June Programs

Yesterday and today the Center hosted the Young Women Leaders Program from the University of Virginia. The young women and their mentors practiced their carpentry skills and made wonderful birdhouses for bluebirds and swallows. There are similar birdhouses near the Lewis & Clark Exploratory Center that are monitored weekly for nests. The YWLP also painted an oar for the Keelboat Barn's collection. We are inviting the other non-profit groups we work with to design oars for display in our barn.

Today we also had a visit from the Boys and Girls Club of Orange. We took our gardening cushions and sat at five different locations around the park, exploring sights and sounds. We shut our eyes for a minute at each location, noticing bird calls, the different sounds of the wind in the trees, and the noise of some rapids in the Rivanna River. We also heard golfers in Penn Park, a truck backing up, and a helicopter--there was a lot to hear out at Darden Towe Park.

May Weekends

We're open 10-4 on Saturdays and 12-4 on Sundays at the Keelboat Barn. Cost is $3 per person (children 3 and under are free). The theme for this season is "Stories," where we highlight short stories about the Lewis & Clark Expedition and other explorations, stories of the American Indian experience of the Expedition, stories already told and stories our visitors tell. We provide ink and quill pens. Just think of it as a very old-fashioned blog.

Our art activities for May include making Flower Mosaics, using scissors and foam; painting our new collection of animals to hide on the trails; and practising carpentry skills. All ages welcome! And we have new physical challenges: a log walk and two rope swings. Come by and check out what's new on our trail!

Barn Dance May 1st

Afterschool Workshops

Our weekend hours will resume in May, and while we're preparing for a busy 2010, we're also leading workshops in the Albemarle County and City of Charlottesville public schools. We're currently working in seven locations: Agnor-Hurt, Johnson, Scottsville, Clark, Burnley-Moran, Stony Point, and the Boys and Girls Club of Orange. The workshops, made possible by the Prana Fund of the Charlottesville Area Community Foundation, have been rewarding for students and mentors alike, and have included painting, printmaking, drawing, mapping, maskmaking, and nature sculpture.

We're going to be having an exhibition of the students' work later in the year, and we'll let you know as soon as we set the dates.

Join Us for Our Capital Campaign Launch

On Saturday, October 17th, at 4 PM the Lewis & Clark Exploratory Center is launching its capital campaign! We're announcing the final, public phase of our fundraising for our permanent home, and we're almost there--with $300,000 left to raise out of a budget of $1,300,000. We're celebrating with music and refreshments and with the presentation of our newest completed boats: the Red Pirogue and the River Ferry. The Red Pirogue was modelled after one of three boats to take the Lewis and Clark Expedition up the Missouri. The River Ferry, a one person rope ferry, was constructed using a 19th Century ferry design provided by historic boatwright Butch Bouvier. Both boats will be part of the Lewis & Clark Exploratory Center's historic boat display.

Lewis & Clark President Anne Hemenway and Albemarle County Board of Supervisors Board Member Sally Thomas will be making opening remarks at Saturday's event.

September and October Schedule

We've set the schedule for the rest of the season--by popular demand.

September 5/6: We're going to make animal medallions on wood, and do some new Nail Art designs. (See photos below for some of our earlier designs.)

September 12/13: Discover Geocaching (the Lewis and Clark geocache will be in place); and take part in a Journalling Workshop

September 19/20: Mapping for Young Discoverers; Pottery: Hand Painted Beads and Bowls

September 26/27 Our Explorer's Club will offer Map and Compass workshops. We'll also have beading with our new animal beads.

October 3/4 We'll have Nail Art, Beading, and a Science Table. Bring something from home to examine under the microscope or find something at the Center...

October 10/11 Make paper-mache figurines, and do printmaking with leaves to celebrate the fall season

October 17/18 Get your Halloween costumes ready with paper and paper mache mask-making. Make a paper mache pumpkin, or set out with the Explorer's Club team for a lesson in geocaching.

October 24/25 Paper mask-making, Pottery, and Leaf Art.

October 31 Our last day of the season! Make a Halloween Mask, and do a spooky Artwork. Black, yellow, and orange beading, and Batty Nail Art.

BamaWorks Camp

August's Camp Explore is now underway at the Center, generously funded by BamaWorks, the charitable foundation of the Dave Matthews Band. The children have been doing art projects, exploring the outdoors, and getting their feet wet in the river. We've been seeing tadpoles and frogs, dragonflies--and honking v's of geese. Today they got a wonderful introduction to nature journaling and to the nature observation games of Joseph Cornell thanks to local educator Eileen Merritt, whom the Center met through a Chesapeake Bay Foundation workshop. More on all this later! We have many more activities planned, including making drums out of recycled materials.