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When Native American clothes, war clubs and masks are displayed in museums, they are usually grouped in categories drawn from anthropology and archaeology.

While this makes items easy to group together — by period, function or material from which they are made — it also makes their value as individual artwork hard to see.

In "Shapeshifting: Transformations in Native American Art," which opens tomorrow, the Peabody Essex Museum has organized a show of indigenous artwork according to a concept common to many Native American cultures.

Shape-shifting describes a metamorphosis from human into animal form. In the context of this show, it focuses on Native American art as dynamic and various, constantly renewing its materials and messages.

"We've embraced this concept because we really want to invite and incite actual changes in the perception and appreciation of Native American art and culture," said Lynda Hartigan, the James B. and Mary Lou Hawkes chief curator at the museum.

Source: The Daily News of Newburyport

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