Jon and Karen Larson Family Foundation
Projects
Below are photos showing the variety of Interfaith education, Cultural preservation, Spiritual enlightenment, and Ecological restoration activities of the non-profit organizations supported by the Jon and Karen Larson Family Foundation (LFF).
|
|
The Iliahi Foundation of Hawaii consecrates another Hawaiian native trees nursery in Palehua, high up in the southern Waianae mountains of Oahu, Hawaii. The Iliahi Foundation nurtures and then out-plants native trees including koa, iliahi, wiliwili, a'ali'i, and kawila in special designated areas of the forests of the Waianae including the Nanakuli Nature Preserve forest and a joint project with The Nature Conservancy of Hawaii who manages the 3,700 acre Honouliuli Nature Preserve. LFF was the Iliahi Foundation's first foundation sponsor. Jon Larson is chairman and co-founder of the Iliahi Foundation of Hawaii.
Muwekma Ohlone Indian Tribe of the San Francisco Bay
|
|
An artistic representation of how the First Peoples Childrens Healing Pole will look after it is raised in Muwekma Ohlone Pocket Park located on a parcel of land on the bay located in their ancestral homeland along the shore of Islais Creek, south San Francisco. The land was gifted to the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe of the San Francisco Bay by the City of San Francisco, recognizing them as representative of San Francisco's First Peoples. The Childrens Healing Pole was gifted to the First People of California at a special ceremony in Half Moon Bay in 1997 by representatives of the LFF, the Interfaith Center at the Presidio, and the Pacific Islanders Cultural Association. The Muwekma Ohlone are the keepers of the Childrens sculpture on behalf of all First Peoples of California.
The Nature Conservancy of Hawaii
|
|
Above is a satellite photo of the Hawaiian Islands. LFF was the original foundation to make a major donation to the Iliahi Foundation of Hawaii which is building native tree nurseries, collecting native tree seeds from the forests of Oahu, germinating and nurturing the trees in the special nurseries until they are ready for outplanting within the Honouliuli Native Preserve managed by The Nature Conservancy of Hawaii.
|
|
|
|
Karen packs an OI troops "gifts" package in her living room full of needed articles purchased monthly from local Marin drugstores for shipment to our adopted units of Marines overseas in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Youth Workforce Investment Board of Monterey, California
|
|
Jon joins Jaymes Lambert (18) and Demetrious Huggins (19), two of the carvers from the Monterey Workforce Investment Board's One Stop Career Center youth job skills training program who carved the One Voice 9-11 Healing Pole installed at the Bronx Zoo in New York City. This photo is from the sculpture's initial public unveiling in Palm Springs, California in January of 2002.
Pacific Islanders Cultural Association - PICA
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Pacific Islanders Cultural Association PICA Kohola Healing Sculpture honors the healing traditions of the First Peoples of the Pacific. Here it eagerly awaits the voyage to its final home in Hawaii. Note the south tower of the Golden Gate Bridge in the background. Jon Larson has been the director of the Heal All Life Sculpture project and organization since its inception in 1995. PICA has been a key partner in the project. Plans are being formulated to jointly gift this PICA healing sculpture to the Honolulu Zoo where it will become a feature of the new Ahupua'a Exhibits area currently being designed.
Marin City Community Youth Carving Project
Summer training program for Marin City youth
This Marin City Summer Teen Program project was sponsored by the Larson Family Foundation, The Spaulding Wooden Boat Center, and the Marin City CSD Community Services District.
|
|
Project description:
This special summer training program was offered to 30 Marin City youth. It was designed to teach traditional wood carving skills and teamwork to 30 disadvantaged youth through exposure to traditional wood carving and boat (re)building and maintenance crafts. World class eco-sculptor Tonu Eagleton was retained to guide the youth and teach his unique wood carving skills.
|
|
PAL - Protect All Life Foundation
|
|
The Protect All Life PAL Healing Pole was created by Marcus VonSkepsgardh and Shane Eagleton, sculpted from one of the five LFF salvaged Port Chicago logs that were donated to PAL by LFF. It is installed on the PAL ranch near Half Moon Bay south of San Francisco where it stands quietly as an "Acupuncture needle for Mother Earth".
Friendship House Healing Bench
|
|
Above is the Friendship House First Peoples Healing Bench. It was produced as a joint project sponsored by the Larson Family Foundation in conjunction with the Cultural Conservancy . It was gifted to the Friendship House in Oakland, California where it sits in the outdoor garden area used by women and their children to rest and recovery in the out of doors as they cultivate native American herbs and foods.
Friendship House Association of American Indians, Inc. of San Francisco is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) community-based organization that provides residential substance abuse treatment for American Indians. Since its founding in 1963, Friendship House has maintained a strong track record of providing holistic prevention, treatment, and recovery services that are culturally-relevant to American Indians.
Friendship House operates two residential treatment facilities: an 80-bed four-story healing center for adults located in the Mission District of San Francisco, and the Friendship House American Indian Lodge located in Oakland for American Indian women with their children. Both residential treatment facilities are licensed and certified by the State of California Department of Alcohol and Drug Programs. Additionally, Friendship House is nationally accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities. (CARF)
Our Mission: The mission of Friendship House is to promote healing and wellness in the American Indian community by providing a continuum of substance abuse prevention, treatment, and recovery services that integrate traditional American Indian healing practices and evidence-based substance abuse treatment methods.
|
|
Jon sits on the Marine Life Bench Sculpture inside the Presidio Native Plants Nursery. It is carved from an old growth redwood tree which had fallen down on private land. When completed, its surface will contain over 200 carvings of the marine life (birds, plants, fish, invertebrates and mammals) of San Francisco Bay. It was initially consecrated as part of the non-profit Monterey "First Night 2000" millennium celebration. It was gifted to Friendship House of Oakland to be used as an sitting bench in the outdoor garden area where native herbs and foods are grown by the residents of Friendship House.
Heal All Life "One Voice 9-11" Healing Totem sculpture
|
|
|
|
|
|
The One Voice 9-11 Healing Totem sculpture mural and healing pole carving team of the non-profit One Stop Career Center of Monterey, a federally funded Workforce Investment Board project managed through the State of California which provides youth with career training at the Monterey One Stop Career Center. LFF has provided financial support, donations of Port Chicago logs and equipment, marketing, publicity, and training assistance. The One Voice Healing Pole shown below has been gifted to the City of New York as a tribute to all those lives lost in the 9-11 tragedies. It was dedicated and erected at the main entrance of the New York City's Bronx Zoo on 9-5-2002.
GGNPC - Presidio Native Plants Nursery
|
|
The Presidio Native Plants Nursery is managed by the non-profit Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy GGNPC. Staffed primarily by community volunteers, it is the major nursery that has supplied tens of thousands of California native plants and trees which have been out-planted within the 36,000 acre Golden Gate National Recreation Area - GGNRA including the recently restored Crissy Field Nature Preserve at the Presidio. LFF has donated computer equipment and financial support to the nursery management and to the umbrella organization, the GGNPC. Several of the Heal All Life healing pole sculptures are on permanent display within the Presidio nursery building."
Interfaith Center at the Presidio
|
|
The chapel at the Interfaith Center at the Presidio, an Interfaith organization that serves the needs of the Bay Area Interfaith community with weddings, festivals, community events, music and meditation, all open to the general public. LFF has been a major early financial and program supporters of the ICP since its founding in 1994.
Indian Canyon Village Healing Totem Pole
|
|
INDIAN CANYON
VILLAGE HOUSE, TOTEM POLE & SOLAR VILLAGE PROJECT
In conjunction with the Mutsun Indian First Peoples and the Cultural Conservancy, the Larson Family Foundation funded the creation of a special healing totem pole carved from an ancient log salvaged from the U.S. Navy at Port Chicago by Tonu Eagleton which has been gifted to the Mutsun First peoples of Hollister, California where it will be featured and raised in conjunction with construction of an entire village.
Vision:
Indian Canyon will serve as a refuge and a peaceful place for people in the world who do not have sacred land for performing their ceremonies. Today almost 5,000 visitors participate in rituals, educational programs, and vision quests annually. Indian Village including its Village House and Solar Village Project will become an irreplaceable resource for community events as well as a place to honor and preserve cultural heritage.
Mission:
Create a self-reliant solar village and multi-media broadcast facility in Indian Canyon in central California to further the wisdom of the indigenous people of California. Indian Canyon is proposing a self-sufficient ecological-village integrating 1) traditional and sacred architecture, wisdom, and lifestyle -- with 2) the best in renewable and appropriate technologies. This “Living-Learning” center will be linked to the rest of the world with digital computers and the Internet. A multi-media outreach training facility will be built into the Village so that teachings from important conferences, meetings and tribal gatherings can be shared real-time over the Internet with a wider audience.
Heal All Life "Pearl Harbor Memorial" Sculpture
|
|
The "Pearl Harbor Memorial" Sculpture is being carved from one of the ten Port Chicago logs (above). It will be transported to Hawaii where it will be carved by teams of California, Hawaii and Japan youth who will carve on its DNA surfaces thousands of representations of Hawaiian plant, animal and marine life including species which are endangered or already extinct. LFF is taking a major leadership position in this project and its twin the Thousand Cranes Healing Sculpture, both designed around the special healing energies of the conjunctions of the bombings of Pearl Harbor in 1941, Hiroshima in 1945, and the Port Chicago explosion in 1944.
Heal All Life "Thousand Cranes" Youth Sculpture
The Thousand Cranes Youth Sculpture is being carved from one of the ten Port Chicago logs. It is currently on public display within the Presidio Native Plants Nursery. It will be transported to Monterey and then Hawaii where it will be carved and completed by teams of California, Hawaii and Japan youth. They will carve into the DNA surfaces thousands of representations of Japan's plant, animal and marine life including endangered species and other species already extinct. When completed it will be transported to Japan and gifted to the youth of Japan from the youth of Hawaii and California representing youth from around the world.
LFF is taking a leading role in bringing together a wide and diverse representation of community non-profit organizations to complete this project and its twin, the Hawaiian Life Healing Sculpture, both designed around the special healing energies of the conjunctions of the bombings of Pearl Harbor in 1941 and Hiroshima in 1945, and the Port Chicago explosion in 1944.
LFF was one of the original financial and organizational contributing supporters in 1993-1995 of the movement that has become the United Religions Initiative.
(below) the Heal All Life Sculpture being consecrated in 1999 at the first gathering of representatives of the world's faith traditions on the Stanford University campus in the first worldwide assembly of what was to become the United Religions Initiative - URI. This healing sculpture is currently taking on a new life. After additional surface carvings by California and Hawaii youth, it will become the 'Pearl Harbor Memorial' sculpture to be erected in a public place yet to be selected where it has views of Pearl Harbor, Oahu, Hawaii.
Adobe Creek Restoration and Fish Hatchery
|
|
|
|
Students of Casa Grande High School in Petaluma, California release around 20,000 Chinook salmon fingerlings each May into San Francisco Bay. They raise the fingerlings in their school operated hatchery from eggs taken from the Chinook salmon runs up Adobe Creek which pass through the school campus. The formerly "dead" local creek was restored and is maintained in a healthy status by the students, encouraging Pacific salmon and steelhead trout to make return runs up the stream each year after spending 3-4 years maturing in the Pacific Ocean. LFF plans to assist with more funding, web site development and publicity to help promote this incredible eco-restoration story to the high school communities of California.
Shane Eagleton - eco-sculptor and carver
|
|
The PAL Kohola whale sculpture on public display at the 1996 Pacific Islanders Cultural Association festival on Crissy Field in the San Francisco Presidio which welcomed the Hokulea sailing vessel to San Francisco. It was carved by Shane Eagleton for the PAL Foundation. Jon Larson was active in the initial visioning and financing for a United Religions organization that was first announced at the United Nations Interfaith ceremony in San Francisco in June of 1995. He and Karen hosted the Hawaiian Spiritual Delegation to the United Nations Interfaith celebration for the week and they gave the name Kohola (Hawaiian for whale) to the life size sculpture being carved from a single 1,500 year old redwood log.
|
|
Shane Eagleton, world renowned eco-carver and sculptor, with two of his many creations. Jon Larson and LFF have supported many carving projects for which Shane has been the artistic director.
TAO Education - Teachers Association for Outdoor Education
|
|
Guide Derek Larson leads high school students from San Francisco spelunking on a cave exploration.
|
|
TAO Education Foundation of Truckee, California is a non-profit association of teacher/guides who take disadvantaged students on special outdoor education learning experiences as an extension of the classroom and science curriculum. LFF was an early financial supporter of TAO Education and Jon Larson is a Director of the non-profit organization which serves underprivileged youth in schools throughout California.
PAL - Protect All Life Tree Recycling Center
|
|
Jon stands by the trunk of a 400 year old California Oak tree which toppled over in a storm near San Francisco. Instead of being scrapped in a city dump, the log and others like it are retrieved by the PAL Foundation and brought to PAL's tree recycling center in Oakland where logs are sorted and then re-designated for use as appropriate for milling, furniture making, building projects, cultural carving, and other useful purposes. Scrap logs are transported to special co-generation plants in northern California where they are burned to create electricity. LFF has been a major financial contributor to the non-profit PAL over the past six years.
All Walks of Life Labyrinths
|
|
The above Walking Labyrinth is installed in Carmel, California. For First Night 2000 on the town hall grounds of Monterey, California, LFF funded a special project associated with this event that heralded in the new year, century and millennium, the Marine Life Sculpture that was worked on by youth and adults of the local community and displayed behind the Walking Labyrinth created by All Walks, a non-profit organization whom LFF has also supported.
The labyrinth is an ancient and universal archetypal pattern that leads the walker on a prescribed path to its center. When walking the labyrinth, the walker experiences "a walk into his or her own soul while leaving the external world behind". The rise in popularity of labyrinths within the last decade is credited to their effectiveness as an introspective and celebratory tool used in various institutional and public settings. The walking labyrinth is an experience within our community which honors both the individual human spirit and shared human values. The walking labyrinth is a celebration of diversity which bridges social and cultural boundaries while fostering hope and healing for people of all traditions.
Children's Whale Canoe Project
The original Childrens Sculpture carved in 1997 (see photo below) is being used to create a proposed series of four Children's sculptures. It has been proposed that each sculpture be gifted to a children's discovery museum in the Bay Area including the Bay Area Discovery Museum (Sausalito), the Randall Museum (San Francisco), Habitot Children's Museum (Berkeley), and the Children's Discovery Museum of San Jose. All Bay Area Childrens Museums are members of the Association of Children's Museums.
The first sculpture, a "whale canoe" was completed for the Bay Area Discovery Museum of Sausalito, California, in the fall of 2002. The canoe was created by "BADM Artist in Residence" master carver Shane Eagleton who taught young student carvers to produce this living sculpture. LFF provided the log and documentation for the project as well as contributed towards its funding. Phase II of the project, if approved by the various Bay Area children's discovery museum recipients, will create unique sculptures carved by Shane Eagleton to be gifted to other Bay Area children's museums.
|
|
Childrens Whale Canoe (phase I September, 2002)
|
|
The original Childrens Sculpture under construction in 1997, carved from a 150 year old California redwood tree that had fallen over on private land in a windstorm.
|
|
Keiki Kohola whale sculpture by Shane Eaglton.
Childrens Whale Canoe sculpture by Shane Eaglton at the Bay Area Childrens Museum in Sausalito.
"How delighted we are to be working with Shane Eagleton as one of our artists in a residency program that brings art, history, and science experts to the Museum to develop collaborative projects with children and to create a lasting artifact that will remain part of our exhibits. For the Discovery Museum, Shane's work has a particular relevance since a key part of our curriculum relates to boats and life on the Bay. We believe there is a unique match between the content of our educational framework, "My Place By The Bay," and Shane's work.
Karen Hampton Creative Arts Specialist Bay Area Discovery Museum
A Vision for Spirit Park in the Presidio
|
|
LFF has submitted Jon Larson's above design in response to an RFP for a proposed park to be created within the Presidio of San Francisco. It is called Spirit Park.
The Park design features a permanent family of 16 immense fallen old growth healing poles erected in a special area within the San Francisco Presidio.
The Park would be an integral part of the "swords to plowshares" conversion of the Presidio from a former U.S. Army base to a national park managed by the new Presidio Trust.
The Park's four entrances will embrace the "six directions:" north through the United Nations entrance, south through the United Religions entrance, east through the Rising Sun entrance, and west through the Golden Gate Bridge entrance to the Pacific Ocean and Islands of the world, downwards to Mother Earth, and upwards to Father Sky.
Spirit Park will embrace the four sacred elements, earth, water, fire and air.
The 16 individual healing poles which together comprise Restoration Park will represent the Continents, Islands and Oceans, all First Peoples, Men, Women, Children, the United Nations and the world's Faith Traditions.
The carving of the Sculptures will be done by the same Heal All Life Carving Team that created the first ten Heal All Life Sculptures. The poles themselves will come from previously fallen redwood and cedar trees from special areas throughout Northern California obtained through the assistance and approvals of the ancestors of the indigenous peoples of California.
The carving will be done at the Heal All Life Carving Site at the Presidio, the same site shared with the San Francisco Recycling Center at the Presidio.
At the center of the Park will be a Healing Fire Pit with continuous flames erupting in a concentric circular patterns through sands and soil collected from sacred areas of all First Peoples of North America and the Pacific Islands. The Sacred Fire Pit will itself be constructed from special rocks gathered from ceremonial indigenous area healing pits from throughout the Americas.
Amphitheater seating around the Sacred Fire Pit will accommodate outdoor meetings and gatherings. Special lighting will illuminate the Sculptures at night.
Many of the above photos were taken by Jon Larson. The others were provided by the non-profit organizations that LFF supports.
