The Buffalo Treaty

St. Louis - 2024 Event Series on Contemporary Indigenous Knowledge and Environmental Sustainability 

Humans, Nature and the Buffalo Treaty

A dialogue with Leroy Little Bear, Roxann Smith, and Chance Weston 

Hosted by the Native American Studies Program, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville 

Date: October 11th, 2024 
Time: 12:30-2:30 pm CDT 
Location: Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, Center for Spirituality & Sustainability the Fuller Dome
Cost: Free of charge; All attendees must register online and check in at the registration table. There is a 50 person limit.

Register for the Event

View the Indigenous Knowledge and Sustainability Event Series and register for other events.

For more information, contact Prof. Greg Fields, gfields@siue.edu, 618.650-2461.

Itinerary

  • Noon:  Doors Open 

  • 12:30 pm: Welcome by Julie Zimmermann, Professor and Chair of Anthropology, SIUE 

  • 12:35 pm: Introduction of presenters by Dr. Ed Spevak, Saint Louis Zoo 

  • 12:45 pm: Presentations and dialogue with specialists on bison and the Bison Treaty: 

    • Leroy Little Bear, JD (Kainai Nation, Blackfoot Confederacy) Alberta

    • Roxann Smith, M.Ed. (Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes of the Fort Peck Indian

    • Reservation) MT 

    • Chance Weston (Oglala Lakota) Porcupine, SD 

  • 1:15 pm: Dialogue 

  • 2:00 pm: Dialogue concludes  

  • 2:00 pm: Refreshments  

  • 2:30 pm: Event concludes

Scenes from our 2024 Awards Night

A gallery of images captured by photographer Blake Detherage in the Fuller Dome on Saturday 9/21/24 at the 2024 Spirituality and Sustainability Leadership Awards.

2024 Spirituality & Sustainability Leadership Awards Night

The 21st Annual Spirituality and Sustainability Leadership Awards were held in the Fuller Dome on the SIUE campus, on Saturday 9/21/24. These dual leadership awards are presented annually by the Center for Spirituality and Sustainability in furtherance of their mission to promote humanity’s sacred connection to the earth and each other. The 2024 honorees were Rabbi Susan Talve for Spirituality Leadership and Lorenzo D. Savage Sr. for Sustainability Leadership. The founding members of the newly formed student organization, The Fuller Center Seekers were honored in the Fuller Dome on Saturday as well. Awards night photos are by Howard Ash.

The 2024 Spirituality and Sustainability Leadership Awards

21st Annual, Center for Spirituality and Sustainability Leadership Awards

The Center for Spirituality and Sustainability is hosting its 21st annual Leadership Awards on Saturday, September 21st, at 5:30 p.m. in the Fuller Dome on the campus of Southern Illinois University in Edwardsville, IL. This year the Fuller Dome is proud to be honoring the leadership of Rabbi Susan Talve and Lorenzo D. Savage, Sr. whose combined careers embody the unity, cooperation and service that these awards were designed to recognize. The doors will open at 5:00 with hors d’oeuvres, live music and a cash bar. Each year the Center bestows two awards, one for Spirituality Leadership and one for Leadership in Sustainability. These dual awards reflect the Center’s mission to “promote humanity’s sacred connection to the Earth and each other.” The Center for Spirituality and Sustainability is a multifaith home for spirituality and sustainability efforts housed in the Buckminster Fuller designed, miniature-earth, dome on the SIUE campus. This is an important annual fundraiser for our organization. It is open to the public and tickets are $75 each. Registration is required for this event, please register by 9/13/24. Click the link below or call (618) 650-3246 today to register.

2024 Spirituality Leadership Awardee: Rabbi Susan Talve

Founding Rabbi, Central Reform Congregation, St. Louis, Missouri

Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Ashrei Foundation

2024 Sustainability Leadership Awardee: Lorenzo D. Savage, Sr.

Architectural Designer and Executive Director of I Am EStL The Foundation

President of the Board of Directors, Katherine Dunham Center for the Arts and Humanities

Lorenzo savage

Rabbi Susan was ordained by Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati in 1981, where she earned a master’s degree in Hebrew Letters and a Doctor of Divinity. She was honored with the college's Stephen Levinson Award for Community Service after founding the Jewish Early Learning Cooperative, Ohio's first licensed infant childcare program in the workplace. She was the first non-Christian to receive an honorary Doctorate from Eden Theological Seminary in 2011 for a career of visionary and bold leadership and supporting interfaith relations in the St. Louis community. She was awarded honorary degrees from Washington University, St Lawrence University and has received many awards for her efforts on behalf of the Jewish and non-Jewish community.

 Rabbi Susan Talve is the founding rabbi of Central Reform Congregation, the only Jewish Congregation located within the city limits of St. Louis. When other congregations were leaving the city for the suburbs, Rabbi Susan joined with a small group to keep a vibrant presence in the city and to be on the front line of fighting the racism and poverty plaguing the urban center. 

 Rabbi Susan has led her congregation in promoting radical inclusivity by developing ongoing relationships with African American and Muslim congregations, and by fostering civil liberties for the LGBTQ community. Today CRC serves as a home to generations of LGBTQ families and to many Jews of color of all ages. She has performed same gender marriages since she arrived in St. Louis in 1981 and was on the first Marriage Equality bus to Iowa where she married her first legal couple and has since had the privilege of marrying more LGBTQ couples than she can count. The core value of radical hospitality has made CRC a safe home for many individuals and groups that have been marginalized, including the opportunity to serve as a site for and support the ordination of Roman Catholic Women Priests in 2007. As part of a committed pro-choice congregation, Rabbi Susan continues to stand on the front line of abortion and reproductive rights issues.

Access to quality affordable health care has always been a passion for Rabbi Talve. In 2007 she became a founding member and president of Missouri Health Care for All, a statewide grassroots advocacy organization that built a strong coalition for groups and individuals working to bring health care access to all Missourians. Rabbi Susan attributes her success to the relationships she has built by showing up; from street corners where, violent crime has taken lives to rallies for worker's rights, gun control and access to health care to the bedside of the suffering regardless of religion or membership in her community.

In 2022 Rabbi Susan founded the Ashrei Foundation, a non-profit created to empower and activate the St. Louis community and partners throughout the state of Missouri to promote economic justice, to relieve suffering, and interrupt cycles of poverty.

Lorenzo D. Savage, Sr. was born and raised in East St. Louis, Illinois.  He is a product of school district 189 and graduated from Lincoln High School in 1985.

Lorenzo completed his Bachelor of Architecture degree at Hampton University, graduating with honors in 1999. 

Lorenzo has had the opportunity to work for several Architecture and Design firms around the country, and complete many interesting projects in San Diego, Chicago, Seattle and Las Vegas.  Lorenzo is currently working for the prestigious Architectural firm Lawrence Group, downtown St. Louis.

Lorenzo is currently Board member and Interim Executive Director of non-profit organization I Am EStL The Foundation, which was founded in 2016 by Lorenzo and his late wife of 30 years, Charmaine Savage. 

Lorenzo took over as Executive Director of I Am EStL The Foundation in early 2019, after his wife Charmaine passed away after a long battle with breast cancer.  He has continued producing the magazine as well as creating public art project, “Charmaine’s dream” park Downtown EStL, which includes park with Mural on the side of the Historic Majestic Theater.

Lorenzo enjoys volunteering his time for worthy organizations.  He is a past board member for the East St. Louis Housing Authority.  The ESLHA has completed the planning grant process for replacing approx. 250 Gompers homes with 500 new mixed income residences, which has to include existing Gompers residents. 

Lorenzo is currently serving as President of the Board of Directors, Katherine Dunham Center for the Arts and Humanities (KDCAH).  Under his brief leadership KDCAH has secured the return of Miss Dunham’s East St. Louis residence, along with two additional Victorian era homes used by Miss Dunham for visiting academics, dancers, artists.  Plans are for Miss Dunham’s residence to become offices and resource center for the Community, while additional two homes will be developed to become bed and breakfast for visitors, creating revenue for the Museum and workshop’s continued survival.

Lorenzo is currently residing in East St. Louis, IL and also a member of the East St. Louis Planning Commission.

70th Anniversary of the Geodesic Dome Patent

On June 29th, 1954, Buckminster Fuller was awarded with the United States patent for the Geodesic Dome. 70 years later, on the weekend of June 29th, 2024, the Fuller Dome, Center for Spirituality and Sustainability, on the campus of Southern Illinois University Edwardarsville, will be hosting a series of three special events to commemorate the occasion. All the events will be held in the miniature earth geodesic dome that Bucky built with his partner Shoji Sadao in 1971 for the SIUE campus. The dome was historically known as the “Religious Center” and today as the Fuller Dome, Center for Spirituality and Sustainability it is working to “promote humanity’s sacred connection to the earth and each other.”

“The World of Buckminster Fuller” • film screening • 6/28/24

On Friday, June 28th, at 7:00 PM, we will screen “The World of Buckminster Fuller” a film by Academy Award winner Robert Snyder. Robert Snyder married Bucky’s daughter Allegra Fuller Snyder and their son, Bucky’s grandson, Jaime Snyder will zoom into the Fuller Dome at SIUE for the event to introduce the film and share his personal impressions on this film that is so integral to his family’s legacy.

This film by Oscar-winning filmmaker Robert Snyder, like his other documentaries on “the greats” (Michelangelo, Henry Miller, Willem De Kooning, Pablo Casals, among others), transports the viewer into Fuller’s mind and soul. Told entirely in his own words, the film is an intimate, personal and inspiring message from Fuller to our fragile world.

“The Future Happens Under a Dome” • dome lecture • 6/29/24

On Saturday, June 29th, at noon, the Fuller Dome’s Director Benjamin Lowder will take attendees on a deep dive into the history and geometry of geodesic domes. This picture and illustration filled presentation will convey the utility and wonder of this architectural marvel that so efficiently reflects the patterns of natural growth within its structure.

A Geoview Sound Bath: Go In To Go Out • sound bath • 6/30/24

On Sunday, June 30th, at 6:00 PM, Los Angeles based Ceremoni Sounds invites you to explore the unique acoustic properties of The Center for Spirituality and Sustainability’s Fuller Dome for an immersive and transformative sound bath experience. Aligning with Fuller's holistic worldview, this event integrates the principles of whole health and sound healing practices. 

As Fuller described, "One goes inside to go outside oneself and into the center of the Earth and thence outward to the stars in seconds. The Edwardsville Center becomes at once a cathedral of universal reality and a cathedral of universal mystery." Join us for this remarkable event and embark on a journey of inner and outer exploration!

For more information, contact us at (618) 650-3246 • fullerdome@outlook.com

The 20th Annual Spirituality & Sustainability Awards

A lovely evening under the dome honoring Gary Behrman and John Guenther

The Center for Spirituality and Sustainability hosted its 20th annual Leadership Awards in the Fuller Dome on the campus of Southern Illinois University in Edwardsville, IL. Each year the Center bestows two awards, one for Spirituality Leadership and one for Leadership in Sustainability. This event is an annual fundraiser in support of our mission "to promote humanity's sacred connection to the earth and each other."

Spirituality Leadership Award: Gary Behrman – Gary Behrman put his faith and spiritual values into practice over many years. After serving the Diocese as a priest, Gary devoted his life to serving others: as Associate Dean in the Graduate School, teaching in the Schools of Social Work, Medicine, and Allied Health at St. Louis University; training health professionals to recognize suicide risks, psycho-social spiritual issues in clinical practices; training social workers and clinicians to help families heal from trauma, and ethical issues with end-of-life events. He conducts workshops and seminars throughout the region, and most recently provided a retreat for current and former Catholic priests in Southern Illinois. Gary promotes interfaith dialogue with several religious societies including recent immigrants to St. Louis.

Sustainability Leadership Award: John C. Guenther – John C. Guenther, FAIA, LEED AP has created an exceptional body of architecture that thoughtfully considers the physical, environmental, social and historic context of each project. His work has received over 50 national, regional, and local awards from the AIA and a diverse array of organizations and publications. From 1979 to 2009, with the exception of two years, John was a design principal and partner with Mackey Mitchell Architects. Since 2009, John has practiced architecture independently. His projects of note include the Alberici Corporate Headquarters which was certified by the U.S. Green Building Council in 2005 as the highest rated LEED Platinum building in the world. Through his commitment to good environmental planning, John fought for the City of Wildwood, Missouri’s incorporation in 1995, to help the community stop the environmentally-destructive practices allowed by St. Louis County government.

Buckminster Fuller Architectural Tour

A guided architectural tour spanning the most important region in the world for domes related to the transformative legacy of Buckminster Fuller

On August 19th a guided architectural tour will span the most important region in the world for buildings related to the legacy of Buckminster Fuller. The area extending from St. Louis, Missouri to Carbondale, Illinois contains more architecture by famed inventor Buckminster Fuller than anywhere else in the world. The Buckminster Fuller Dome on the Southern Illinois University Edwardsville campus is hosting a tour of this areas significant collection of geodesic domes. All of these domes from the Climatron in St Louis to Bucky’s own dome home in Carbondale have a direct connection to Fuller who patented the geodesic dome as a revolutionary architectural form in 1954.

The tour will start in St Louis at the Missouri Botanical Gardens geodesic greenhouse, known as the Climatron dome, at 9:00 am on Saturday, August 19th. The tour will proceed to the Mary Brown Center dome in East St Louis designed in 1968 by the company that Fuller founded, Synergetics Inc. The next stop will be at the 384-foot-wide by 120-foot-tall dome in Wood River built in 1961 for the Union Tank Car Company by Synergetics Inc. The lunch hour will be spent in the miniature-earth Fuller Dome (originally named the Religious Center) that Buckminster Fuller designed with his architectural partner Shoji Sadao for the SIUE campus in 1971. The last stop on the tour is at Buckminster Fuller’s actual home, a geodesic dome in Carbondale Illinois that he and his wife Anne lived in from 1960 to 1972. The tour will return back to the Climatron in St Louis at approximately 7:00 pm. Lowder says that “a special guest guide will be joining us on the bus for this tour, playwright, actor and Bucky scholar, D. W. Jacobs, who wrote and performs a one man play based on Fuller’s life will provide perspective and anecdotes as we explore Little Egypt in search of Bucky’s legacy.” Lunch and transportation are provided. Tickets are $100 a piece and limited to 40 registrations, proceeds will go to help renovate the Fuller Dome at SIUE.

Buckminster Fuller • Art & Artifacts Exhibtion

World Renowned Inventor’s Artifacts to be Exhibited at the Fuller Dome

The Center for Spirituality and Sustainability is hosting an exhibition of famed inventor Buckminster Fuller’s personal artwork and artifacts. The Center is inviting everyone to join them for an opening reception of this important exhibition in the Fuller Dome, on the SIU Edwardsville campus, Saturday, April 15th from 6:00 to 8:00 pm. This exhibition represents the highlights from a collection of artifacts donated to the Center in recent years by the Estate of Buckminster Fuller. “This exhibition will include Fuller’s personal belongings in the form of maps, artwork, models, globes, and books that collectively provide a window into the mind of one of the 20th Century’s most original thinkers,” says Center Director Benjamin Lowder. “We are excited to share some new donations that were acquired for this collection as recent as February of this year.” The Center will also use this reception as an opportunity to publicly thank the Meridian Society for two recent grants that have benefited the Fuller Dome.

Buckminster Fuller is most famous for patenting the architecturally innovative geodesic dome in 1954. Fuller holds an additional 28 United States patents and did some of his most important work as a professor at both the SIUC and SIUE campuses. Fuller built the miniature earth Fuller Dome (originally named the Religious Center) for the SIUE campus in 1971. Today the Fuller Dome houses the Center for Spirituality and Sustainability who’s mission is to promote humanity’s sacred connection to the earth and each other. The Center shares the legacy of Buckminster Fuller as an inspiring example of what one human individual can do to positively impact our world. The Fuller Dome is located on the SIUE campus just off of Circle Drive, next to Parking Lot B. This event is free and open to the public. Please register to attend so the Center can track attendance.

"Bucky in Bali" • Balinese Cuisine Sampling & Curator Talk

“Bucky in Bali” is an exhibition of Buckminster Fuller’s Balinese “ Young Artist Movement” art collection on view in the Fuller Dome Gallery from 3/31/22 to 5/31/22.

In conjunction with the art exhibition in the Fuller Dome Gallery, we will also be offering an evening of “Balinese Cuisine Sampling” with a “Curator Talk” on Friday, May 13th at 7PM in the Fuller Dome. Limited to the first 40 reservations.

Bucky in Bali

An Exhibtion of Buckminster Fuller’s Balinese Art Collection

Please join us in the Fuller Dome on Thursday, March 31st, 2022 at 7PM for an opening reception of “Bucky in Bali” - an art exhibition of Buckminster Fuller’s Balinese “Young Artist Movement” art collection.

A nice nice 3 x 4 ft example from Buckminster Fuller’s Balinese art Collection

Famed inventor and futurist, Buckminster Fuller was known for spending much of his time traveling around the globe giving lectures, inspiring young people and leading projects. He had been just about everywhere in his 87 years, of nearly perpetual travel, but the Indonesian island of Bali held a special place for him. On his extended trips to Bali, Bucky fell in love with the island-people’s culture and he became one of the leading collectors of Balinese artwork known as the “Young Artist Movement.” Bucky is often referenced as an important collector in current articles on the history of the Balinese “Young Artist Movement.” The Bali cultural history website, ubudnowandthen.com noted that, “The art of the Young Artists was mostly bought by expatriates and visiting foreigners who loved them. Each room of Bali’s very first five-star hotel, The Bali Beach Hotel in Sanur, was decorated with a Young Artist painting. Famous visitors to Bali, such as the famous science visionary Buckminster Fuller and renowned anthropologist Margaret Mead made collections of their work.”

Bucky’s Balinese art collection and his exceptional appreciation of Balinese cultural history grew out of his speculation that the ancient people of the Indonesian islands “were the original, planet-landed peoples.” In his 1981 book “Critical Path” Bucky writes, “we note that the island people were the original, planet-landed peoples who explored widely with their paddled canoes and gradually settled inland and upland, being able to cope with the mountain coldness because of their new animal-skin clothing and tents fashioned from the skins of wild animals that roamed into their peninsula-interbridged "islands" during the last ice age.” In “Critical Path” Fuller also uses a prominent Balinese architectural feature to support this thesis, ”the great architectural feature of Bali is that of the narrow vertical gap in the gateways of their walled-in dwelling compounds, a gap they explain as representing the gap that occurred long ago between once-united Bali and Java. This occurred only 30,000 years ago, when the last ice age began to melt away and its waters once again separated the islands. The Balinese architectural legend-supported memory thus goes back 30,000 years.”

Bucky’s important collection of Balinese “Young Artist Movement” paintings grew so large that he had no more wall space left to hang the paintings and the collection spent decades in storage. In 2020 Bucky’s daughter Allegra Fuller Snyder donated the collection to the Center for Spirituality and Sustainability for exhibition in the Fuller Dome Gallery. The world will now get to see this important collection in the Fuller Dome Gallery on the year’s 90th Day (3/31/22) on the planet’s 90th Meridian for an opening reception at 7:00 pm. for more information please call (618) 650-3246 or email fullerdome@outlook.com

What Would Maise Do?

The Charter for Compassion is hosting a discussion with Jacqueline Winspear

author of the Maise Dobbs series, Jaqueline Winspear

Jacqueline Winspear is the author of the wildly popular Maise Dobbs book series. Through seventeen books, the Maisie Dobbs series has had a resounding impact on fans. Readers have shared with author Jacqueline Winspear how Maisie’s stories have resonated with them or helped them through difficult times. Fans have been inspired by the heroine’s resilience and endurance, repurposing her strength in their own lives in a way perhaps best embodied by the phrase “What Would Maisie Do?” As members of the Charter for Compassion, we are inviting you this exciting program being offered by the charter. Join Jaqueline Windspear live online for a lively discussion. If you have read all seventeen of the Maisie Dobbs series, you will be engrossed in this conversation. If you haven't then you will be inspired to make Maisie a part of your future reading.

What Would Maisie Do? by Jaqueline Winspear

Date: Wednesday, March 16th at 9 am PST, Jacqueline Winspear (UK/USA)

Cost: Suggested donation $10 US.
Should this be beyond your reach, we’re happy to offer it to you free.

Agnes Pal Art Exhibition • Closing Reception Set For 2/25/22

The life of artist, holocaust survivor and SIUE alumni, Agnes Pal, is celebrated in this moving exhibition on view in the Fuller Dome Gallery.

SIUE University Museum Executive Curator, Erin Vigneau-Dimick speaking at the opening of the Agnes Pal art exhibition and memorial.

On Friday Feb. 25th at 6PM you are invited to attend a closing reception for the Agnes Pal art exhibition in the Fuller Dome.

Artist Agnes M. Pal, a native of Hungary and a Holocaust survivor, died at 85 years of age on Aug. 26th, 2021 in Glen Carbon, IL. A Celebration of Life and exhibition of Pal’s art opened in the Fuller Dome on Dec. 18th 2021 as an opportunity for Pal’s friends and family to honor her extaordinary life. Pal and her late husband, Alexander, relocated to Edwardsville in the 1970s when Alexander accepted a position as a math professor at SIUE. Pal, a former art director of a New York City advertising agency, found her creative outlet by pursuing graduate studies in the SIUE College of Arts and Sciences’ Department of Art and Design.

A highly celebrated metalsmith and sculptor, Pal’s work has been featured in numerous publications and exhibits. The Agnes Majtinszky Pal Collection, featuring more than 50 pieces of sculpture and fine art jewelry created by Pal, is displayed and cared for at the SIUE University Museum.

This closing reception will be the public’s last chance to see this incredible exhibition in the historic Fuller Dome. Please join us Friday, 2/25/22 from 6-8PM in the Fuller Dome, located on the SIUE campus, just off of circle drive, next to Visitor Parking Lot B.

"Revolutionary Love Is The Call Of Our Time..."

See No Stranger by Valarie Kaur

A Zoom Webinar with Valarie Kaur – renowned Sikh activist, filmmaker, and civil rights lawyer. Presented by the Charter for Compassion • See No Stranger is a practical guide to changing the world, a synthesis of wisdom, a chronicle of personal and communal history – all joined together by a story of awakening. Revolutionary love is medicine for our times. It just might be our best chance for our collective future.

Poster Art by Shepard Fairey

Webinar Date: Wednesday, February 9, 2022 at 10 a.m.
Pacific Time • Check your local times using this date/time converter.

Cost: Suggested donation $10 US. • Should this be beyond your reach, we’re happy to offer it to you free.

Bucky's Famous Dymaxion Car is Coming!

As part of the Fuller Dome’s on going 50th Anniversary Celebration, Jeff Lane of Lane Motor Museum, Nashville, is bringing the 1933 version of Buckminster Fuller’s famous, three-wheeled, Dymaxion car to the Fuller Dome on the SIUE Campus. The Dymaxion car will be at the dome from noon to 4PM on Friday 11/12/21. Come check out this incredible and historic vehicle patented by Buckminster Fuller in 1937.

YouTube Premiere of "Seeing the All in All ..."

In recognition of the Center for Spirituality and Sustainability’s annual Celebration of World Faiths, the Center submitted a 45 minute video presentation to the Parliament of World Religions. The Center’s video was streamed by the Parliament along with presentations from Dr. Jane Goodall, Prof. Wande Abimbola, Marianne Williamson, Richard Tarnas and His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama. It was also screened live in the Fuller Dome on 10/20/21. On Sunday 11/7/21, at 7PM Central Time, “Seeing the All in All…” is having a YouTube premiere. You will be able to watch it live on YouTube being at 7PM on 11/7 and join in the live chat discussion. In this video presentation, Center Director, Benjamin Lowder, draws connections between sacred geometry, Buckminster Fuller, hermeticism, Meister Eckhart, the perennial philosophy, alchemy, architecture, kabbalah, integrating polarities and dissolving boundaries. Lowder will be on hand for Q & A in the YouTube Premiere chat window.