Madrecitas Exposicion de Pequeno Formato

On July 27, 2013 we will celebrate the first ever U.S. exhibition of Madrecitas: Exposicion de Pequeno Formato with an artist reception and a viewing of pequeno formato films.

The Madrecitas exhibition of small format art 
began five years ago in an effort to support Mexicali’s 
blossoming young artists. Based in a hallway of 
CETYS Universidad, the inaugural exhibit had 60 pieces. 
In 2013 the exhibit boasts 300 pieces from artists 
ranging from Southern California to Mexico City 
and includes 2D, 3D and video format. The exhibit represents 
the vibrant artistic community just across the border. 

Ocotillo Cool Center

The Imperial Valley Desert Museum is the designated Cool Center for Ocotillo effective immediately.
Information: Address: 11 Frontage Road, Ocotillo, CA 92259
Hours: Open Tuesday-Saturday, 10am-3pm, closed Sunday and Monday
Services: Chairs, A/C, water fountain.

Ocotillo Summer Youth Programming

We were using the summer to focus on finishing projects like the curation of the IVC collections, but we were asked about youth programming for Ocotillo youth, so we developed a list of weekly activities starting immediately and running until August 2nd. 

Here it is!

Curation Update: The End of the Beginning

by Jessica Brody, Head Curator

I've been told that at the start of the artifact re-housing project in 2009, there was no way to quantify the number of boxes in storage. It was too daunting task to attempt. Today, in the "cooler" weather I spent the morning checking corners of the now near-empty storage. 64 boxes of artifacts remain in the temporary storage area and about others 30 brought up to the museum this week.

Completing the re-housing the artifacts isn't the end of the Inventory Project, but it marks a huge milestone in the care of the collections. Massive, really. The next phase will involve the re-organization of the files and paperwork, also in temporary storage. Anne Morgan, our visiting archivist, developed a system very similar to the volunteer curation process that we will use to create searchable database records for the documentation. As we enter information into the database, we will be able to match the records to the artifacts.

The biggest challenge in caring for this collection is the divorce of the artifacts from the records. I'd like to personally invite the community, who has worked so hard to care for these records for so long, to help us create a full, informative, researchable archive. The information we work with over the coming months will form the basis for our first permanent exhibit and educational programming. This is a very exciting time to be part of the Inventory Project.

Kumeyaay College Classes

by Jessica Brody

Stan Rodriguez may be a familiar name to those interested in Kumeyaay culture. Maybe you've taken one of his classes - he always seems to be teaching. Stan graciously invited me to participate in his traditional tool making class through Kumeyaay College - Tool Time with Stan, he called it.

Every week will be a new adventure in traditional tools. Plans for the class range from building and fishing off tule boats to flinting obsidian tools. The first part of the class has been dedicated to constructing traditional houses on piece of land recently acquired as a preserve and addition to the Sycuan Reservation. The class seems to grow every week as more and more people hear stories about the work their friends are doing. With so many hands on board, it hardly seems like work.

See more classes available through Kumeyaay College on the website: http://www.kumeyaaycommunitycollege.com/

Facebook Photography Contest Winner

Congratulations to our Facebook Photography Contest winner Kim Savala. Inspired by this year's spring time cactus blooms, we hosted a competition on Facebook to find the best desert-inspired photo. Several people entered fantastic entries, but Kim's stole the hearts and 'likes' of the most Facebook friends. Check out our album on Facebook to see all entries. 

Kim's image is now hanging in the Museum lab. Come and see it in person during our exhibit closing party and Madracitas artist reception July 27th. 

Over 1,000 students in 2012-13 Coiled Clay Program

The Imperial Valley Desert Museum’s signature community outreach program is a hands-on ceramic art program aimed at understanding and celebrating the unique cultural traditions of indigenous ceramic pottery production in the Imperial Valley. The Coiled Clay program was piloted by a 2011-2012 grant from the Imperial Valley Community Foundation. During the 2012-2013 school year, a second grant was used to expand the coiled clay program into the signature public program it has become.  

To create a viable engaging, hands-on activity to support existing art curriculum in the county school systems, Museum staff took artifacts and educational curriculum into classrooms where students had the opportunity to study original artifacts. The museum introduced art concepts of shape and form associated with traditional native crafts. The museum provided clay and instruction in coiled-clay techniques and students styles and techniques create ceramic art based on the styles and techniques used by the indigenous population who first lived in the Southern California deserts.

Measured outcomes were aimed to serve 12-15 home school students at one home school program and 330 art students in nine classrooms at three high schools. It was anticipated that the program would have two components, the production of 3-dimensional coiled clay ceramics and the production of 2-dimensional visual arts. Owing to the success of the pilot program last year, we also anticipated serving younger students during community programs.

Over the course of the grant program museum staff visited 12 classrooms. This included Holtville High School, Central High School, and home school programs in Holtville and El Centro. A total of 236 students were served in their classrooms.

What was unanticipated during the grant cycle was the interest and participation of home school programs. Three home school programs participated in the grant, the Freedom Academy in Holtville, the California Virtual Academy, and the Imperial Valley Home School Academy, a program of the El Centro Elementary School District. The home schools each arranged for multiple museum visits to their classrooms and two of them scheduled complimentary field trips to the museum. The extended interaction with the home school programs led to the tailoring of our grant program to meet their specific individual curriculum-based needs.

There were 1115 documented participants in the coiled clay program that the museum ran with the small grant from the Imperial Valley Community Foundation. This number is nearly three times the number of students served in 2011-2012. Of these, 268 were youth aged 14-22, the target audience of the grant. This year, we found our most receptive audience to be youth ages 7-10. Both at the museum and at public festivals the connection, attention span, and success of younger children was noted. The museum has begun to implement programs to serve younger children, but trained education staff is noticeably lacking.   

  

The majority of students who participate in the coil-clay program are younger children and adults. The museum has been very successful at fairs and festivals in Imperial Valley. In fact, we are often overwhelmed with the response to our hands-on coiled-clay tent. We also noted this year that a significant percentage of student who do coil clay projects at our tent during fairs and festivals are older high school students who have previously worked with our program in a classroom or at the museum. 

The product created through this program is outstanding. Students that have been coming to our programs multiple times, for more than two years, produce quality work. It is inspiring to see the level of work that can be accomplished through a successful program. Observing continued student improvement has been exciting this year.