Magnolia Tree Earth Center: Making Eco-Connections Where We Live, Where We Are Saturdays, June 4, 11, 18

SATURDAY, JUNE 4:  MAGNOLIA TREE EARTH CENTER of BEDFORD-STUYVESANT, INC,  677 LAFAYETTE AVENUE, BROOKLYN, NY
9:30a-11:00a:
OPEN GALLERY: (Breakfast Refreshments Served) Informal Tour of Community Mural Art Exhibition * Community Service Project at Magnolia Tree * Children’s Art Project Instruction in Garden

11:00a-12:30p:
WORKSHOP: ADVOCATING FOR THE BEST FOOD OPTIONS FOR OUR CHILDREN
Beatriz Beckford, Community Advocate, Food Justice Issues: Children should have access to healthier school food.  While many caregivers are doing the right thing at home to provide them with proper nutrition, at school that process is being undone. Increasingly, we’re seeing children with health-related illnesses, diabetes, hypertension.  It is reported that this generation of chldren will not live as long as their parents. Yet, this can be altered. No more chicken nuggets, French fries!  The workshop will be able to look at the landscape of Central Brooklyn and talk about what is contributing to the trends.

12:30p-1:30p:
OPEN GALLERY:  (Lunch Refreshments Served) * Intergenerational Community Mural Art Project in the park begins and continues through Saturday, June 18.  This project, led by curator Barry L. Mason with artists Matthew Fraser, Deborah Singletary and others will be displayed in Magnolia’s community art exhibition this summer.

1:30p-2:45p:
WORKSHOP: THE WORD WAND – TRANSFORMATIVE MAGIC Positive Words, Positive Thoughts
Deborah Singletary, Artist-Enterpreneur-Minister: The Word Wand workshop encourages us to develop practices that transform negative thinking into healthy thoughts that help us     live the life we love in terms of our vocations and relationships. The workshop is organized in three parts: (1) Discussion of the habits of speech we engage in consciously or unconsciously and how they manifest in our lives for ill or good. (2) Participants write or mentally formulate a clear statement of intent that will be used in the closing ceremony. (3) Action is an important component in having our words invoke healthy intentions. The closing ceremony allows us to put our words into motion and prepare us to act positively. Workshop participants leave the workshop with their very own art: a word wand and a handout with suggestions for utilizing it. The workshop concludes with a ceremony incorporating the wands.Deborah, author of Making What Your  Means Can’t Buy and creator/founder of Vision Carrier (www.visioncarriers.com), is a contemporary urban folk artist whose artwork has appeared in The New Yorker and New Woman magazines, The New York Daily News and Painting from the Source, (HarperCollins),  and Art’s Buoyant Felicity: An Anthology—Art/Creativity/Healing.

SATURDAY, JUNE 11: MAGNOLIA TREE EARTH CENTER, 677 LAFAYETTE AVENUE, BROOKLYN, NY
9:30a-11:00a:
OPEN GALLERY: (Breakfast Refreshments Servced) Informal Tour of Community Mural Art Exhibition  * Garden Work Community Service Project  * Children’s Art Project Instruction in Garden
11-12:30a:
WORKSHOP: R-E-A-D SPELLS GREEN – REDISCOVERING the ART of READING
Daphne McKnight, Writer/Educator: What’s next after you’ve planted your green garden, cooked and eaten a wholesome green dinner, and recycled your trash?  How about greening your
family with a good book?  In this workshop parents and their children will use activities, talk and story to discover the green benefits of reading.
Ms. McKnight is an educator/poet/artist who has taught and counseled adult and college-aged students in New York City for over 30 years. Ms. McKnight is a member of the International Women’s Writing Guild, and the author of two books of poetry – Full-Grown and Female  and Sister, Sing Me a     Song. She is the creator of “Story Time for Grown Folks”, a program of Just for You Readers, the mobile read-aloud service she founded in 2006.   Ms. McKnight, a voracious reader since early elementary school, is convinced that reading saved her life.  You can contact her at: justforyoureader@aol.com.

12:30p-1:30p:
OPEN GALLERY:  (Lunch Refreshments Served) Intergenerational Community Mural Art Project in the park continues through Saturday, June 18 with various artists participating.This project will be displayed in Magnolia’s community art exhibition this summer.

1:30p-2:45p:
WORKSHOP: PLAYING REAL GAMES TO GROW SELF-ESTEEM
Aminisha Black, Founder, Parenting Notebook: Utilyzing such board games as Scrabble,  Ms. Black shows how the path to becoming SMART begins with having a sense of Self-Esteem. In this workshop we use games as a tool to have players become Self-confident, Motivated, Achieving, Responsible and Team-oriented, leading to becoming winners in life.  Aminisha Black is a columnist for Our Time Press.

SATURDAY, JUNE 18:    THE EUBIE BLAKE THEATER in HERBERT VON KING PARK, 670 LAFAYETTE AVENUE, BROOKLYN, NY
9:30a-10:00a:
OPEN GALLERY: (Breakfast Refreshments Served) Informal Nature Walk* Children’s Art Project in Cultural Center

10:00a-11:30a: `
WORKSHOP: HOW TO CREATE A BLACK MEMORABILIA COLLECTION
Fern Gillespie, Collector and Writer: Most African American families have Black Memorabilia collections and don’t even realize it. There are those old family photos, vintage Ebony and Jet magazines, Black college yearbooks, Black art on the walls and even family heirlooms. The program will explore how to find, research, and display Black Memorabilia collections. Fern Gillespie is a veteran public relations executive, radio producer, non-profit executive director, journalist and collector, who has held key positions with the NAACP, Johnson Publishing, Studio Museum in Harlem, Huggy Bean dolls and UniWorld Group advertising. These jobs have fueled her fascination on collecting African American historical artifacts.
She has lectured on collecting Black Memorabilia at colleges and libraries and has amassed a collection encompassing over 500 rare Black Memorabilia objects, African American art and antique/vintage books. Fern’s articles on collecting have appeared in Essence, The Crisis, Our Time Press, Asbury Park Press, About Time magazine and At Home: Brooklyn and Beyond. In 2010, she exhibited highlights from her collection of rare and antique books about Black children at New York University’s  “A IS FOR ANANSI: The Literature for Children of African Descent.” This workshop will include a free raffle of two Black Memorabilia items. Bring your favorite items.

11:30-1:00p:
WORKSHOP: PATCHWORK TRADITIONS: THE ART OF RECYCLING FABRIC and CHILDREN’S CLOTHES
Laura Gadson, Quilt Artist: “Historically quilting has always been an adventure in recycling. The poorer communities all over the world have various patchwork traditions that reflect their culture and the fact that the had to be creative with their own and others leftover resources. In this mini hands on workshop the basics of  creating a patchwork out of the old clothing of loved ones will be introduced. Basic sewing and quilting tools and techniques will be explored and ways to complete your project once you leave the class will discussed. Participants should bring 4 or more items that can be cut up and used for their creation – cotton or shirt weight fabrics will work best. What a great way to honor a family member, honor the earth and create a legacy.”Laura, a founder of the Harlem Girls Quilters Circle, is renown nationally for her quilt work.  She also is an educator at all academic levels and a teaching artist for such institutions as the Children’s Art Carnival, Harlem Needle ArtsPrinceton University, Yaffa Cultural Arts, and various Department of Education quilt and beading projects throughout the city, including P.S. 214 and PS 159 in Brooklyn.

1:00p – 1:45p:  Lite Lunch with Rodney Hughes, Creator of the Magnolia Grandiflora essence.  Samples will be distributed.

1:45p-3:00p
WORKSHOP: You and the Natural Environment
Tioma Allison, RN, Midwife and Herbologist: Tioma will take young people and caregivers on a journey to a closeness with the environment.