This weekend: Northwest Native Arts Market and Festival in Tacoma

Our friends at the Washington State History Museum have organized a Northwest Native Arts Market and Festival and it's happening this Saturday and Sunday (Aug. 8-9) in Tacoma at the History Museum.

The Market & Festival will feature a variety of Native American artisans selling their wares and offering live art demonstrations. Visitors can also take in Native American culture by watching live performances by local Native dancers, musicians and storytellers, and sampling Native American foods from Whitefoot Fish Company. Cool off inside the Museum and catch Mark Celletti’s documentary “Canoe Way: The Sacred Journey,” a 54-minute documentary on the resurgence of cedar canoe societies. Artists will be providing “Gallery Talks”, an opportunity for guests to learn more about their favorite artwork from In the Spirit: Contemporary Northwest Native Arts Exhibit. Every 15 minutes starting at 1 p.m. on Saturday, artists will take turns talking about their artwork. Gallery Talks schedule will be provided to patrons of the Festival upon arrival.

Go check it out!

Ikebana (Japanese flower arranging) photos

This past Saturday, the Seattle Branch of the Sogetsu School of Ikebana was at the Burke Museum demonstrating Ikebana, or the Japanese art of flower arrangement. These photos from the afternoon show off some of the beautiful work done by Aiko Ii, who has been teaching Ikebana in Seattle since 1956. A representative from the local Japanese Consulate were also here most of the day, watching the demonstrations.

Local artists invited to submit to Puget Sound, I Love You contest

As a natural history and culture museum, the Burke values art as much as we value our local environment. So I was pleased to hear about this contest, which helps connect the two. From the folks at People For Puget Sound and the La Conner Seaside Gallery:

People For Puget Sound and the La Conner Seaside Gallery invite local artists to enter the Puget Sound—I Love You art contest and to have their entries exhibited at Seaside Gallery June 6-15.
The contest welcomes entries in photography, painting and sculpture depicting activities related to actions protecting and restoring Puget Sound.

Entries will be judged by a regional panel and entries will be exhibited during a two-week Puget Sound—I Love You celebration at the La Conner Seaside Gallery. Entries can be submitted through May at locations in Olympia, Seattle and Mount Vernon.

“It’s exciting for People For Puget Sound to be organizing a regional art contest for citizens to share what they love about Puget Sound and individual actions they are taking to restore Puget Sound,” said Britta Eschete of People For Puget Sound.

“The months of April and May are filled with community opportunities—but you don’t even have to travel out of your own backyard to participate. Everywhere in Puget Sound is connected to Puget Sound, so share what you are doing—along the water’s edge or in your garden— to ‘Save Our Sound.’”

According to Jana Turner, volunteer art contest organizer, “This art contest is an opportunity to showcase this beautiful area we live in, while helping people understand how we as a conscious community can make a difference to help the Orca whales and the Sound.”

"The dynamics of the Puget Sound ecosystem has played an important role in my life,” said Mark Conley of the La Conner Seaside Gallery. “I have enjoyed scuba diving and many wonderful family activities in and around the Sound. I am pleased to be a sponsor of this year's benefit art exhibit and to help further the efforts of People For Puget Sound."

Complete entry rules and event information are at www.pugetsound.org/events/iloveps

Burke collections enhanced by community support

Posted by: Karin Hoffman, Communications

Are you a lover of Washington plants and lichens? Do you love to take pictures? Do you love taking pictures of plants? If you answered yes to any of these questions, then check out this fabulous Burke herbarium Web site where you can contribute your own photos and share botanical knowledge with the world!

The Burke Museum’s WTU Image Collection Web site is truly a resource that has been built by the community. According to Richard Olmstead, curator of botany at the Burke Museum, “this kind of access enhances the value of our collections and gets the public involved in a way that is different from most of our other outreach efforts.”

Thanks to all who have contributed to the Web-based herbarium collection at the Burke! And a special thanks to David Giblin, herbarium collections manager and Ben Legler for creating an open forum for community participation.

Lilium columbianum, Columbian lily. Photo taken by Tim Hagan, 2004.

Earth Day!

Posted by: Sarah Tollefson, Operations Manager (and Burke Sustainability Action Committee chairwoman)

Every day is earth day, but the official 39th annual Earth Day is coming soon on Wednesday April 22nd, 2009. The Burke Museum challenges you to do one green thing and make it part of your daily life.

There are many fabulous happenings all over town this weekend as well as on the day proper. You can get out and active with a work party in the Arboretum and Climate Day for Kids at the Olympic Sculpture Park. Or, enrich yourself sedentarily with all-day environmental programming on UWTV.

On the UW campus, the Earth Day Melange is on Wednesday the 22nd. The UW Green Coalition, a network of environmental student groups at the UW, is organizing the main celebration on campus.

• 10am-2pm – Fair on the Hub Lawn: Free food, music, booths, green art gallery, electric car.

• 10am-2pm – Electric Car Show in Red Square: Display provided by Seattle Electric Vehicle Association.

• 3-5pm – Social at the Waterfront Activities Center: Connect with fellow environmentally-minded people and enjoy free food.

• 6pm – Guest Speaker & Film in Odegaard 220: Jerry Heinlen CEO of Yakima Products, Inc., followed by a screening of The 11th Hour.

More Earth Day happenings:

• via Grist magazine: http://www.grist.org/article/2009-03-15-celebrate-earth-week-seattle/

• via WA Dept of Ecology: http://www.ecy.wa.gov/earthday/2009events.htm

• via Earth Share: http://www.esw.org/event/2009/04/18/day/all/all/1

Happy Earth Everybody!

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”

Community partners: gotta recognize!

Posted by: Julia Swan

As we prepare to open Arctic Wings: Miracle of Migration (more on that exhibit later) and continue to show The Last Polar Bear: Facing the Truth of a Warming World, I find myself very grateful for the organizations that have become community partners with the Burke for these two wildlife photography exhibits.

Community partners do a lot for the museum and are always very gracious about spreading the word to their own audiences about Burke exhibits and programs. I know I speak for my colleagues when I say that working with community partners is always a pleasure. To that end, I find it appropriate to recognize our community partners for both Arctic Wings and The Last Polar Bear:

Alaska Coalition of Washington
UW Botanic Gardens
Alaska Wilderness League
EarthCorps
Eastside Audubon
Federation of Western Outdoor Clubs
King County Library System
Museum of History and Industry
Mountains to Sound Greenway Trust
National Parks Conservation Association- NW Region
North Cascades Conservation Council
National Wildlife Foundation (Western Region)
North Cascades Institute
Seattle Climate Action Now
Seattle Audubon Society
Sierra Club
Tahoma Audubon Society
Tacoma Photographic Society
Washington Alpine Club
Washington Environmental Council
Washington Wilderness Coalition

If you visit the museum you will be able to pick up more information about most of these fabulous organizations. Thanks again partners!