If you missed the interview on KUOW yesterday, follow that link to hear This Place Called Homeco-curator Miles R. Miller (Yakama/Nez Perce) talking with Sound Focushost Megan Sukys about the stories of the Plateau and the cultural differences across the Cascades. (The interview starts at around the 14 minute mark into the program from 1/29.)
The Plateau exhibits opened this weekend with a wonderful members’ reception on Friday night:
I'll be back soon with photos from the public opening this past Saturday.
January 25th, 2008 saw the kickoff of Focus the Nation, a program dedicated to raising environmental awareness in America’s youth. Various programs are to be held throughout the week at multiple institutions, culminating in a synchronous nation wide teach-in on Jan 31. The University of Washington and Burke Museum are joining the national teach-in with an innovative panel called Climate Change Impacts on Indigenous Populations, moderated by former Burke curator Dr. Steve Harrell. The talk will be held in HUD 209A on the UW campus at 3pm. Come on by and hear what the panel has to say.
Focus the Nation at UW includes 11 panel discussions, an exhibit hall with over 40 participating organizations, and culminates at 7 PM with a panel at Kane Hall which includes Jay Inslee, Fred Jarrett, Greg Nickels, and Ron Sims, moderated by Steve Scher.
For more information on UW’s involvement, check out their page.
One of my colleagues (and friends) in the Museology department has a show opening up this weekend at the Burke: This Place Called Home (along with the traveling exhibitPeoples of the Plateau). He's been working on curating this show nonstop since last Fall. The exhibit installation is finally finished and I managed to sneak in earlier this week and take some photos of the process to give readers a taste of what to expect. It looks...stunning. Hard to believe this is the same space the Y2YandGiant Squidexhibits were in.
University Week is out now with a wonderful piece on our upcoming Plateau exhibits(opening Jan. 26). Co-curators Miles R. Miller and Jim Nason talk about the significance of these exhibits in promoting cultural awareness across broad audiences. They offer great insight into the work of the museum: telling the real stories of real people using their real voices and authentic materials. It’s no easy job, but it is one they are both passionate about.
- Rebecca.
Photo: Baby moccasins and adult moccasins (Yakama), photo by Mary Levin. On view in This Place Called Home, Jan. 26 – June 8, 2008.
Q: What measures 21 feet in length, ways over a 1000 pounds, and takes 5+ hours to hoist onto a wall?
A: The Burke’s newest fossil – a 125 million year old ichthyosaur! Ichthyosaur means “fish lizard” in Latin, a name that describes well this fully aquatic marine reptile of the Mesozoic.
I didn’t push or lift a thing the whole time, but yesterday I witnessed the installation of this giant fossil from beginning to end, and found myself exhausted just watching the process which took hours.
After icy road delays, our friends at Artech arrived early at the Museum and unloaded the crated fossil, split into three pieces for manageability. First up the ramp was the most difficult piece, the 1200 pound body and center of the fossil. The lighter head and tail pieces flew up the ramp by comparison.
Museum staffers showed up to help with the pushing, pulling, and hoisting of the giant specimens, which were super tricky to maneuver through the doors of the Burke Room. (Sure I could have helped, but then who would have taken the photos?!)
I was surprised by how quickly the pieces went up once they were secured to the chain pulleys. The middle went up first and we finished with the head – a crowning for the day.
Want to watch the whole 5 hours of action condensed into one minute? Check out the video slideshow below.
Lots of cameras showed up to capture the process for local news – check out today’s Seattle Post-Intelligencer and The Seattle Times for feature photos in the B sections. KING, KOMO, and KIRO TV also featured the story on last night’s news.
- Rebecca
Photos
Top: Ichthyosaur in Burke Room
Bottom: Scan from The Seattle Times, 1/16/2008, (The Seattle Times photo by Steve Ringman).
A 145-million-year old fossil marine reptile measuring 21 feet (6.4 m) in length was permanently installed in the Burke Museum on Tues., Jan. 15. The complete fossil skeleton, originally collected in Germany, is known as an ichthyosaur (meaning "fish lizard").
Painting of Ichthyosaurus by Heinrich Harder
Ichthyosaurs (pronounced ik-thea-sores) are giant marine reptiles that lived in the oceans of the Mesozoic Era, while dinosaurs roamed the land. Though fish-like in shape, ichthyosaurs breathed air like whales and dolphins and gave birth to live young. Ichthyosaurs coexisted with other giant marine reptiles such as mosasaurs and plesiosaurs, also on display at the Burke Museum.
The new year brings us a new friend on the UW campus.
Head down to Hitchcock Hall in south campus and you'll find a newly installed 85 million year old mosasaur fossil. And yes, it's real.
The mosasaur is an extinct marine reptile, a dominant predator of the Cretaceous Period. The one on display, newly donated to the Burke's paleontology collections by the Hart family, is probably a species of mosasaur known as Platecarpus.
Next week we install a 21-foot-long (!!!), 125 million year old ichthyosaur in the Burke Room, also donated by the Hart family. The scoop on that with lots of photos will be coming up soon on Burke Blog.
- Rebecca
Photos
Top: Burke Curator of Vertebrate Paleontology Christian Sidor (left) and Fossil Preparator Bruce Crowley (Right) put finishing touches on the new mosasaur installation in Hitchcock Hall.
Burke Museum Curator of Vertebrate Paleontology Christian Sidor and Fossil Preparator Bruce Crowley worked with other Burke staff and associates to install a large fossil of a mosasaur in Hitchcock Hall on the University of Washington campus. The mosasaur is a giant aquatic lizard from 85 million years ago. The specimen installed in Hitchcock Hall probably represents the Platecarpus species. This specimen is part of a new collection of over a dozen giant fossils and geological specimens donated by the Hart Family. This wonderful new collection joins over 2.5 million other fossils in the Burke Museum Geology division.
