The featured speaker/teller is Alex Mares. With an educational background in Anthropology and Sociology, Mr. Mares has served as a Park Ranger in Texas and New Mexico for over 28 years.  This service included fifteen years as Lead Ranger at the world-renowned sacred site known as Hueco Tanks.  He is a Certified Interpretive Guide through the National Association for Interpretation and is a traditional Winter Storyteller. Mr. Mares is of Diné (Navajo) and Mexican-American descent. 

Talk: Saving the Sacred is 2/16/2017 at 4:00 p.m. in the Knight Auditorium, Spurlock Museum, 600 S. Gregory St., Urbana, IL.  Free Admission. 

In this presentation, Mr. Alex Mares will inform visitors of the efforts to have Hueco Tanks State Park and Historic Site, located near El Paso, Texas, nominated and designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  Named for the huecos, or natural basins that collect rain water in this desert environment, the site contains over 2000 pictographs and is sacred to the native populations of the area. 

Winter Tales events are sponsored by an endowment from Reginald and Gladys Laubin. Auditorium doors open 30 minutes before the event. 

Winter Tales Workshop: Understanding Diné Storytelling is on 2/18/2017 from 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. in Spurlock Museum, 600 S. Gregory St., Urbana, IL.  Cost:  $30 adults/$20 students.  Pre-registration is required. 

The focus of this workshop is information on the role and purpose of storytelling in Diné culture, including basic technique, the use of props and artifacts, and the interplay between the tangible and intangible.  Also discussed will be evidence on the unique effects of storytelling on the human brain from the field of Neuroscience. Pre-registration for the workshop is required. Download the workshop brochure for registration information:  http://www.spurlock.illinois.edu/pdf/events/2017-02-18-workshop.pdf. 

Winter Tales Concert is 2/18/2017 from 2:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. in the Knight Auditorium, Spurlock Museum, 600 S. Gregory St., Urbana, IL.  Cost:$5. 

Join in for one of the Museum’s most popular annual events, a concert of American Indian tales, told during the winter months, the traditional time of storytelling.

Winter Tales concerts are sponsored by an endowment from Reginald and Gladys Laubin.  No pre-event tickets are sold.  Auditorium doors open 30 minutes before the concert. 

Thanks to Kim Sheahan of Spurlock Museum and the Native American House listserv for this information item.

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