Member Engagement

-Education Coordinator

A few weeks ago we posted an advertisement for a presentation on the history of the Chinese migration in the Mexicali and Imperial Valleys, located in the Mexicali Archives. While the presentation is a little out of our normal scope, the presenter, Andrew Alverez, is one of our research interns, and we wanted to show our support in his work outside of the museum, as well as inside. His presentation was on Thursday, and we were thrilled to find that not only were we supporting his efforts, but a member was as well!

Joan lives in San Diego, but does work here in the Imperial Valley, and decided since she was in the area in Thursday, she would come and see Andrew present. She stopped in to say hello to us on her way back out to San Diego to tell us what a fantastic job he did. It is so thrilling for us to see our members engage with us about the different actives in our community, and to see them not only support us as a museum but our interns and students in their individual projects.

37th Annual Children's Fair

-Education Coordinator

Yesterday was El Centro's 37th Annual Children's Fair, and as always, we were there!  The fair was brought to us by The Child Abuse Prevention Council. We featured our coiled clay program, which teaches children and adults alike a 1,000 year old traditional art method used by our local native tribe, the Kumeyaay. We had around 175 children visit our booth over the course of the day.

We also had some familiar faces come out to visit and help us run the booth. Kohl's employees volunteered to help us, just like they did for the Wilson Art Fair! I am so happy they enjoyed their time enough that they came out to join us again. Thanks to the Kohl's Cares program, and the willingness of their volunteers, Kohl's will be donating $500 dollars to the museum's education program. Thank you so much for all the hard work you put in.




We also had a new face at the booth, Humberto Dominguez came out to help volunteer as well. Humberto is a student at SDSU who is working towards a teaching credential. We appreciate his help with this program and hope to see him again.

Research Party at the Museum!

Steve O'Neil and Randy West
discussing the hunting mask. 

-Education Coordinator

What a wonderful day out here at the museum! We had Dr. Alan Garfinkel, founder and director of the California Rock Art Foundation and Principle Archaeologist for UltraSystems Environmental, Inc, and Steve O'Neil, the cultural resource manager for UltraSystems, out to study our Kumeyaay hunting mask. Along with them came Randy West, who donated the mask to the museum in 2015. The mask had been found by Randy's great grandfather in the 1920s. This mask is the only one of it's kind in the world.

Alan and Educator Coordinator
looking at the Childer's Collection.

While here, Alan and Steve, along with our staff, began to examine the artifacts from the Childers Collection. This collection came from local archaeologist Morlin Childers, and had been unavailable for study for around 30 years. While going through the collection, Alan was able to identify a collection of points, including a limace point, which is estimated to be between 7000 - 11,000 years old.

The limace point, dating back
7,000 - 11,000 years ago. 

He spent his evening with us as well, giving a presentation on the importance of bighorn sheep in ceremonies, and in his discussion, he talked about a ceremonial mask that is made from the horns of the sheep. It, like our own mask, is a one of a kind, and is on display at a museum in Utah.

Celebrating Art- Wilson Jr High Art Fest

-from the Education Coordinator

This Tuesday was Wilson Junior High's Annual Art Fair, and the Imperial Valley Desert Museum's History On The Go program was there!  414 participants stopped by our booth this year to learn how to make a coiled clay pot

414 people in 3 hours came by our booth

There were kids of all ages, and some adults, getting their hands dirty to make ceramic pieces. The fair was packed with members of the community as the fair continues to grow every year. Students from around the valley are able to bring their art work to be displayed, and then at the interactive booths, like the one IVDM ran, are able to make brand new pieces of art work. There are also live performances of cheer, dance, and music.

Thanks to Kohl's Cares Associates for volunteering!

Having the booth at these fairs would, of course, not be possible without the support of our wonderful volunteers and staff. A very special thanks to Albert Lutz, Angelina Coble, Neil Zinn, and Sue Hess for helping us make this happen. A huge difference was made by Alejandra, Priscilla, Valerie, Amanda, and Jeffery from Kohl's in El Centro, who volunteered through the Kohl's Cares Associates in Action volunteer program.  Through this program Kohl's Associates donate their personal time to helping support their local communities and non-profit organizations.  Kohl's also awarded the Imperial Valley Desert Museum with a $500 grant to support youth art programs.  This grant money will go towards supporting the coiled clay program, ensuring that there are enough supplies to last for many future events. Thanks Volunteers!   

Girl Scouts Hike Fossil Canyon

-from our Education Coordinator

Today, our Education Coordinator, Marcie Rodriguez, took Girl Scout Troop 7030 out on a hike to Fossil Canyon, in the Coyote Mountains. This canyon gives a wonderful geologic perspective on Imperial County. Because of the volcanic activity that existed here 17 million years ago, you can see the layer of black volcanic rock, known as basalt, laying on top of the mountain, rather than below where it usually sits.

The beginning part of the trail is an easy walking trail, one most anyone can do. The girls, and their families, began from a Bureau of Land Management road, and walked into the canyon. From there, they hiked along the inside of

the base of the canyon, till we got to a basalt formation that is a dried waterfall. The girls were adventurous, and decided from there they wanted to try to climb the mountain! They made it almost to the top, before the trail became too rough. After that, they hiked back down to bottom, to have a picnic lunch. Even the lunch was an adventure, as the everyone sat and ate
under a slip strike fault.

Donate by Shopping!

-from the Curator

Did you know that donating to the Imperial Valley Desert Museum can be as fun and easy as shopping on Amazon.com?  Now when you shop through  smile.amazon.com Amazon will donate 0.5% of your total to the museum.  Every little bit helps us keep the museum running and staffed, so please remember us when you're shopping.

Thanks! Your support is appreciated!

IVDM on the News

-from the Curator

Roy Dorantes films volunteers curating 

Today KECY news reporter Roy Dorantes came out from Yuma to film a story about the Imperial Valley Desert Museum.  He asked questions about what we do here at the museum, what some of the highlights of the museum are, and our mission to bring the museum out of the walls of the building and encourage people to explore and connect with the desert. 

SDSU student Edgar Bernal-Sevilla was in the museum today doing research on the Morlin Childers collection and spoke to Dorantes.  "It's a great place to be, and has had a huge impact on my education. It's a rare opportunity to do research." Edgar said.

Roy Dorantes and Ramses #Ramseselfie

He even took a moment to pose with Ramses! Look on tonight's news (6,7pm CA time, 7,8pm AZ time) channel 5, 11, and 13 and tomorrow's Telemundo to see the story.