"Immigrants," a new exhibit at the Nordic Heritage Museum features the art of 80 graphic workshop artists from the island of Funen in Denmark.

The artists use woodcut, Intaglio methods and lithography to illustrate the theme of immigration.

Representative, figurative and abstract styles are represented in the exhibit that is running through March 25.

The theme of the show is described by the museum as "the experience of constantly crossing and transcending borders physically and mentally. Encompassing a large number of artworks the exhibition confronts the viewer with the struggle that constantly roams within the immigrant: the perpetual tension between preserving your heritage and assimilating to a new society, and the many ways of dealing with this tension."

Louise Joshua-Ladberg, the public relations and marketing coordinator for the Nordic Heritage Museum said the museum tries to connect the heritages of the immigrant Nordic communities to the Nordic countries of today.

The United States has debated the immigration issue since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Concerns about securing the nation's borders has led to fences along the Mexican border, sending the National Guard to monitor for illegal immigrants and calls for Congress to change immigration laws.

John Mark Nelson, executive director of The Danish Immigrant Museum said, "inevitably we human beings will attempt to give meaning to this experience through our stories and our art."

Two prints were shipped over for the exhibit. Approximately 150 will be on display and all the Funen Graphic Workshop's artists will be represented.

Painter and printmaker Ole Lejbach came to the Seattle with sculpture Steffan Herrik to hang the prints.

"A lot of people have stories," said Lejbach. The Funen artists are telling those stories through family history, overall perspectives, politics and other immigration themes.