Continuing its book launch series, the Santa Barbara Maritime Museum (SBMM) is pleased to host the local launch of Coyote Rescues Hawk, Chumash Elder Puchuk Ya’ia’c (Alan Salazar)’s latest book. This special event on Saturday, February 11, 2023, at 1:00 pm, will take place on the museum’s patio. It will include a reading from the book followed by a workshop with Salazar and illustrator/artist Mona Lewis for participants to create their own traditional Chumash seaweed rattles. As a founding member of the Chumash Maritime Association, storyteller, researcher, and knowledge keeper of Chumash history, Salazar will share some of the stories in his book and answer any questions audience members may have. Cost is $25 and includes all the materials to make a traditional seaweed rattle. Register at: https://sbmm.org/santa-barbara-event/alan-salazar-at-sbmm/ or by phone at 805-456-8747.
About Alan Salazar
Puchuk Yaʼiaʼc, Alan Salazar, is a tribal elder in both the Chumash and Fernañdino Tataviam Band of Mission Indians. As a founding member of the Chumash Maritime Association and a member of the California Indian Advisory Council for the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, he helped build the first traditional Chumash plank tomol (canoe) in modern times and has paddled in all the historic crossings from Oxnard to Santa Cruz Island. At 71, Salazar is still paddling tomols and has the honor of mentoring many of the young Chumash paddlers, including his son and grandson.
Salazar has also taught youth about Native American cultures for over 25 years, helping to create educational programs at schools, museums, and cultural events in the United States and Great Britain. As a spiritual adviser within the Fernandeño Tataviam and Chumash communities, he also leads ceremonies and prayer circles during traditional native indigenous gatherings. To learn more about Salazar, see his website at: www.native-storytelling.com.
About Mona Lewis
Mona Lewis’s family comes from the United Kingdom, France, and Scandinavia. She studied art at Santa Monica College, is a watercolor artist and has taught handwork in Waldorf schools since 1996. She is co‐director of the Waldorf Practical Arts Teacher Training program associated with the Southern California Waldorf Teacher Training Institute.
Lewis teaches artists of all ages, teachers, and home‐schooling families in the plant‐dye arts, making earth pigments, and the practical arts of the Waldorf curriculum. Mona is the author of Nature’s Paintbox: Colors from the Natural World for the Young Artist and Those Who Are Young at Heart) and has illustrated three books for Alan Salazar: Coyote Rescues Hawk, A Chumash Story; A Tataviam Creation Story; and Tata, the Tataviam Towhee, a Tribal Story. All four books are available online at: www.sunspritehandwork.com.
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