Lake Oswego Reads Kick Off Event
Lake Oswego Reads 2023 Kick-Off Event
FOR ALL AGES
11:00am Readaloud with educator Karen Kitchen (Osage Nation): Fry Bread: A Native American Story by Kevin Noble Maillard, illustrated by Juana Martinez-Neal
Karen Kitchen (Osage Nation) is a Prek-12 educator with over three decades of service in urban Title VI Indian Education programs. She earned her Bachelor of Arts. at Portland State, her Masters of Arts in Teaching at University of Portland, and her Educational Leadership IAL at Lewis & Clark College. She is a proponent of STEAM engagement and Native Montessori preschools for American Indian and Indigenous youth. Her TEK collaborations include Roots of Wisdom, Lenses on the Sky, and Celebrate Urban Birds.
Karen is a member of the Power of 30 ICBOs (Independent Community Based Organizations) through Cornell Lab of Ornithology, where she has been a researcher and advisor in two NSF funded projects: “Examining Contextual Factors to Improve Cultural Diversity in Informal Stem Programs” and the current project “Developing the Processes and Potential to Engage Historically Underrepresented Communities in Public Participation in STEM Research Through Authentic and Impactful Collaboration” also known as the Noise, People and Birds project. The ICBOs co-authored an article titled “Understanding the Impact of Equitable Collaborations between Science Institutions and Community Based Organizations: Improving Science Through Community Led Research” that was published in the journal BioScience in March, 2022.
Karen hosts Multnomah County Library’s Native Story Hour, a program to promote Native authors, illustrators and publishers, and engage children and their families through story and song. Karen enjoys performing tribally-specific songs to inspire and educate Native and non-Native audiences about Indigenous history, contemporary issues, and the diversity and beauty of American Indian music. In September 2021, her duo, The Prairie Blossoms, performed at the grand opening of the First Americans Museum in Oklahoma City and shared music from their CD, “Till The Star Rises Here.”
In 2021, Karen co-facilitated the class “Community and Voice in Online Learning” in support of the Indigenous First Steps certification program at Portland State University. She continues to serve on the advisory board in the IFS program.
Karen also enjoys reading, gardening, fishing, kayaking, and traveling.
11:00am Interwoven Presentation by 2 Spirit Indigenous artist a.c. ramírez de arellaño on Top Floor
Ayotola’ki’ho is an Arawakan word meaning interwoven. Ayotola’ki’ho is an intercommunity project designed by 2 Spirit Indigenous artist a.c. ramírez de arellaño, and is created as part of their passion to utilize public spaces to create a dialogue that educates, inspires, and builds bridges between communities. The artist seeks to draw attention to the capacity for individuals and communities to heal, grow, and thrive through our interconnectedness. With the creation of a series of looms, participants are invited to add pieces of colorful fabric, yarn, and other items representing the beauty and significance of themselves and their communities, as well as symbolizing how interconnected we truly are.
Having first launched in Portland, Oregon for Indigenous People’s Day, October 2021, this project has been made available to a wide variety of cultural communities as it continues to travel. For information on having a loom visit your community please contact cardonaramirezdearellano@gmail.com. The pilot project was sponsored by a grant from the Regional Arts & Culture Council. This project continues through support by the Trans Justice Funding Project.
About
Celebrated speaker and multimedia artist a.c. ramírez de arellaño (Taíno) utilizes public spaces to create dialogue that educates, inspires, and builds bridges between communities. The artist seeks to draw attention to the capacity for individuals and communities to heal, grow, and thrive through our interconnectedness. They utilize art as a form of storytelling, taking inspiration from ancestral stories. Their work tells a story of overcoming barriers, and the impact of colonialism at the intersection of their disabled, Indigenous, and queer communities. As a trained Indigenous Community Health Worker, with over 30 years experience working with preschoolers to elders in supportive housing, a.c. has spoken at large conferences for the State of Oregon, facilitated all sizes of groups in the United States, and most recently spoke on Caribbean Ancestral Indigenous Perspective of Diversity of Gender and Sexuality at a governmental conference in Santo Domingo, República Dominicana using Hiwatahia, an Arawakan Indigenous dialect. They have most recently presented to Future Generations Collaborative 2 Spirit Circle, Native Wellness Institute Power Hour, Northwest Portland Area Indian Health Board Paths (Re)Membered Project, Native Arts and Culture Foundation Center for Native Arts & Cultures grand opening, Portland Public Schools, and Friendly House for Home Forward. A recipient of the inaugural 2021 artist-in-residency program with Ten Tiny Talks, a Regional Arts & Culture Council Grant recipient, and a GLAPN Queer Heroes Award, their work has also been added to Permanent Collection of Public Art for the City of Portland, in Oregon. They are also a two-time recipient of the Trans Justice Funding Project 2021-2022.
12:00pm A Journey of One Heart: Native American Flutes with Jan Michael Looking Wolf on Main Floor
A beautiful sound bath of Native American flute music with inspirational stories of connection with Jan Michael Looking Wolf, a Native American performing and recording artist. Jan Michael is a both a native Oregonian and member of the local Kalapuya Tribe. He is a Global Music Award Lifetime Achievement Recipient and Hall of Fame Inductee at One World Music Radio. With 28 commercial albums and over 70 national awards, he is among the most prominent Native American musicians of current time. Joining Jan Michael onstage will be fellow Native American Flute recording artists Robin Gentlewolf and Lori "Little Wolf". www.lookingwolf.com
1:00pm Presentation on Salmon and Indigenous foods by Brigette McConville, owner of Salmon King Fisheries on Main Floor
Brigette McConville owns Salmon King Fisheries. a Native Woman Owned Business from the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, Oregon. Salmon King Fisheries was established Feb 6, 2011. She is joined by husband M. Sean McConville who is enrolled in the Nez Perce Tribe.
LOPL Seed Library
Stop by the Fiction Desk on the main floor to learn more about LOPL’s brand new seed library! We’ll have open-pollinated and heirloom vegetable, flower, and herb seeds for you to “check out” and plant at home. Learn more about the seed library here: www.lopl.org/seed-library.
LO Community Soil Study Project on Second Floor
Pick up your pair of free cotton underpants to test your own soil's health!
https://www.oswegowatershed.org/soil-your-undies-2023/
‘Undies Handoff’ made possible through Oswego Lake Watershed Partnership. and will be available while quantities last!
