July at the Museum of Archaeology

El Paso Museum of Archaeology

July 2012

Access Update:

Due to TXDOT construction in process, from Hwy 54, use the Sun Valley exit to reach the museum via Transmountain Road westbound.  Look for the right turn lane into the museum driveway.

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2012 Archaeology Summer Day Camps – Still Open for Registration

9 am to Noon, Tuesdays through Fridays on the following dates:

July 10 to 13 for ages 7 to 9, Grades 2 to 4

and

June 26 to 29 and July 24 to 27 for ages 10 to 12, Grades 5 to 7.

The camp registration fee is $55 for El Paso Museum of Archaeology members and $70 for non-members. Registration is accepted on a first-come first-served basis as attendance is limited to twelve students per camp. Children must have completed first grade and be at least seven years old. For information and the camp registration form contact the museum at 915-755-4332 or guidamr@elpasotexas.gov.

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New Exhibit: Look Close SEE FAR, A Cultural Portrait of the Maya

On View through September 9, 2012

Saturday, June 23, Free Admission

Photographer’s Talk: 2:00 to 3:00 pm

Reception: 3:00 to 4:30 pm

Meet photographer Bruce T. Martin who has been photographing the Maya and their surroundings for the past twenty years.  He’ll speak on his exhibit, and give you his impressions of the lives and culture of Maya people today.  He says “The Maya region is a place where the delicate balance between society and the environment dominates life and challenges one’s view of reality.”

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Pompeii: The Key to Roman Life, film with discussion by Dr. Ronald Suciu, History Professor, El Paso Community College

Saturday, August 25, 2:00 pm, Free Admission

El Paso Museum of Archaeology

4301 Transmountain Road, El Paso Texas 79924; 915-755-4332; guidamr@elpasotexs.gov; www.elpasotexas.gov/arch_museum/

Hours: Tuesday through Saturday, 9 am to 5 pm; Sunday, 12 to 5 pm

Closed Mondays and City Holidays

Ceiba this Saturday at Museum of Archaeology

The El Paso Museum of Archaeology Presents

Exploring the Music of the Americas

A Family Workshop by the musical group Ceiba

Saturday, June 16, 2012, 2:00 to 4:00 pm, Free Admission
Map

Ceiba performing at the El Paso Museum of Archaeology, 2010

Families with children age six years and up are invited to participate in a creative, interactive exploration of live music and art inspired by ancient and modern Latin America from México to the Andes led by the El Paso musical group Ceiba. Both English and Spanish will be spoken during this workshop. Please call to register at 915-755-4332.  This workshop is sponsored by the City of El Paso Museums and Cultural Affairs Department and the Texas Commission on the Arts.

Ceiba (world-tree) workshops are performance-demonstrations of Latin American regional music, including Mexican, Caribbean, and Andean.  Hosts may elect simpler assembly format, but a full workshop involves participants in music-making, movement/dance, and small-group verbal/visual responses to specific musical selections.  After each of several representative pieces, Ceiba’s facilitators listen to and transcribe participants’ responses to open-ended questions in small groups (What did you see?  Where did you travel?  What did you hear?  How did you feel?).  Questions rotate after each selection, so that participants may reflect upon and respond to each one.  Ceiba shares-out participants’ imagined, remembered, or sensory experiences, then continues with another selection.  Participants may transform verbal into visual images, taking home their papers or “tiling” them into a mosaic/mural. The performance is a voyage through the continent over time, branching from plural-origin roots rhythms and instruments, through pre-Columbian, colonial, and post-colonial First Nations, African, European, and other cultural traditions, into an aural canopy that sustains memory and vision today.  The workshop is adaptable to age-specific, special needs, &/or bilingual formats.  We want participants to tap the grounding, sheltering, nurturing, and world-extending potential of their own and others’ cultural “world trees.”

Ceiba formed in 1999 at La Peña del Pueblo, a workers’ cultural project at La Mujer Obrera in El Paso (now Centro Mayapán), with the purpose of reclaiming and disseminating the musical genres of Latin American folk, neo-folk, and New Song marginalized by the commercial music industry.  The cultural, historical, and artistic value of this music and the poetry of its lyrics encourage us to explore a vast and rich human geography formed by the confluence and conflict of Indigenous, European, African, and Semitic traditions.  The Americas have as many cultures and struggles as the macaw has colors.  Ceiba interprets corridos, sones, huaynos, pirecuas, cumbias, guajiras, joropos, polkas, sayas, takiraris, danzas, waylas, albazos, and yarabis from lands whose people may yet find peace with justice.  Ceiba’s core musicians are Jena Camp, Raúl García, Justino Aburto Huerta and Lorenzo Guel-Camp, son of Ceiba’s founder and musical director, Lorenzo Guel, who died in 2009.  Norma Orozco and others sometimes enliven the music by dancing the zapateado on the tarima.

Plan Now for Archaeology Summer Day Camp

Archaeology Camp collage, photos courtesy of the El Paso Museum of Archaeology

The El Paso Museum of Archaeology Announces:

2012 Archaeology Summer Day Camp

9 am to Noon, Tuesdays through Fridays on the following dates:

Ages 7 to 9 years/ Grades 2-4:	Ages 10 to 12 years/ Grades 5-7:
June 12 to June 15	June 26 to 29
July 10 to 13	July 24 to 27

The camp registration fee is $55 for El Paso Museum of Archaeology members and $70 for non-members. Registration is accepted on a first-come first-served basis. Attendance is limited to twelve students per camp.  Camps fill quickly; those interested should contact the museum as soon as possible. The choice of dates is subject to availability.  For information and the camp registration form contact the museum at 915-755-4332 or guidamr@elpasotexas.gov.

Archaeology Summer Day Camp is an interactive, hands-on course held on the museum’s grounds and in the galleries with a field trip (to be announced).  The program is designed to educate participants about the science of archaeology, its tools, and the prehistory of the Americas, especially the El Paso-Juárez region, from the Ice Age to European contact.  Campers will learn respect and appreciation for prehistoric, historic and contemporary Indian people.

Fighting Itzcuintlis and the El Paso Muesum of Archaeology

It's easy to see how the greatest neighborhood association can get a big fat head especially after their triumph at this year's Park Olympics. But a little humility is good for the soul and the Fighting Chihuahuas should take note. In an effort to help keep things in perspective, consider where the Chihuahua comes from. Behold the Esquintle (Itzcuintli in Nahuatl):

Display at the El Paso Museum of Archaeology. Click image to enlarge.

As the sign says, although the Itzcuintli is the ancestor of the Chihuahua, it is now the term for "unruly, rude children". Something to keep in mind. Apparently "it" is on the Aztec calendar as well.

The picture above is from a display at the El Paso Museum of Archaeology - a great place for young and old and for all of us to discover more about our roots as El Pasoans and, indeed, children of the Chihuahuan Desert.

This Saturday, August 27 at 2:00, you and your friends and family can learn more about the Manso, Suma, Piro and Tigua Indians. Here is the press release:

Miguel Pedraza, Tribal Governor at Ysleta del Sur Mission, c. 1971, photo courtesy of Nicholas P. Houser

Zip Tour of the exhibit

Settlement Legacy: Native Americans of the Pass of the North

August 27, 2011, 2:00 pm, Free Admission

Please join Curator of Education Marilyn Guida for a brief free Zip Tour of the exhibit, Settlement Legacy: Native Americans of the Pass of the North at 2:00 pm on Saturday, August 27, 2011 at the El Paso Museum of Archaeology. This tour introduces the exhibit to the public through a casual conversation during which those attending may ask questions and share their knowledge.

The exhibit tells the dramatic story of the foundation of today’s El Paso-Ciudad Juárez region which originates with the Manso, Suma, Piro, and Tigua Indians who, over four centuries ago, founded the missions and pueblos that evolved into our sister cities.

The exhibit was created by Guest Curator Nicholas P. Houser, who has conducted historical research for the Tigua Indians, created exhibits for museums and cultural centers, and has worked with over 36 Native American communities in the American Southwest and Latin America.

Information: 915-755-4332; guidamr@elpasotexas.gov; www.elpasotexas.gov/arch_museum/

The museum is closed on Mondays but open from Tuesday through Saturday from 9 until 5 and on Sundays from Noon until 5. (Perfect trip after doing Scenic Sunday.) You can find directions, here.

Register Your Child Now for Archaeological Summer Day Camp

The El Paso Museum of Archaeology has announced their schedule for children's summer day camps. It is best to register your child as quickly as possible. You can find a registration form by clicking here.

Dear Friends of Archaeology,

Our archaeology summer day camp dates for children age 7 to 12 are now set. I have attached the registration form. Please forward this to anyone who might be interested.

We have only twelve spaces per camp.

We must receive payment and completed registration form to hold a space for a child.

The El Paso Museum of Archaeology Announces:

2011 Archaeology Summer Day Camp

9 am to Noon, Tuesdays through Fridays on the following dates:

Ages 7 to 9 years/ Grades 2-4:	Ages 10 to 12 years/ Grades 5-7:
June 28 to July 1	July 12 to 15
July 26 to 29	August 9 to 12

The El Paso Museum of Archaeology will hold their annual archaeology day camp for children seven to twelve years old this summer. Children must have completed first grade and be at least seven years old. Camps fill quickly; those interested should contact the museum as soon as possible. The choice of dates is subject to availability.

The camp registration fee is $55 for El Paso Museum of Archaeology members and $70 for non-members. Registration is accepted on a first-come first-served basis as attendance is limited to twelve students per camp. For information and the camp registration form contact the museum at 915-755-4332 or guidamr@elpasotexas.gov.

Archaeology Summer Day Camp is an interactive, hands-on course held on the museum’s grounds and in the galleries with a field trip (to be announced). The program is designed to educate participants about the science of archaeology, its tools, and the prehistory of the Americas, especially the El Paso-Juárez region, from the Ice Age to European contact. Campers will learn respect and appreciation for prehistoric, historic and contemporary Indian people.

The museum is seeking volunteers with experience teaching elementary and middle school students to assist with archaeology summer camp. Training for volunteers will be held in early June.

To download a registration form and to see camp photos, visit our website:

http://www.elpasotexas.gov/arch_museum/kids_corner.asp and

http://www.elpasotexas.gov/arch_museum/daycamp.asp

For more information contact Marilyn Guida at 915-755-4332 or guidamr@elpasotexas.gov.

All the best,

Marilyn

My work schedule is Tuesday through Saturday

Marilyn Guida

Curator of Education

El Paso Museum of Archaeology

4301 Transmountain Road

El Paso Texas 79924

915-755-4332