CALGARY.- Come see one of Glenbow Museum’s most powerful exhibitions yet. Its new exhibit Honouring Tradition: Reframing Native Art. This is a history-making exhibit for the museum, marks the first time Glenbow has shown traditional and contemporary Native art, side-by-side, on such a large scale.

Witness a breathtaking display of over 200 colourful objects. Traditional beaded shirts, moccasins and birchbark baskets are displayed alongside artwork made by some of your favorite contemporary Native artists including Jane Ash Poitras, Alex Janvier, Allen Sapp and Joane Cardinal-Schubert. Honouring Tradition encourages past and present to interact and challenges views that define historical art pieces as separate from contemporary Aboriginal art.

“There are so many ‘wow’ moments in this exhibition,” said one of the exhibit’s four curators, Glenbow’s Beth Carter. “In each of the four galleries there is so much to marvel at. In one, 18 pairs of intricately beaded moccasins are laid in a row for visitors to enjoy up close and personal. In another gallery, you will find Wally Dion’s Starblanket. From afar, it appears to be a traditional blanket, but upon closer inspection you see it is made from recycled computer circuit boards. It truly takes your breath away.”

Glenbow collaborated with Aboriginal artist Frederick McDonald to create this exhibition. With his help, beautiful artworks were selected from Glenbow’s powerful collection. The selected pieces honour the importance of community, the connection to land and place and the tradition of storytelling.

“In our time of mass production, it is special to see things that were lovingly made – one piece at a time,” said artist and Honouring Tradition guest curator Frederick McDonald. “These pieces tell stories and it is our duty to let them speak.”

Tracing History: Presenting the Unpresentable (February 16 – June 22) is a complimentary exhibit featuring four contemporary Aboriginal artists: Tanya Harnett, Faye HeavyShield, Terrance Houle and Adrian Stimson. These artists explored Glenbow’s collections and responded with their own new work. The result is an exhibition showcasing contemporary Aboriginal perspectives on the museum’s collections that have traditionally been interpreted by non-Aboriginal curators, collectors and writers. Their new works speak to a sense of history that shifts between truth and fact, past and present, right and wrong.

‘”Both exhibitions highlight the significant place Aboriginal people have in Canadian art history, culture and identity,” said Glenbow’s art curator Quyen Hoang. “We need to recognize this history in order to fully appreciate what it means to be Canadian.”

Honouring Tradition: Reframing Native Art opens to the public on Saturday, February 16th and runs until July 13th.

“It is our hope that those who experience this art will acquire a new or a renewed appreciation for the multifaceted nature of these works,” said Glenbow’s director of curators Gerry Conaty. “All the works are about survival, resistance, pride and identity. There are links to the distant past as well as to the future.”