materials will be provided by the instructor.
Instructor: Ken Peek $75

FULL SIZE TULE BOAT
September 25 & 26, Saturday and Sunday, 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.  Kule Loklo

This year we will make a five-bundle California style boat rising at the bow. Each bundle is formed by blending stem butt ends, and binding them with wild grape vines and handmade rope. The two- or three-person boat will be launched on Tomales Bay on Sunday. Limit 12 students.
Instructor: Charles Kennard $140.

MIWOK and NATIVE CALIFORNIA CULTURE for TEACHERS
(and Parents and Park Rangers)
October 2, Saturday 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.  Kule Loklo

This class will offer curriculum suggestions for the study of California indigenous history and culture, especially for those who will be presenting the subject to students of all ages.  The day will include a presentation of a variety of cultural artifacts, the value of storytelling as a teaching tool, a review of relevant literature and curriculum guidelines, a look at pre-historic and present day Native culture, a tour of Kule Loklo – the recreated Miwok Village and an effort to share some of the philosophical values we can learn from our First People.
Instructor: John Littleton $75

CORDAGE AND NETMAKING
October 9, Saturday, 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.   Kule Loklo

The knowledge of how to make string is one of the most basic and important of human life skills.  Cordage (string and rope) has been used by humans for ages, as a tool for fishing and hunting, for carrying burdens, constructing shelters, in textiles, for tying bundles of possessions together and so on.  Plants that yield good fibers will be identified and participants will learn about extraction and processing methods.  Techniques of plying the fibers into cord will be explored.  Time permitting we will also explore knotted netting and rope making. Limit: 15 people.
Instructor:  Tamara Wilder $75.  Materials fee $25 paid to instructor. 

MAKING OF A SMALL RABBITSKIN BLANKET
October 16 & 17, Saturday & Sunday, 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.   Olompali
Learn how to make a small rabbit skin blanket done the old way. Not with hides sewn together but with long strips of rabbit fur twisted into a fuzzie boa, then twined together with cordage on a simple loom.  This is a two day class. Participants will twine a sampler blanket, which can be expanded at home, if desired.  Class fee includes twine and 10 pelts, additional pelts available at cost.  Bring hat, water and lunch.
Instructors: Dino and Sue Labiste $140 plus materials fee of $41. Total $181.

Note:  For more information call Janice Cunningham at (415) 491-0401 or email info@mapom.org

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. Traditional materials are used in our classes.
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 each Spring.
Former students have the opportunity to serve as a monitor at these classes in exchange for attending a free class as a student, contact Janice at (415) 491-0401 or e-mail us at info@mapom.org.

 

About Our Instructors

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.

Dino Labiste of Fremont has been teaching indigenous skills for more than 15 years.  He has conducted workshops at the Oakland Museum, Rabbitstick Rendezvous in Idaho, Winter Count in Arizona, the United Auburn Indian Community in Auburn and the Maidu Interpretive Center in Roseville.  He has also written articles for the Bulletin of the Society of Primitive Technology and Wilderness Way.  Dino works as a naturalist for East Bay Regional Park District and is one of the founders of Primitiveways.com

Sue Labiste  Sue has developed and presented ancestral skills workshops at Miwok Archeological Preserve of Marin and the Maidu Interpretive Center in Roseville, CA.  She has also conducted workshops at the Rattlesnake Rendezvous at Sunol-Ohlone Regional Wilderness, Winter Count in Arizona, Buckeye Gathering in Forestville, CA and at the Rabbitstick Rendezvous in Idaho.  Sue and Dino Labiste develop and present interpretive programs on cultural history and on Early Man to local elementary school children through their business, “Outside Educators”.  She also develops and conducts classes at the Math/Science Nucleus in Fremont, CA.  She is a member of the Friends of the Society of Primitive Technology.  Sue feels the construction of useful tools and items of material culture gives us "moderns" a kind of hands-on appreciation of hunter/gatherer cultures, a window to a common history when we all recognized a more intimate and immediate association with natural forces and living things.

John Littleton  Before retiring, John Littleton taught in both Montessori and public schools for some 38 years.  He holds a master’s degree in Education, as well as a master’s in Cultural Anthropology with a focus on indigenous cultures.  Throughout his career as an educator he has emphasized the value of learning from traditional peoples.

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/Kahaya 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 is on the staff of Ano Nuevo National 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.

Sylvia Thalman is a founding member of MAPOM. She was involved in 1975 in choosing the site for Kule Loklo and its construction.  With Mary Collier, she edited Interviews with Tom Smith and Maria Copa, and also wrote the Coast Miwok Indians of Pt. Reyes.  She taught bead making with Tom Thieler for many years and more recently with Pat Rapp.  Sylvia has had bead making articles published in the News from Native California and the Bulletin of Primitive Technology.  She lives in San Rafael.

Tamara Wilder of Ukiah regularly leads skills classes and hands-on school programs around Northern California. She is co-author with Steven Edholm of the book Buckskin: The Ancient Art of Braintanning, articles in The Bulletin of Primitive Technology, and a chapter in Woodsmoke: Collected Writings on Ancient Living Skills.  More info at website www.paleotechnics.com.