What do you want to protect? Conservation Candids

Nature photos are beautiful and inspiring. They also make us think twice about the world around us – and what we stand to lose if we don't protect the places that matter to us.

From the bird’s nest in your backyard to that spot on the hiking trail where you feel totally alone… from the tiny park down the block to a tree frog half a world away… what matters to you?

Conservation Candids
The 75 images in our International Conservation Photography (ICP) Awards exhibit recognize excellence in conservation photography, but we know the desire to capture beautiful moments in the natural world extends far beyond this exhibit (and our limited wall space!).

Photos from Bug Blast

Bug Blast this past Sunday was a smashing hit. The galleries were buzzing with kids and adults alike hoping to get their chance to hold a tarantula or pet a hissing cockroach and performances by the Bug Chef and Bee Boppin' Bugs singer Nancy Stewart were packed. The wonderful Lora Shinn took photos. To view all event photos, click here, but here are a few favorites:

Next up on the family event calendar: Ice Age Archaeology Day!

Mushroom Maynia

This past Sunday, the Burke Museum hosted the third annual Mushroom Maynia event. Fungi was the star of the day, with many activities that paid tribute to the roles mushrooms play in ecosystems, cultures and art. Mushroom Maynia attendees learned about mushrooms that are in the Burke Museum’s collections, as well as how to “hunt” for wild mushrooms. Visitors of all ages also got their faces painted, made mushroom crafts, and ate some delicious fungi treats!

Thanks to all who attended or helped make this third Mushroom Maynia a fun and memorable day!

Posted By: Andrea Barber, Communications

Your local museum: coming to a pub near you?

It’s been six months since the first “Burke Museum Trivia Night” at the College Inn Pub and so far it has proven to be a great way to connect the museum to new audiences and inspire a sense of excitement about the natural and cultural world amongst the people who come to the bar to play trivia. Tonight at 8 pm we go at it again, with a fresh batch of questions based on subjects related to the museum’s collections, exhibits, or programs.

Not sure if a natural history-themed trivia night is for you? Here’s a sampling of some of my favorite questions from past Burke Trivia Night events:

* What is the official Washington State flower?
* In 1962, Rachel Carson published Silent Spring, a book that prompted the United States government to ban the use of which pesticide?
* What is the name of the branch of biology that studies fish?
* Which former Seattleite hosted a show on PBS in the 90s teaching kids about science?
* In which country was the coffee plant first discovered?
* One tradition of the Mexican holiday Day of the Dead is to decorate skulls in honor of a deceased loved one. What is the edible substance used to make these skulls?

Still not convinced? Here’s a slide show of pictures from last month’s event – everyone had a great time!

Photos by Andrew Waits.

NOTE: The Burke Museum isn’t the only museum in town heading to the local pub to experiment with new forms of museum outreach: The Museum of History and Industry (MOHAI) has been contributing to quiz nights all over town for the past several months. Other local museums are catering to the twenty and thirty-something crowd by holding late-night events in the museum, such as Seattle Art Museum’s SAM Remix and Pacific Science Center’s Science With A Twist. These programs are all great ways to experience local museums in a new light!

Posted by: Julia Swan, Communications

Behind the scenes with Ray Troll

Ever painted a giant T-Rex onto a wall? I have! With expert instruction from celebrated Alaskan artist Ray Troll, a group of volunteers came together this week in a make-shift studio down in Magnuson Park to paint five large wall murals for the upcoming Burke exhibit Cruisin’ the Fossil Freeway, featuring Troll’s latest work.

Troll has hunkered down in Seattle for the past two weeks to create these murals showcasing some of his favorite subjects: dinosaurs, killer pigs, hamburgers, and giant ammonites. The fantastical murals will ultimately hang in the gallery alongside dozens of actual fossils from the Burke’s own paleontology collections beginning December 19th --when the exhibit opens.

The Burke Museum is partnering with Ray Troll and Seattle-born paleontologist Kirk Johnson (who together wrote a book called Cruisin' the Fossil Freeway) to present this new exhibit exploring the abundance of fossils in our midst - and specifically in Washington State - and how fossils shed light on Earth’s past.

As you can see, Ray Troll’s recent “art happening” was both fun and productive:

Ray's team of friends and volunteers worked tirelessly to produce large mural reproductions, such as "Sleeping with the Ichthyosaurs"

Ray Troll grabs a paintbrush for some detail work on "Night of the Ammonites"

Once finished, these murals will hang in the Cruisin' the Fossil Freeway gallery alongside real fossils

I'm not the only one who learned to paint with Ray. Burke Museum director Julie Stein also jumped at the chance to pick up a paint brush. When I asked her how it went, she told me, "My friend Edie and I were afraid we would paint outside the lines. Ray showed us how he adds highlights and we discussed how he comes up with these ideas (he dreams about them!). This was very fun!"

P.S. - Mark your calendars for opening day of Cruisin’ the Fossil Freeway Saturday, December 19, when Ray will be on hand to give tours of the exhibit.

Posted by: MaryAnn Barron Wagner, Communications

Story of a pole raising

On the afternoon of September 23, a crowd of at least 100 people crammed into the lobby of the UW Tower for a very special celebration. The festivities were surrounding the Burke Museum’s recently acquired totem pole, carved by well-known Tsimshian artist David Boxley, and we were proud and excited to raise the pole in the University of Washington Tower for those who pass through that building to enjoy.

There is a nice story behind how the Burke acquired this pole: in the late 1990s, Warren and Ellie Guntheroth (Warren is a physician at the UW) commissioned David Boxley to carve a pole for their home, partially in memorial to their Siberian Husky, Sasha. The pole was dedicated at the Guntheroth home in 1999. When Ellie passed away a few years ago, Warren decided the pole needed to be moved to a place where future generations could enjoy it, as he and his wife had, and generously donated the pole to the Burke Museum.

The pole, as it stood outside the Guntheroth's home:

As the pole had been standing outdoors for ten years, it required some touchup work by David before it could be reinstalled at the university:

Then, a rededication ceremony helped introduce the pole to its new home: the UW Tower lobby. The unveiling of the pole itself was very exciting and dramatic!

Following the unveiling, David and his friends in the Git-hoan (People of the Salmon) Dance Group treated the crowd to several dance numbers, many written by David himself.

Their performance was a great reminder of the living culture that thrives in Native communities, like the Tsimshian, today. In the words of David, “The traditions are ours, but there needs to be a witness.” Now, for as long as the pole remains in the UW Tower, all people who pass by it will be the witnesses to a beautiful work of art, and to one piece of the Tsimshian tradition.

The artist, David Boxley, speaks about his culture and his craft.

Saber teeth, killer pigs, ancient fish, oh my!

Although it doesn't open for another four months, many of us here at the Burke are already quite busy preparing for the next major exhibition, Cruisin' the Fossil Freeway. Read all about the exhibition, which combines whimsical artwork by Ray Troll with real fossils from the Burke's collection to answer (and ask!) questions about evolution, extinction, and geologic time.

I'm quite excited about the fact that several of the fossil specimens that will be on display in this exhibit have never before been exhibited to the public. Some of these fossils are among the best in our entire paleontology collection! For example:

Hoplophoneus, an Oligocene-era saber-toothed cat

Entelodont, an omnivorous pig-like mammal, also from the Oligocene

Many ancient fish, like this one, millions of years old

I realize its not every job that requires you to set up a fossil photo shoot, but really, it was just another day at the natural history museum!

Posted by: Julia Swan, Communications

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.

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.

Woah, Dinos!

Dino Day 09 was a smashing success. Over 3,000 people poured into the Burke last Saturday afternoon to get a taste for some of greatest paleontological wonders in the museum's collection. As evidenced in the slide show of pictures below, everybody who came had a blast!

All photos by Lora Shinn.

Artifact ID Day photos

Posted by: Julia Swan, Communications

This past Saturday, I attended Artifact ID Day in the Burke Room. Curators, collections managers, and volunteers from our ethnology, geology, and archaeology divisions gathered for the afternoon to respond to some 200 people looking to have their unknown artifacts identified.

I took photos of some of the most interesting objects I saw, including a bone mug, an Alaskan mask, and lots of baskets and pottery.

Did you miss Artifact ID Day this year? Read this blog entry with tips for getting your object identified by our staff.

Mysteries of ancient Egypt revealed!

Two weekends ago, over 750 people came to the Burke to see "Nellie," the Egyptian mummy, and other artifacts that collectively told the story of ancient Egyptian funerary practices. The photographs below help capture the spirit of wonder and intrigue that I sensed from many of the visitors. Enjoy the slide show and happy Friday!

Photos by Andrew Curtis.

Chocolate Fair photos

As a favorite event during the UW's Dawg Daze orientation week, the Chocolate Fair welcomes new students to the Burke Museum every fall. It was a lot of to see 984 UW students come to the museum to dip into our chocolate fountain and learn a little something about the 12 million objects at the Burke.

Junior paleontologists discover dinos

Posted by: Keely Gangy

From June 23 - June 27 a dozen Junior Paleontologists were hosted by the Burke Museum for a week of Dinos Summer Camp! They adventured back in time, exploring the dinosaurs and their environment.

Parents and friends joined the campers for a party on the last day. They came to admire the campers' marvels from throughout the week. Below is a slide show the campers created telling the story of dinosaurs:

For more information on upcoming Burke Summer Camps, see here.

- Keely

Back in action!

The Burke Blog took a brief hiatus to prepare for the grand opening of The Last Polar Bear: Facing the Truth of a Warming World. This is a great new exhibit up now at the Burke Museum and doesn't close until December 31, 2008. Excerpts from the show are here:

All photos by Seattle photographer Steven Kazlowski.

Taking a look Behind the Scenes of the Burke

Posted by: Julia Swan

If you attended Members' Behind the Scenes night last week (or even if you didn't!), check out the photos from the evening. It was a lot of fun! I had the honor of following around our wonderful photographer, which was great, because I got to see just about everything that was going on.

If you see a photo of yourself or someone in your family, please email me at burkepr@u.washington.edu, and I'll send you a copy!

- Julia

All photographs are courtesy Storms PhotoGraphic.