The University of Alaska Museum's collection of Alaskan art ranges from two-thousand-year-old ivory carvings to paintings done in the 1990s. Looking North presents 138 of the Museum's most treasured works from the archaeology, ethnology, and fine arts collections. Among them are ancient artifacts as well as nineteenth- and twentieth-century artworks by Athabaskan, Aleut, Yupik, Inupiat, Haida, Tlingit, and other Alaska Natives.

Historical painting is represented by the canvases of well-known artists such as Sydney Laurence, Rockwell Kent, and Henry Wood Elliott. Works by George Aghupuk and Florence Malewotkuk are among the Eskimo drawings and watercolors included. Images by James H. Barker and others present Alaska through photographs. Color illustrations of the artworks are accompanied by a lively dialogue among ten experts (both Native and non-Native) including artists, university faculty, and museum staff.