Burke Museum

10/16/2026

10/15/2026

"My name is Pablo Diaz Hernandez and I am an artist.

The masks I worked on during my time in the Artist Studio are related to the participants who helped us create them, and are based on the recycling of materials we use today in our daily lives. Nowadays, we see museums as places where culture is cared for and preserved.

We need to learn that museums are for experiencing other realities but also to learn from them and apply those teachings to our daily rituals. All the objects that you as an individual have ever touched or that have belonged to you are going to remain on this planet we call home. Owning the impact that we have in the daily choices of trashing or upcycling the stuff we use has a several power on how we approach things and it is its real value.

Visitors were part of this immersive and interactive experience that disrupted the space with some destroying some hand-marbled paper to create some masks in situ. In the process, interesting things happened. Many reckless kids, anthropologists, and visitors were very welcomed to participate in the activity. Masks in the communities they came from represent a vínculo con lo sagrado, una participación de otra entidad cuya naturaleza no conocemos. Es conocer la otredad de un ser que habita este plano en el mismo momento que yo.

I feel deep appreciation for my time at the Burke—being able to witness my ancestors' creations in person" - Pablo Diaz

10/13/2026

FREE Admission this Saturday for our Indigenous Peoples' Day celebration!

Activities include an Ancestral Wabanaki procupine quill earring-making demonstration and a performance by WestShore Canoe Family!

Celebrate Indigenous Peoples' Day at the Burke Museum.

10/09/2026

Your birth month ✨ = your bat 🦇

These photos come from the field work of Burke curator of mammalogy Sharlene Santana and students in her lab.

This slide shows a Northern little yellow-eared bat (Vampyressa thyone). They’re tiny fruit-eaters with big personalities. Despite the name they’re not vampires. They feed on figs and other fruits. - Photo and description by Andrea Bernal Rivera

10/04/2026

Coming up SOON! On Tues, Oct 13 at the Burke Museum, Tlingit artist and longtime BHC collaborator Alison Bremner will share her new presentation, "What Do I Do With My Hands?" The talk will feature a look back on past works and inspirations and current and future projects for what she calls "the closest I will ever get to a studio visit." To register follow link below - we hope to see you there!

Image: Alison Bremner, Untitled, 8' x 8' acrylic on plywood, 2026. Courtesy of the artist.

Alison Bremner "What Do I Do With My Hands?"
Tuesday, October 13
Cascade Room, Burke Museum
FREE and open to the public
Registration here: https://visit.burkemuseum.org/53/3196?_ga=2.133812554.513901900.1790987079-1965048091.1790987079

10/01/2026

We sat down with Burke fossil prep lab manager, Kelsie Abrams, to answer questions about paleontology. Kelsie has been our fossil lab manager for the past eight years, has led dinosaur digs for 16 years, and has prepared hundreds of fossils.

Do you have more questions about paleontology? Let us know!

09/28/2026

Here's a longer look at some of the baskets from our recent video! Our included labels show the name of the maker when known, the culture of origin, the materials used, and the time period in which the basket was made.

Our basket collections were started when the museum was founded in 1885. Today, the collections hold more than 10,000 woven belongings, including containers, fans, mats, fish traps, and even giant body masks. The collections cover the Americas, Africa, Asia, and Oceania.

We host community members, artists, weavers, and researchers to study and visit the basketry collections.

09/25/2026

This fossil was found by Burke research associate and Hell Creek Project collections manager, David DeMar Jr. It is on display right here in the museum. You can find it in our "Drama at the K-Pg" display, part of the Fossils Uncovered gallery.

This specimen and its interpretation were published in "Current Biology" this month in an article titled "Bird feathers from a Late Cretaceous coprolite."

Photo and art credits:
Slide 1 - O'Connor et al.
Slide 2 - David DeMar Jr.
Slide 3 - O'Connor et al.
Slide 4 - Andrey Atuchin

Congratulations to everyone involved:
Jingmai O’Connor (Field Museum), David DeMar Jr. (Burke
Museum of Natural History and Culture/University of Washington), Nathan Carroll (Carter
County Museum), Karen Chin (University of Colorado, Boulder), Michael Holland (Burke
Museum of Natural History and Culture/University of Washington), Alex Clark (Field Museum
and University of Chicago), Christian Cooper (Field Museum), Pei-Chen Kuo (Institute of
Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences), Thomas Tobin
(University of Alabama), Aaron Celestian (Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County),
David Bottjer (University of Southern California), Luis Chiappe (Natural History Museum of
Los Angeles County), and Gregory Wilson Mantilla (Burke Museum of Natural History and
Culture, University of Washington).

09/24/2026

Join us next week for an author talk discussing Ts’msyen foodways! Tickets below.

Gyetk (pronounced gy-e-tk and meaning “to feed the people”) immerses readers into the rich food traditions, knowledge, and relationships that have sustained the Ts’msyen (Tsimshian) people for millennia along the Pacific Northwest Coast. Drawing from the authors’ lived experiences practicing a land-based lifestyle, as well as their backgrounds in Indigenous food sovereignty, health and well-being, and cultural research, Gyetk weaves together modern culinary fusion, traditional knowledge, and scholarly insight.

Join authors Spencer Greening and Rachel Greening for a discussion of their new book.