The greater danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it.
Michelangelo
Prayer Wheels:  Accompanying each painting will be a beautiful freestanding carved or hammered cylindrical wooden or brass “prayer wheel”.      Like traditional Tibetan prayer wheels, spinning the millions of prayers written on a scroll inside the wheel is said to help all beings – the animals, birds, insects, fish and humans.  Our prayer wheels will be creatively designed according to the primary physical traits of each animal.  In the Circle of Life Action Room, guests will have an opportunity to write their own vision or prayer.

Audio:  Entering the exhibition, every visitor can choose from a selection of hand held audio guides.     For each painting a species status report told by a well known scientist will be balanced by an uplifting fable narrated by a child.     Great true stories of extraordinary success in conservation and ecology go way beyond words to fuel the hope that the future can be as wonderful as we imagine. 
THE CIRCLE OF LIFE:  TAKE IT OUT TO THE WORLD!

Leaving the Valley of the Endangered Ones, visitors will enter The Circle of Life Action Room.    The surround sounds of celebratory music     from around the world, such as Te Vaka from New Zealand will help energize the Rama experience into a lifelong commitment to sustain the diversity, balance and health of this “thin film of life on earth”.

It is our hope that every person will leave with a heightened sense of the inherent value of all beings, a joyous hope for the future and a strong conviction to be a part of the great work to be done.

There will be descriptions and resource guides and pledges to sign from 36 organizations: 

  • 12 address global awareness.
  • 12 address regional conservation action
  • 12 feature local conservation efforts.

Entertaining guides will be present to answer questions and initiate discussion during peak visitor times. 

The museum gift shop can offer a selection of fine giclee prints, postcards, T- shirts, CD’s, and posters for sale, along with the exhibition catalogue.*       Popular green products supporting our partner organizations will also be available.
In the old days all our power came to us from the sacred hoop of the nation and so long as the hoop was unbroken the people flourished.  The flowering tree was the living center of the hoop, and the circle of the four quarters nourished it. 

Over a hundred years ago Black Elk (1863-1950) had a vision of the time in seven generations when the Sacred Hoop that had been broken would be mended.
The children born in this decade will be the seventh generation.
JOURNEY WITH US
INTO THE VALLEY OF THE
ENDANGERED ONES

This gallery of thirty-six paintings will be designed as sacred space - a place of wonder with background sounds of nature and tribal rhythm.   

Symbolizing the world’s endangered ones, thirty-six large mixed media paintings will be framed in the style of ancient illuminations and sacred hanging Tibetan thanka paintings.  Like traditional thankas and manuscript illuminations, these works seek to emanate the specific energy of the animal depicted, invoking appreciation of life in it amazing array of forms.
EDUCATION, THE PATH TO LIGHT

In each city, opportunities abound in science, technology, art, craft and design for teachers and students from elementary to graduate school.

Please contact us if you are interested in the following student apprenticeships:

  • Creating youth education programs in ecology, sustainability, and local action.
  • Recording audio stories and interviews.
  • Creating and recording musical scores for the Grotto of Hope,
    Valley of the Endangered Ones and The Circle of Life Action Room.
  • Literary Arts: research, writing and graphic design.
  • Art and Fine Crafts ~  lanterns, prayer wheels, planters and benches from recycled materials, sewing, embroidery and textile arts.
  • Portable interior landscapes.
  • The Circle of Life Action Room: design and organization.
  • Supporting experiences: movies, music, plays, street performers, and guides.
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