Project Stream Awards for 2010-2011 Announced

October 6, 2010 – The Pennsylvania Council on the Arts (PCA), through its Pennsylvania Partners in the Arts (PPA) regional partnership with the Pennsylvania Rural Arts Alliance has granted funding to 44 arts groups and individuals in this region. Applicants requesting funding completed Project Stream grant applications earlier this summer. The applications were reviewed and scored by a panel of arts experts.

The PPA Project Stream is a program of the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, a state agency. Through the Project Stream the PCA is a source of funding to groups and individual artists who bring the arts to our fellow Pennsylvanians. This funding comes from a state appropriation from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

A grant awards ceremony was held on Wednesday October 6 at 7 PM at the Community Arts Center of Cambria County located in the Westmont section of Johnstown. At this event many of the recipients attended and received their grant checks.

(L-R) Nancy Bollinger & Patricia Selinger - Thunder Mountain Lenape Nation, Jeanne Gleason - PA Council on the Arts & PRAA Board, Becky Catelinet - PRAA Executive Director

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11th Annual Pow Wow

Cherokee descendent Alex Patton, of Millstone Township, Elk County, dances during the Thunder Mountain Lenape' Nation's 11th annual Native American Festival near Saltsburg on August 15, 2009.

Photo by Guy Wathen a staff photographer for the Tribune-Review. The original can be found on his blog.

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Clan Mother helps dedicate whitewater park on Stonycreek River rapids

Nancy Bollinger, wolf clan mother of the Thunder Mountain Lenape Nation, offers tobacco to the four winds during the dedication of the rapids.

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The Lenape Nation: A Tradition of Caretaking— People and the Environment

When people think of Native Americans, few think about the Lenape Nation here inPennsylvania. Fewer still know the Lenape as environmental educators.

William Penn encountered the Lenape (pronounced Le-nop-a) when he first arrived in Penn’s Woods and it was the Lenape from whom he bought eastern Pennsylvania. The treaty between the Lenape and Penn was said by Voltaire to be, “the only treaty made by the settlers with the Indians that was never sworn to, and the only one that was never broken.”

The Lenape today are organized into three clans wherever they live in the world — the Turtle, Wolf and Turkey—and each is lead by a Clan Mother.

“We’ve always had a cultural view of being caretakers of the earth and caretakers of each other,” said Pat Selinger, Turtle Clan Mother, from Saltsburg, Indiana County. “20 years ago few people identified themselves as having a native heritage, but now more do, although they may not know specifically what they are.”

To educate the public about the culture and philosophy of the Lenape Nation, over 40 volunteers put on educational programs for schools, communities, organizations, colleges and even malls.

“We tailor our programs to the audience, and many want an environmental theme,” said Selinger. “Our tradition is to respect both people and the environment and teaching responsibility for the environment is a part of our heritage.”

The Lenape in Pennsylvania have formed a non-profit educational organization called Thunder Mountain Lenape Nation to help organize programs about their culture and the environment. They put on about 25 programs a year, at least 10 of which are focused on the environment.

“Our approach is very hands-on with arrowheads, pottery and furs,” explained Selinger. “We explain how something is made, how any waste is used. Sometimes this is the first time kids have ever seen things like a real fur.”

“We also teach about farming and the lesson of the Three Sisters that’s also part of our tradition” Selinger said.

The term “Three Sisters” refers to corn, beans, and squash that give a lesson in environmental cooperation. The corn provides a climbing stalk for the beans; the beans provide nitrogen to the soil to nourish the corn; and the squash leaves spread out, preventing competition from unwanted vegetation and shade for corn’s shallow roots.

The “Three Sisters” lesson and the environmental education resources of the Lenape were featured as part of the Earth Day 2003activities by the Pennsylvania Center for Environmental Education.

Through Thunder Mountain, the Lenape have developed significant educational partnerships with the Westmoreland County Conservation District, St. Vincent College, the Conemaugh Valley Conservancy, Saltsburg School District, the Kiski Basin initiative and other partners.

Prior to the September 11 terrorist attacks, the Lenape had a cultural center located at the Conemaugh Reservoir in WestmorelandCounty, however, after the attacks the Federal Government closed access to the reservoir. They are now trying to acquire a more permanent facility near the site of their annual festival in Saltsburg.

Each year the Lenape Native American Festival is a showcase of their cultural heritage that typically attracts over 6,000 people. This year the Festival is August 20 and 21.

“In Native society, we cannot separate culture from spiritualThunder Mountain Photo Collageity. Everything is sacred, and everything in nature is alive with its own spirit,” said Selinger. “We need to celebrate all of our parts, and take responsibility for treating everything with respect.”

The programs offered by the Lenape are a unique, engaging way to educate groups of any age about respecting the environment and are just one of thousands of environmental education resources available in Pennsylvania.

It is very appropriate to think about the contributions the people of the Lenape Nation have made and continue to make inPennsylvania’s development, since we celebrate Charter Day, the founding of Penn’s Woods by William Penn on March 4.

Thunder Mountain Photo Collage

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Organizations tell their stories on totem poles

Posing with their unfinished totem pole are staff, volunteers, and clients of the Alice Paul House. They agreed to tell the story of the shelter through the totem pole for a project headed by the Saltsburg-based Thunder Mountain Lenape Nation.

SALTSBURG–Totem poles are a traditional Native American way of story-telling–but words are replaced by colorful images, designs and symbols.

The Thunder Mountain Lenape Nation, in Nowrytown, near Saltsburg, supports the use of totem poles as a means of relaying a story, and Clan Mother Pat Selinger has taken the tradition to a new level, offering local organizations the opportunity to tell their stories in this non-conventional way.

The Thunder Mountain people were formerly based at Conemaugh Dam, but after Sept. 11 their access to the park was severely curtailed. A plot of land was opened up to them in Nowrytown three years ago; they moved their village, but are continuing to build up their new home.

Included in the village is a dance circle surrounded by poles which will hold a canopy in the hot summer to protect those watching the dancers.

“They’re just holding up the arbor for shade for the people to sit in,” Selinger explained.

This year, the Lenape people decided that the outer poles needed to be replaced. “But we realized that the inner poles were less thick,” said Selinger, noting that the new outer poles were eight inches thick, the inner ones only four inches.

“It wouldn’t match, it would be imbalanced, so we said we’d replace them all.”

They started out with an idea to supplant four of the poles with ones featuring stories of the four directions.

“But someone from a different organization said she would like to help,” Selinger recalled. “So I told her, maybe her organization would be interested in doing their own pole. And that’s how this whole thing started.”

The poles were removed in February–15 of the outer poles will be furnished by these various organizations, with the four directional poles included on the outside, and at a later date, Selinger said, the 19 inner poles may be done later by individual Native American tribes.

Letters were sent out in March, asking if organizations would like to create a pole for the dance circle. Most were local, but a few were scattered in the tri-state area, Selinger said.

“We’re a diverse people,” she remarked. “And we tried to get groups with different backgrounds.”

She added that she tried to choose organizations that would have a large group of people to work on the pole.

Loggers came onto the Thunder Mountain property and harvested poplar wood for the totem poles. The poles were prepped with a white glaze, and shipped off to the organizations who agreed to create the story poles.

The Alice Paul House, ARC of Indiana County, and Scenery Hill Manor were just three of the organizations invited to take part in the project, and each told their story in a completely different way.

The Alice Paul House received its letter in March, requesting the shelter’s participation.

Beth Illig, direct services coordinator, at first put the letter aside, believing the project would too difficult. But she brought it up at the next staff meeting, “to see if anyone was interested,” she said. “And they were.”

She also brought the project to the attention of the support group she runs for victims of domestic violence. “I wanted to see if any of them would be interested in helping, and they were,” Illig said.

“We couldn’t turn down the opportunity,” said Diann Overman, education services coordinator for the shelter. “We didn’t think we could have wasted an opportunity to tell our story.”

Backed with a team of interested people, the shelter scheduled its first planning meeting at the end of March.

Selinger attended the meeting to inform the group on what was needed of them, and to help generate thoughts and how to apply them to the project.

“She is very enthusiastic, and makes you want to be a part of this,” Overman said of Selinger.

Selinger explained that there were no rules except guidelines on what kinds of paint to use that would withstand the elements, and the requirement of a key describing the story the totem pole tells.

Besides that, “It was our pole,” said Overman.

And with Selinger’s coaxing, the group soon had a large slate of concepts with which to work with for their totem pole.

“We had so many ideas, it was hard,” noted Illig.

“We just kind of all threw ideas out,” added Overman.

At first, said Illig, the women had to decide what story they wanted to tell on their totem pole.

“We weren’t sure if we would have enough symbols or ideas to fill an entire pole,” she said. “But once we all got together, we had so many ideas.”

What was notable, Illig said, was that even with all of the ideas on the table, they were all similar, consistent themes.

They settled on telling the story of the Alice Paul House and what it offers to victims of domestic violence.

“It was a lot easier than I thought,” Overman remarked. “When we started painting two weeks ago, we found that it was a lot easier than we thought.”

Ruth Kimmel is a member of Illig’s support group. When she first heard about the project, “I thought it would be a neat idea, not only to tell the story of our shelter, but also to educate people,” she said.

And as one of the shelter’s staff members pointed out, this will not serve as an educational tool for just the Alice Paul House and its fight against domestic violence, but it will also encourage people to learn more about the Indian culture.

“That was one of the reasons why I really wanted to do this project,” noted LuŽne Hulings, a counselor for the shelter, “because of the connection with the Native American people and the Lenape nation. Because we are all connected. They were here before we were, and so much of that culture has been lost to us, and it’s nice for us to be able to reestablish with it.”

After Selinger’s visit, Overman said she was impressed to learn about the powerful role of women in many native cultures. And she liked the idea that the project would involve the shelter as a whole–the staff, volunteers, and the survivors.

“But that’s Native American thought,” added Hulings. “They are not separatists. They believe in doing things together as a whole.”

Overman said Selinger “helped us connect thoughts with symbols, and she shared with us how the Lenape natives had their own women’s movement.

“Within the structure, women hold high positions,” Illig explained. Selinger, for instance, holds the title of clan mother in the Thunder Mountain Lenape Nation.

A second meeting, or “brainstorming session,” as Illig called it, was held in the beginning of April.

“That’s when we came up with the idea of three sections,” Illig said.

Christy Imler, shelter manager, was the artist behind the shelter’s totem pole blue print. Gathering the ideas that the group agreed would tell the Alice Paul House story best, she took the symbols and arranged them on paper to represent how they will appear on the totem pole.

“It’s a transition pole,” she explained. “It shows the healing process from the beginning to the end.”

The story begins at the bottom with a tragedy, represented by fire and a tornado–”Things that we don’t have control of, like abuse,” Imler said.

A chain works its way up the pole, showing the bondage victims of domestic abuse feel and the feeling that there is no escape.

“And this part works with all crime,” Imler suggested. “How it happens and the emotions that you are chained to.”

A snake stares from the bottom of the pole, symbolic of evil, the abuser, and even the system, one survivor pointed out.

Though the snake is being used as a perpetrator, “it also can shed its skin, a symbol of new life in Native American culture,” added Imler.

A stairway also winds its way through the design, with a figure at the foot, preparing to make the long climb to wellness.

The staircase leads into the “nesting period,” and the role the shelter holds in helping piece victims’ lives together after tragedy–a safe environment, a support system, Imler said.

Three large eggs are cradled in a nest, and represent the three “colors” of victims that the shelter deals with: purple is domestic violence; blue, child abuse; and teal, sexual assault.

“The eggs are the victims being nestled, supported by the shelter,” said Imler.

“They are getting what they need to grow.”

The nest, meanwhile, is symbolic of a safe haven, but the fire from the bottom continues to throw its flames upward, following almost to the top, and showing that one can never totally disengage oneself from tragedy.

And though the fire does have a presence throughout the theme of the pole, “it’s never as bad as the initial because now they have strength and tools to carry on,” Imler said.

After the nesting stage, the chain from the bottom of the pole transforms into a chain of hands, supporting one another.

A period of transition follows, showing rain clouds–a sign that though strength is building, survivors should not be discouraged, because every day may bring with it new problems.

“A storm will still pop up, but it won’t be as severe,” said Illig.

“Especially with domestic violence, because the victim still has some contact with the abuser” because of children, court, or other circumstances.

Overman said she would like to incorporate a caterpillar and cocoon on the totem pole, to represent the stages of metamorphosis of victims, “from being closed up and afraid, to a rebirth into society.”

Three birds are perched at the pole’s top: a dove to represent peace; a phoenix, a sign of new life; and an eagle, the symbol of freedom.

The birds were Kimmel’s idea.

“After you leave the first stage and you go on to the shelter, the victim eventually becomes a survivor, and what they received from the shelter is new life, new freedom, and eventually, peace,” she stated.

An advocate of the Alice Paul House, who wished to remain anonymous, said, “I’m looking forward to the education this will bring to the community.

“People will look at this pole and understand what victims of abuse go through.

“It’s helped us establish a common ground, whether you’re a counselor or a survivor. We see the same vision, no matter who we are.”

“It’s a process,” added Imler.

“I don’t think people understand the obstacles that victims face and the number of choices they have to make,” Overman commented.

“And we support them in their choices.”

Kimmel provided her own view of the Alice Paul House: “They don’t judge. They respect without questions.”

As perceptible as the shelter’s pole story might be, and even with a key to explain the different symbolism, anyone who studies the pole may see a different story.

“Whoever looks at this pole will be able to interpret it however they want,” said Hulings.

“They’ll be able to step into the shoes of a victim,” added Overman.

“And we all worked together,” Hulings emphasized.

“That amazed me,” noted Overman. “I thought, how are we going to do this? What do we put on the pole? How are we going to paint it?

“But it just came so easy.”

“And we found hidden talent within the group,” hinted Illig.

Though Imler sketched some rough drawings on the pole as a start, a number of different people–from staff to survivors–did the painting.

The Wal-Mart in Blairsville donated painting supplies to the shelter, including the tint used to mix the colors.

And though the project has been a source of fun for those involved, the shelter is not taking its participation for granted.

“We just appreciate being contacted and being given the opportunity to engage in this project,” said Hulings.

“It’s been going so smoothly,” said Imler.

The staff and clients of the ARC of Indiana County, which provides services to those who are mentally challenged, have also been busy preparing their pole for the project.

Like the Alice Paul House, at the end of March, the staff met to determine what design they would paint, that would implement both the history of ARC and its future.

Joanne Taylor, an ARC board member and president of the parent transition group, researched various symbols that could be applied to the group’s cause.

“It’s hard telling a story in pictures, and Joanne was able to find symbols and what they meant,” said Nancy Janicak, vice president of ARC of Indiana County.

“And one of the things we decided to do is the spiral as a theme. Our mission is kind of like the spiral in that it never ends. It never stays in one place.”

They chose a spiral staircase, to represent direction and changes, which will snake up the pole and blossom into vines at the very top.

“And that’s what we do,” Janicak noted.

ARC Executive Director Barbara Telthorster added, “We help young people transition through school to independent living, and we wanted to depict this on the totem pole.”

“We respond to the needs of the community,” Janicak remarked. “That’s our primary focus, is to respond to the needs that are out there.”

As the spiral twines, basic elements of ARC will be implemented along its path. At the top, the staircase explodes into vines, showing how ARC is branching off in different directions, and its partnership with other community-minded organizations.

The totem pole, noted Telthorster, displays just a few of the things that the organization is doing for its clients.

“These are just some of the things that we’re doing, and we’re still growing,” Telthorster pointed out.

Once at the top of the spiral, animal symbols will be stenciled in, “showing some of the things that have meaning to us,” said Janicak.

Frogs represent change and growth; turtles, longevity; owls, wisdom; a raven for dreams–”

All of our kids have dreams,” said Janicak. Also included are a wolf symbolizing protection; a parrot for communication; and a dove, the former symbol of the ARC; a ladybug for good luck; and a lamb representing innocence and youth.

“So that is how we are going to tell our story,” said Janicak.

They also have a stencil of children holding hands, “Because that what we are–a link to support each other,” noted Telthorster.

Selinger called Telthorster requesting the ARC’s participation. “We were really impressed with what they had to say,” she noted.

“We really believe in community involvement, and this is just another aspect. I’m excited about it.”

“I think it was just exciting to able to tell our story to people we wouldn’t normally reach,” she continued. “We do a lot of public speaking, but to put our story into pictures was a challenge.”

“We can write our story–that would be easy,” added Janicak.

The ARC has enlisted staff, volunteers, and clients and their families for the painting process.

“We hope to get as many kids as we can involved,” said Janicak.

“We want it to be a family project,” Telthorster interjected.

Janicak said she is excited that ARC is to become a part of the Thunder Mountain Lenape Nation’s village, and to be included in their culture

“We’re really impressed with being asked to be part of their new dance circle,” said Janicak.

And though work was slow-going at first for the ARC totem pole, Janicak isn’t worried.

“It will come together,” she remarked.

The organizations involved have all been invited to a pole raising party that will be held in July.

The poles will be inserted into cement blocks to keep the wood from rotting, and a plaque relaying each pole’s creator will accompany the key explaining the pole’s design.

“The cement will be pored and the poles will go up–kind of like an old-fashioned barn-raising,” noted Selinger.

She noted that one pole in particular will be dedicated to veterans, and any visiting during the annual festival may sign the pole. Families and friends of deceased veterans will also be encouraged to sign the names of their loved ones.

In August, when the Thunder Mountain Lenape Nation holds its annual festival in Nowrytown, the poles will be unveiled to the public.

“I think it will be interesting to meet with the other organizations and see what they’ve done,” said Illig. “And it’s great to all come together for one cause.”

“I think it’s going to be exciting to see the other poles and see their stories,” Overman said of the other organizations involved.

“It will be nice to see everybody pause and look at each pole and appreciate them,” said Roxie Johnston, shelter manager.

Overman has attended the festival previously with her children, but most of the other pole participants at the Alice Paul House have not yet visited the tribe’s rural site.

“I can’t wait to see it, though,” Illig commented.

Scenery Hill Manor thought of a way to incorporate the old and the young into its totem pole project.

They have decided upon a joint project with Indiana West II ARIN children, who visit the facility twice a month.

“We had them come and place their handprints on the pole, and we will do the same with our residents,” said MaryAnn Simone, director of social services and activities at Scenery Hill.

“It’s kind of an intergenerational project that way.”

The children’s handprints were applied with red and green paint–the colors of Scenery Hill, Simone noted. Now, those of the residents will be added, interspersed with those of the children.

“The residents really had a good time working with the children,” Simone said.

When Selinger approached Scenery Hill about the project, Simone said the decision to participate was easy.

“We thought it would be a good intergenerational activity, and we’re always looking for new ideas for the children and residents to work on together,” she said. “It’s neat to the small handprints intermixed with the big handprints.”

The opportunity to reach a different audience at the Thunder Mountain festival was also an attraction to Scenery Hill, which is finishing renovations to its building and wanting to advertise its new and improved facility.

“We’re working very hard to get our name out in the public,” Simone said.

Other local organizations involved in the totem pole project include: Bruderhof, Alle-Kiski Museum, The Commonplace, Newman Center, Chevy Chase Center, Unitarian Church of Indiana, Area on Aging, Burrell Township Library, and the Ronald McDonald House.

Two grants were used to help finance both the Thunder Mountain Native American Festival, which be held Aug. 21-22, and the arbor pole project. Selinger received grants from both the Indiana County Endowment of the Pittsburgh Foundation, and the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts through the Pennsylvania Rural Arts Alliance.

All three of these organizations–the Alice Paul House, ARC, and Scenery Hill, were excited to be given the chance to tell their stories in a distinctive and eye-catching way.

“It’s just been a lot of fun,” said Overman.

“It’s a positive thing,” said Kimmel. “And it gives a sense of hope.”

Selinger said of the new arbor, “People coming to the pow-wow won’t expect to see a living art gallery. But that’s exactly what this is.

“It will be as if the community itself is embracing the guests as they come.”

For more information on the Thunder Mountain Native American Festival, visit www.thundermtlenape.org.

By: Gina Delfavero, Blairsville Dispatch

Read more: Organizations tell their stories on totem poles – Pittsburgh Tribune-Review http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/blairsvilledispatch/s_197167.html#ixzz1JSRhfo6F

 

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Lenape Clan Plans Cultural Center

Thunder Mountain members Lisa Deemy, Mollie Eliot and Pat Selinger review drawings for the proposed turtle-shaped Lenape cultural center. Photo by: Lisa Richardson/The Dispatch

NOWRYTOWN–A turtle of mythic proportions soon could be overlooking the Kiskiminetas River near Saltsburg.

But it won’t be a Japanese monster movie come to life. It will be the realization of a dream envisioned by members of the locally based Thunder Mountain Lenape Nation.

The non-profit group of ancestral and adopted Native American families is unveiling plans today for a proposed $3 million museum/cultural center which will be constructed in the shape of a turtle–one of the central animal figures in Lenape spiritual traditions.

The center is to be located on property the group is purchasing near the Conemaugh Township village of Nowrytown.

Working with a Native American architect from Texas and a contractor from Chicago, World Wide Domes, Thunder Mountain members explain the body of the turtle would be represented by a large two-story dome housing a central 750-seat auditorium and a balcony level containing offices and a library.

Mollie Eliot, a Thunder Mountain council member, noted, “The turtle’s head will be the entrance, and each of its rounded feet will be a separate area.”

Appearing as the turtle’s feet would be four attached single-story domes, providing room for a gift shop, a kitchen/snack bar and museum galleries portraying Lenape life both past and present.

While exact dimensions have yet to be determined, Eliot said the new building would dwarf an initial cultural center Thunder Mountain developed in a park building at the Conemaugh Dam near Tunnelton.

At the new facility, she said, “We’ll be able to have changing museum exhibits,” while expanding on the educational and cultural outreach programs the group currently offers through school visits and workshops at Saltsburg’s Salt Center community center.

The facility also would be made available to community organizations for performances or conferences.

Artist’s renderings of the proposed Lenape Nation center and examples of colorful painted story poles and silk banners–some of the results of Thunder Mountain’s cultural activities–will be displayed from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. today in the Indiana County Courthouse Annex at 827 Water St., Indiana.

Formal presentations will be offered on the half hour, from 11:30 a.m. through 3:30 p.m.

The cultural center would be the nucleus of Thunder Mountain’s planned Native American heritage complex, which also would include a living history village replicating the wigwams of the Lenape and traditional dwellings associated with other Native American groups.

Presenters in period dress would welcome visitors to the village during summer months.

“We’ll add dwellings from as many other indigenous cultures around the country as we can,” Eliot said.

She added, “Once the facility is developed, we’re expecting it’s going to be a regional anchor for heritage tourism.”

She pointed out studies indicate those who visit an area due to an interest in local history and culture tend to leave more money behind them than the average tourist.

Thunder Mountain members are planning for their new dome home to nestle into the upper slope of a 200-acre portion of rural land which stretches from Conemaugh Township’s Skyline Drive down to the banks of the Kiskiminetas River, about two miles north of Saltsburg.

It’s the same site where the group held its fourth annual Native American festival and pow wow last August–relocating from the Conemaugh Dam park due to heightened security concerns there following the previous Sept. 11.

Thunder Mountain’s longer range goals for the new property include environmental education and wildlife conservation study programs, archeological digs, development of a summer camp and a wellness center which would address diabetes and other prominent health concerns for those of Native American heritage.

Pat Selinger, Thunder Mountain’s Turtle Clan Mother, noted plans for a museum and living village had always been in the group’s thoughts.

But the fallout from Sept. 11 seems to have put the ambitious projects on a faster track than they’d thought possible.

“It made us realize we were not going to be able to expand (near the dam) and it was time for us to move along,” she said. “It forced us to reach out and partner even more than we had.”

In addition to establishing a relationship with officials who operate the Salt Center, Selinger noted Thunder Mountain has been working with Indiana County’s commissioners and planning office to refine plans for the Nowrytown site and pursue funding opportunities.

With help from the planning office staff, she noted, “We now have a five-year strategic plan in place on paper.”

Also, with support from the commissioners, the group has had $1.5 million provisionally earmarked in the state capital budget to help with development of the cultural center.

That money could cover nearly half of the building’s cost, though Eliot noted Thunder Mountain still would have to compete for the state dollars while also coming up with matching funds.

The United States Department of Agriculture’s rural community development division is among other major funding sources the Lenape group may be able to tap.

Proceeds from the Salt Center workshops, school programs and the annual pow wows also will be devoted toward development of the Nowrytown heritage site.

In addition, Thunder Mountain members are hoping Conemaugh Township will be able to pave Skyline Drive, which currently is a dirt road.

Indiana County has made a practice of sharing some of its annual liquid fuels allocations from the state with local townships for road improvement projects.Chairman Bernie Smith said the commissioners are “very supportive” of Thunder Mountain’s plans, citing the group’s determination and the project’s potential for enhancing economic development.

“They believe in what they’re doing and they get in there and work,” Smith said of the small group, which includes about 10 families.

He noted the cultural center “would be a destination point, another reason why people from outside our county would come to the Saltsburg area.”

Selinger noted Thunder Mountain also would like to work with the Conemaugh Valley Conservancy, which is developing a recreational trail through the Saltsburg area. If a trail spur can be extended to the Nowrytown site, it would provide a welcoming link between the Lenape cultural offerings there and later canal-era history sites which attract visitors to downtown Saltsburg.

Not least in assisting the Thunder Mountain cause have been the Topper family, which owns the Nowrytown site, and other neighbors who have pitched in to help the group make use of the undeveloped site.

According to Eliot, the Toppers were looking for a buyer who would preserve the natural charm of their land, which combines open fields, wooded areas and riverfront access.

Eliot said, “It was fortuitous that we met them. They felt their priorities were a good match with what we wanted to use the land for–environmental education.”

Still, the Thunder Mountain group has to tame the land enough to allow access to its activities.

When preparing the site for last summer’s pow wow, Eliot noted, “Volunteers were coming out of the woodwork. We’ve had so much support from the community.”

Selinger recalled, “When our equipment broke down, we were there with scythes trying to clear the field. Then neighbors started showing up with tractors and lawn mowers.”

The Nowrytown site consist of three adjoining parcels, including two former railroad beds.

Selinger explained the cultural center is slated for construction on the upper end of the land, to avoid any flooding potential. Separated by a rail line is a lower, flatter area where Thunder Mountain plans to hold its fifth annual pow wow and festival, Aug. 16 and 17.

She noted an added benefit of the new festival site will be more convenient public access–following routes 981 and 156 through Avonmore and across the Kiskiminetas River.

During a visioning exercise, when Thunder Mountain members were asked to draw their concept of the proposed new center, “There were only two people who didn’t draw a turtle-shaped building,” Eliot noted.

She explained the significance of the turtle in Lenape creation stories: “The earth was formed on the back of a turtle, and the continent is considered to be a turtle.

“The turtle is considered the oldest and wisest of all the animals. Of the three clans in Lenape society, the turtle clan is the oldest and largest.”

While the Thunder Mountain group has yet to complete a feasibility study and final design for the center, Eliot cited several aesthetic touches being considered to further incorporate Lenape culture into the architecture. Options include cascading water near the entrance and depicting on the roof the 13 scales which make up a turtle’s shell.

Eliot noted the group also is planning to incorporate “green technology.” She cited plans for a parking lot which would be surfaced with a mesh material, allowing grass to grow through in areas which aren’t needed for vehicles.

“When you want it to be a parking lot again, you just mow it,” she explained.

This summer, Selinger said, the Thunder Mountain group is hoping to complete an environmental study of its new site, identifying the wild species which inhabit it.

“As early as next fall, we’re hoping to have some outdoor programs at the property.”

Meanwhile, Thunder Mountain has scheduled about 24 school visits so far this year.

“That’s double the programming we had last year,” Selinger said. She credits a partnership the group has forged with the state Department of Environmental Protection.

Thunder Mountain members will take part along with the DEP in an Earth Day celebration, slated for noon to 5 p.m. April 27 in the Saint Vincent College gym near Latrobe.

Through one of its members–Marietta Dantonio-Fryer, an art professor at Cheyney University of Pennsylvania–Thunder Mountain became involved in the Totem Rhythms project.

Members carved and painted four totem-like story poles which portray images important to the Lenape Nation as a whole and to its three major clans: turtle, wolf and turkey. The group also guided young men who are serving time at the Cresson Secure Treatment Center in designing their own story pole.

Those poles have been displayed at the United Nations headquarters in New York and now will be displayed in Indiana County as Thunder Mountain’s contribution to the county’s bicentennial celebration.

Selinger said tentative plans call for the poles to be exhibited at IUP’s library.

Also displayed will be silk banners Thunder Mountain created for a program titled “Breaking Down The Walls of Bias, Prejudice And Stigma.” Those banners have traveled to the UN and to South Africa.

Upcoming workshops scheduled at the Salt Center in Saltsburg include: “Lenape History and Artifact Identification” with Archeologist Robin Van Auken, adjunct professor of Lycoming College, March 15; Lenape Culture and Spirituality April 12; “Plant Uses and Food”, May 3.

Two sessions on “Primitive Living Skills” are planned to take place in nearby Nowrytown May 10 & May 17.

The workshop series is geared toward adults, college and high school students. The cost of $35 includes lunch for pre-registered participants.

Pre-register by calling 724-459-5276 or emailing thundermountain@questpublish.com.

 

by: Jeff Himler

Read more: Lenape Clan Plans Cultural Center – Pittsburgh Tribune-Review http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/blairsvilledispatch/s_121010.html#ixzz1J9izEd9O

 

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Hundreds of American Indians to gather in Indiana to make presence felt

Michelle Newhouse, left, "smudges" Pat Selinger, director of the Native American Cultural Center, for a sacred ceremony near the Conemaugh Dam in Indiana County. "Smudging" is done by using a feather and smoke to purify a person entering the area where a ceremony is held. (John Beale, Post-Gazette)

Hundreds of American Indians and kindred spirits are gathering for a weekend powwow at what might seem an unlikely place: the Conemaugh Dam in Indiana County.

The pretty park there, an hour’s drive from downtown Pittsburgh, is the even more unlikely site of a Native American Cultural Center.

Sharing a brick 1950s duplex with the Army Corps of Engineers’ fish and wildlife offices, you’ll find this quirky center, which has been open to the public for two years now, though not many people know about it.

Not many people know there are American Indians in Western Pennsylvania, either, but the center and its powwow are aiming to change that, said Director Pat Selinger.

“The point of this room is to let you know we’re still here. We’re still alive. We have a future as well as a past,” Selinger said, as she led a tour into what once was a bedroom in the former park managers’ quarters. Now, it’s a gallery of paintings, drawings and other American Indian artwork. Across the hall is the Woodlands Room, which is filled with pelts, shells, skulls and other items that young visitors are encouraged to touch and which is slated to be decorated with a mural of the woodlands that area natives historically called home. The back room holds a library, with a modest but growing collection of books.

As Selinger put it: “This is a project in the works.”

She’s not only the center’s director but also “clan mother” of turtle clan of the Thunder Mountain Lenape Nation. That’s a group of seven families who trace themselves back to the Lenni Lenape, one of the tribes of this region that may be better known by the name white settlers gave them: the Delawares.

Speaking of unlikely: The 49-year-old Selinger is not what one might expect for a tribal matriarch, since she has no Indian blood. She’s actually a white native Pittsburgher, of Irish and German roots, who, because of her interest and involvement with American Indians, was “adopted” by a Lenape family in Ohio while still in her 20s.

Her continued involvement with the Thunder Mountain group, in particular, is what made her want to give the Lenape a more public face by opening a center of some kind.

The Saltsburg, Indiana County, resident found this space through a chance meeting with Corps of Engineers park Manager Dave Bishop, who agreed to rent it to the nonprofit group.

“The idea behind it was to provide information to the public on the cultural resources that were once there at the [dam] project,” said Bishop, who has been happy with the arrangement so far. He’d like the center to do even more interpretation of the area’s history, perhaps re-creating the Indian village whose remains were found nearby years ago.

“We have big dreams,” said Selinger. She has adorned the front of the center with not only U.S. and prisoner-of-war flags but also with the Thunder Mountain flag and its traditional staff, which incorporates turkey feathers, rabbit fur and a woven dream catcher. A much larger dream catcher stands by the entrance, which leads into the center’s gift shop.

Besides playing host to school and Scout groups, she and other center staff members — all volunteers for now — travel to schools and other places throughout the region to present programs about American Indians.

“Our mission is education,” said Selinger, a blonde who on this day was wearing blue jeans and a black T-shirt, but also purple moccasins, a beaded necklace and a medicine bag around her neck. She makes a living by making wooden crafts and toys with her husband. Her Lenape name isAlankentkataxkwe, or Star Dancer.

Others in the Thunder Mountain group go by their native names, such as Hawk of Thunder, though their percentage of native ancestry varies.

“We’re Heinz 57,” said Selinger, referring to all the varieties of people who consider themselves to be native. “It’s your heart lines, not just your bloodlines.”

Even she will look more Indian during this weekend’s second annual powwow, because she’ll be dressed in her colorful “regalia.” Just don’t expect only the stereotypical fringed buckskin. Natives will be wearing more modern garb as well.

“We’re not re-enactors,” she said. “There’s a difference.”

She’s expecting as many as 300 participants of various native backgrounds from Pennsylvania and neighboring states. The main events will be drumming and dancing, but there will be plenty of other activities including a children’s theater and an auction. There also will be 30 vendors of handicrafts and foods; one New York Seneca has gotten special permission to sell venison and bear sausage.

In addition to the fun and fellowship, there will be serious elements to this ceremony, which is what powwow means. Participants will purify themselves by “smudging” in smoke from a mix of sage, sweet grass, cedar and tobacco. Festival-goers are asked to stand and not take photographs during the “grand entry” each day at noon, when elders and veterans bring their colors into the sacred circle.

“This traditionally is our green corn feast,” Selinger said, explaining how the gathering will be like those natives held hundreds of years ago. In fact, yesterday she and some other Lenape and friends held private spiritual ceremonies at her home.

“The basis for doing all this is to keep the culture alive,” she said.

Of the festival, she said, “It’s a chance for us to kind of showcase the culture, dispel some of the stereotypes and let people know we’re still alive.”

By Bob Batz Jr., Post-Gazette Staff Writer

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