The Burke Museum opened its doors last weekend with a new opportunity to offer the UW community: a chance to learn more about American Indian ancestry.

In the Spirit of the Ancestors: Contemporary Northwest Coast Art draws together a wide range of new artwork from Native artists and will run through the summer.

"This is the first exhibit of contemporary northwest coast native art from the Burke Museum's permanent collection that features the full range of media: prints, collages, masks, drums, rattles, basketry, wood, argillite,glass and new media sculpture," said Robin Wright, curator of American Indian art at the Burke.

The exhibit includes works by a large number of artists; 70 of the works of art are as recent as 1985 and later.

These artworks are from the 20th and 21st centuries and are all from the Burke Museum's own collection.

"There are 64 artists represented in the selection ranging from extremely well known artists ... to artists who are less well known," Wright said.

Wright worked with curator Bill Holm and native artists Susan Point and Shaun Peterson to put together the show, said Rebecca Durkin, public relations assistant at the Burke.

"The diverse backgrounds and large age-range of the four curators brought different perspectives on what the word 'contemporary' means for native art, making it a challenge to select appropriate pieces among the thousands of options from the Burke's collection," Durkin said.

This exhibit is partially in response to a book published by Holm, titled Spirit and Ancestor: A Century of Northwest Coast Art at the Burke.

"The majority of our contemporary collection was produced and acquired by the Burke Museum since that year," Wright said."So it made sense to follow on the precedent set by Holm's book."

The book, published in 1985, commented on 100 works of art from the Burke's collection. Now In the Spirit of the Ancestors picks up where Holm left off, with a new group of artists and ideas.

Not only are the processes used in creating these works contemporary, some of the ideas are as well.

A collage by Roger Fernandes shows traditional tribal motifs juxtaposed with images of gambling, cigarettes and fireworks.

"This collage asks a contemporary question about our relationship with the spirit world in the new casino economy of several local tribes," Fernandes said in his artist's statement. "Has this new economy separated us from the spirits and ancestors to whom money means nothing?"

A complementary exhibit of photography called Our People, Our Land, Our Images broadens the scope of native to include indigenous people from Canada, Peru and New Zealand as well as America.

These photos are both old and contemporary and the exhibit includes everything from new experimental works to old studio photos taken from as early as 1902. This show demonstrates a range of styles and time periods to give the viewer a diverse portrait of what it means to be native.

Peterson, also a curator of this exhibit, said, "We must apply ourselves to make works that build upon our ancestors creations and do not merely imitate them."

Reach reporter Sarah Greenleaf at news@thedaily.washington.edu.