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Curator's Corner by Sue Celestian
Some exciting highlights punctuated a relatively quiet summer!
It has been a couple of years since we offered summer workshops to teachers and home schooling parents, and this summer we offered two. One on mineral identification and one on rock identification. Stan Celestian was the lead instructor, and he had written three PowerPoint presentations on crystal forms, mineral ID, and rock ID - all three of which we put on a CD, which was presented to each attendee.
Laurette Kennedy (tour guide) led a summer reading program on Tuesday's and Thursday's. She called it "Books on the Rocks", and she had an average audience of 16 children and their parents - with as many as 27! Local resident, Larry James, author of September Rose (on sale in the Museum gift shop) made a presentation at one of the sessions. Mr. James spoke about his books and his inspiration, he read excerpts from September Rose, and he signed copies of the book.
I am very pleased to announce that we have three beautiful postcards depicting Museum specimens - photographs by Stan Celestian. Subjects are: native copper from Morenci, azurite from Morenci, and faceted Four Peaks amethyst on tumbled peridot. We will be adding to the selections as time goes by.
Silversmithing and casting classes continue to draw a crowd. We purchased some new equipment this summer, and Doug Duffy has managed to use space so creatively that more saws, a centrifugal casting machine, and safe soldering stations were added. I think there is a warp in space back there - it seems that nooks and crannies keep popping up.
We are looking to the influx of school groups. Soon the halls will be vibrating with the exuberance of excited children and our education program will be off and running!
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