Dia de los Muertos

Posted by: Karin Hoffman

Looking for something to do this weekend? Check out the Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) festival this Saturday and Sunday, November 1st and 2nd at the Center House at Seattle Center. TMCA (Taller Mexicano Para La Cultura y Las Artes) is hosting this FREE (!!) event which includes art exhibits, short films and animation, print making, sugar skulls, an opportunity to participate in the creation of a community ofrenda, (an alter to celebrate the lives of loved ones) and much more!

The Burke Museum Education staff will also be showcasing a wonderful hands-on activity (paper skeleton puppets) so stop by and say hello!

For more information and hours, go to http://www.tallermexicano.org/.

Button Blankets and Burke 101

Guest writer: Laura Crisp

Hello again from “Burke 101!” If you haven’t come to visit us in the Pacific Voices gallery yet, we hope you do – students in Burke 101 are currently working on a large button blanket project and we need your help!

Here’s some background information for you:

Button blankets are typically worn in many potlatch ceremonies and depict the crest of a clan. Many of the dances in a potlatch cannot be danced by just any tribal member; dancers often must inherit the right to the dance. Because of this link to their ancestors, the dancer will make a point to show their back to the audience so that they can see the family crest. Buttons used on the button blankets were originally made of shell, which was also a type of currency. For a non-native American, this would be like wearing a jacket with your family’s name on it and covering it with money to show your wealth!

Here’s an example of a button blanket from the Burke collections:

The project that we have set up in the Pacific Voices gallery (see website for schedule) is a collaborative effort to create our own version of a button blanket. We have based the design on a Raven creation story and encourage you to come help us add designs to this blanket – but don’t worry, you won’t have to actually sew any buttons on: we’ve substituted round white stickers to make the activity more accessible to a wide variety of visitors. We hope you’ll stop by on one of the Thursdays or Saturdays listed on our schedule.

Photos: (Right) Courtesy of Laura Crisp.

(Left) Kwakwaka'wakw Button Blanket, date made 1940-1970.

Wildlife Photographer of the Year winners announced

Posted by: Julia Swan

Congratulations to the 2008 winners of the Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition.

While each of the selected finalists took remarkable photographs, I am most intrigued by the "Ten years and younger" category. This photo by an Italian boy named Alessandro Oggioni , for example, is quite impressive for such a young lad:

To see who won the overall award and was named the Wildlife Photographer of the Year, click here.

Check out photos from Bug Blast

This years' Bug Blast was a huge success! Over 1,200 people attended the event, making it the most visited Bug Blast to date. Thanks to all those who took part in the festivities, especially those brave enough to sample the cooked bugs.

Mummies, pumpkins, and more Halloween fun!

Posted by Julia Swan

This weekend is full of Halloween-themed fun events in Seattle. To name a few:

On Sunday, Mysteries of Ancient Egypt Family Day here at the Burke features Seattle's only real Egyptian mummy. Learn about Egyptian funerary practices and try your hand at some fun mummy-themed activities (including making your own mummy Trick-or-Treat bag)

Then, if you're looking to top off the night with another spooky adventure, check out the Woodland Park Zoo's annual Pumpkin Prowl!

Happy Haunting!

Photo (left) courtesy of Seattle Times

Mysteries of Ancient Egypt

Guest Writer: Allison Deep, Archaeology Collections Assistant, Burke Museum

After a four year absence from public view, Seattle’s only Egyptian mummy, nicknamed Nellie, will make her way to the Burke Room for Mysteries of Ancient Egypt. As the archaeology collections assistant, I have been working behind the scenes to prepare the mummy, Egyptian coffin, canopic jar, shabtis, bird mummies and other interesting ancient Egyptian artifacts that will make a rare appearance this weekend. During this preparation time, I have learned a lot about Nellie and her 106-year history at the Burke.

Did you know that the mummy has an extra pair of feet? Or that the coffin does not belong to her? The mummy’s actual feet were removed some time after 1902 and were replaced with one real mummified foot from a male, and a cast of a foot. The coffin originally belonged to a male individual who lived 1,000 years before Nellie. The mummy and coffin are mismatched because the UW regent who bought them for the Burke in 1902 chose the best coffin and the best mummy from the National Museum of Egyptian Antiquities in Cairo. To me, the most interesting things about the coffin are the 3,000-year-old fingerprints in the varnish, and the discovery of an eyelash stuck in the paint.

The coffin and mummy will be displayed in their custom-made storage and display case made of stainless steel and UV-filtered laminated glass with fiber optic lighting. The UV-filtered glass and fiber optic lighting in the upper compartment protect the coffin from fading and deterioration. This compartment is also fitted with a passive air filtration system that regulates the relative humidity and air quality to prevent deterioration. The mummy’s lower compartment has separate environmental controls to help preserve its fragile linen wrappings and painted cartonnage, or mask.


To learn more about the Burke’s archaeology collections beyond Egypt, visit our page at http://www.washington.edu/burkemuseum/collections/archaeology/index.php.


Photos: (Left) This is a shabti, or funerary figurine, made of faience, a type of ceramic made from crushed minerals.

(Right) This is the custom-made case with the coffin (upper) and mummy (lower). (from Reverent Remembrance exhibit, 2004)

The 411 on Burke 101

Guest writer: Laura Crisp

For those of you who don’t know, the museum’s Burke 101 program is back after a summer hiatus! My name is Laura Crisp and I am a second-year student in the Museology graduate program at the UW. This quarter I am thrilled to be taking “Native Art of the Pacific Northwest” from Professor (and Burke Curator) Dr. Robin Wright, and I am participating in the Burke 101 course teaching visitors about Northwest native art.

Burke 101 provides UW students with a unique opportunity to develop and present informal education programs for visitors in the Burke galleries. If you come see us in the galleries, you will be able to touch authentic Native objects, do hands-on activities, or even just have a conversation about Native art and culture. The students in Burke 101 really enjoy talking with visitors and we love being able to teach and learn from you! If this sounds like something you are interested in, please see our Web site for the schedule and for more information about the Burke 101 program, http://www.washington.edu/burkemuseum/events/burke.php.

As the quarter progresses, I will be posting on the Burke blog again to report back about our gallery sessions… I hope you come check us out in the galleries! Here’s a fun fact to entice you: Native peoples used to make their diapers out of cedar bark… can you imagine the labor that must have gone into that? Think about that the next time you pass the diaper aisle at the grocery store!

Photo by Storms PhotoGraphic

What Can Lucy Teach Us?

Posted by Karin Hoffman

The west coast premiere of Lucy’s Legacy: The Hidden Treasures of Ethiopia is at Pacific Science Center now through March 8, 2009. Come face-to-face with the world’s most famous fossil Lucy, a 3.2-million-year-old Australopithecus afarensis (say that three times fast), an ancestor to humans in the course of evolution. Through the display of over 100 artifacts spanning over 200,000 years, visitors can experience Ethiopia, Lucy's homeland.

The Burke Museum is hosting a series of lectures that take an in-depth look at human evolution, forensic anthropology and the challenges of fossil conservation. The series culminates in a not-to-be-missed lecture to be given by Dr. Donald Johanson, the scientist who discovered Lucy in 1974.

The first lecture is this coming Thursday, October 16 at 7 pm. Dr. Mark Collard’s talk titled “From Lucy to lactose: The Evolution of Human Adaptation” will discuss how humans have evolved and adapted to a changing world from the emergence of the hominid lineage to the present day.

Tickets are still available for this and other talks in this series. All lectures are held at the Pacific Science Center, Eames Auditorium, with the exception of Dr. Johanson’s lecture, which will be held at UW’s Kane Hall. You can purchase tickets through the Pacific Science Center in person, by calling 1-888-772-8491, or online. Burke Member prices range from free to $10 (plus service charges). For more information visit our Web site.

Here’s a little tease for upcoming lectures:

November 13, 2008: Dr. Katherine Taylor – “Looking Through Time: How modern methods are shedding new light on old bones”

December 11, 2008: Drs. Nancy Odegaard and Vicki Cassman – “Travels with Lucy-or how to pack when you’re over 3 million years old”

January 8, 2009: Dr. Patricia Kramer – “Lucy Walks: Functional morphology and the evolution of bipedalism”

February 5, 2009: Dr. Donald Johanson – “Lucy’s Legacy”

UW Remains a Leader in Sustainability

Posted by Karin Hoffman

The College Sustainability Report Card, published by the Sustainable Endowments Institute, awarded the UW an A- for the second year in a row, recognizing it as one of the top 15 universities in the nation committed to sustainability practices. The Princeton Review also recognized the UW for its efforts, naming it as one of ten universities on its’ Green Rating Honor Roll.

Below are some of the ways in which the UW was successful in devising sustainable practices:

- The UW purchases electricity from 100% renewable resources and has teamed up with Seattle City Light by installing solar arrays on Merrill Hall and the Mechanical Engineering Building. By employing energy conservation projects, the UW saves over 43 million kilowatt-hours per year.

- The UW has declared that all state-funded new building and major renovations will be, at a minimum, LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Silver-certified. This approach focuses on sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection and indoor environmental quality.

- In addition to supporting the UPASS program, which encourages students, staff, and faculty to use alternative transportation, the UW maintains a fleet of over 300 alternative-fuel, hybrid, and electric vehicles.

- 26 percent of the 2007 food services budget was spent on locally produced, organic, and natural foods. By installing receptacles for the composting of postconsumer food waste and offering compostable dishware, the UW is working towards a goal of zero waste.

Thanks to the students, faculty and staff in continuing to help the UW reach these sustainability goals. Check out the Environmental Sustainability Web site for more information about the UW’s commitment to sustainability.

Photos: (Left) Merrill Hall, which houses the Center for Urban Horticulture, is one of the first buildings in Seattle to be considered “green.”

I really did get my picture taken with a giant polar bear!

Check out photos from After Hours at the Burke, including photos with Snowflake the giant polar bear, the UW's Polar Science Center, and more:

How do you create an ofrenda for Day of the Dead?

Posted by: Julia Swan

Artist Isaac Hernàndez Ruiz was in the Pacific Voices gallery at the Burke Museum all last Friday installing an altar or ofrenda (offering), in honor of Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead). Day of the Dead is a Mexican holiday celebrating and remembering loved ones who have passed away. As Ruiz puts it, "For Mexican people, Día de los Muertos is the union of our past with our present and is a vital part of our identity as a culture."

The ofrenda is designed to offer food, drink, flowers, sweets, candles, and other everyday objects to the deceased and is based on the belief that these objects will help the departed continue their life after death.

So, how does one go about assembling this altar? Isaac was kind enough to let me snap some photos of him as he worked throughout the day.

Step One: Arrange the flowers. Flowers symbolize the brevity of life. The traditional type of flower found on the ofrenda is the marigold, known as the “flower of the dead.” The flowers’ scent helps the souls find their way home.
Step Two: Decorate the altar with candles, foods, toys, and other items. Candy skulls are a popular offering, especially to children.
Step Three: Begin the sand painting. Sand painting is a common practice during Día de los Muertos. These paintings decorate the street during the celebration but are later swept away, symbolizing the fleeting nature of life.
Step Four: Add color to the sand painting.

Done!

Isaac’s altar will be on view at the Burke through November 30.