MUSEUMS

BURKE MUSEUM
Toi Maori: The Eternal Thread presents nearly 100 examples of the women-only art form of Maori weaving. Through May 29. NE 45th St and 17th Ave NE, 543-5590.

FRYE ART MUSEUM
A big, handsome specimen of a show, Architecture of Absence is the first North American retrospective for German photographer Candida Höfer, the senior (and somewhat overlooked) member of the Becher school of photographers including Andreas Gursky and Thomas Struth. In spite of the show's title, her architectural interiors are packed with presence. Through April 16. Spectatorship and Desire—Part 1: Lust is the salon rehanging of Charles and Emma Frye's historic painting collection. Through Feb 26. Final week. Also on display are Acting Out: Claude Cahun and Marcel Moore and Tracy + the Plastics 101. Through Feb 12. One night only: Tracy + the Plastics Live Fri Feb 10, 8 pm. 704 Terry Ave, 622-9250.

HENRY ART GALLERY
The Fates Await, inspired by the German expressionist film The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and made by the artist Santiago Cucullu. Through March 12. Robert Lyons, Gordon Matta-Clark, and others explore questions of vacancy and emptiness in The Empty Room, from the Monsen Collection of Photography. Through May 14. Architect-artists Annie Han and Daniel Mihalyo created 150 Works of Art, a graveyard-like procession of paintings and photographs from the museum's permanent collection. Through Feb 26. 15th Ave NE and NE 41st St, 543-2280.

SEATTLE ASIAN ART MUSEUM
Seattle Art Museum downtown is closed for renovations until spring 2007, so the Volunteer Park museum is the temporary headquarters. Highlights are Carl Gould's 1933 art-deco architecture, a case of snuffboxes in the side room overlooking the park, and Iranian-born artist Shirin Neshat's video installation, Tooba, a lyrical, 12-minute portrait of a menaced woman making a kind of escape. Tooba is through Oct 15. Followers of Chinese painting, check out the 900-year overview in The Orchid Pavilion Gathering: Chinese Painting from the University of Michigan Museum of Art and the small show of personal expressions by a living member of the Chinese literati tradition, Fragrance of the Past: Chinese Calligraphy and Painting by Ch'ung-ho Chang Frankel and Friends. Through April 2. 1400 E Prospect St, Volunteer Park, 654-3100.

TACOMA ART MUSEUM
The historical show The Great American Thing: Modern Art and National Identity, 1915–1935 is a collaboration between TAM curator Patricia McDonnell and Stanford scholar Wanda Corn, who wrote the book of the same title. Through May 21. Also up: Contemporary Photography and the Garden–Deceits and Fantasies, with work by 16 American and European photographers, including Gregory Crewdson, Sally Mann, and Catherine Opie. 1701 Pacific Ave, Tacoma, 253-272-4258.

VANCOUVER ART GALLERY
Vancouver artist Brian Jungen—known best for adapting Nike Air Jordans into the forms of Northwest Coast native masks—has his first comprehensive survey exhibition, including more than 40 drawings, sculptures, and large-scale installations. Through April 30. 750 Hornby St, Vancouver, BC, 604-662-4700.

GALLERY OPENINGS

CENTER ON CONTEMPORARY ART
Shard, curated by Seattle poet David Francis, brings together contemporary poetry and visual art. First up: National Book Award nominee Heather McHugh at the opening on Sat Feb 11, 8 pm. Through March 12. 410 Dexter Ave N, 728-1980.

911 MEDIA ARTS GALLERY
The collaborative Light_Paper_Sound. Opening Wed Feb 15, 6 pm. Through Mar 22. 402 Ninth Ave N, 682-6552.

ROQ LA RUE
Sweetest Taboo, "a group show of random naughtiness," finds artists caught in supposed oppositional constructs such as "a tough graffiti writer's love of dolphins and rainbows." Opening Fri Feb 10, 6–10 pm. Through Mar 4. 2312 Second Ave, 374-8977.

CONTINUING EXHIBITIONS

CATHERINE PERSON GALLERY
Hortus Ortus is botanical chromogenics by Seattle photographer Davis Freeman and ceramic sculpture based on simple organic shapes by Kensuke Yamada. Artist talk Sat Feb 18, noon. Through Feb 28. 319 Third Ave S, 726-1836.

4CULTURE
Sculptor Julia Haack follows the dictates of salvaged materials. Through Feb 24. 101 Prefontaine Pl S, 296-7580.

FRANCINE SEDERS GALLERY
Variant/Glyphic/Negation/Redact is the imposing title of Denzil Hurley's first show at the gallery. Hurley is a rigorous abstractionist whose large and small marked and stained canvases suggest mysterious erasures and a surprising depth of field. Through Feb 26. 6701 Greenwood Ave N, 782-0355.

GREG KUCERA GALLERY
Final week. Devious black-and-white family photographs by Tim Roda and drawings by Peter Millett. Through Feb 11. 212 Third Ave S, 624-0770.

HOWARD HOUSE
Final week. New paintings by local artist Mark Danielson begin with modern, midcentury houses. Through Feb 11. 604 Second Ave, 256-6399.

JACK STRAW NEW MEDIA GALLERY
Archival Investigations is the latest installment in the Northwest Trimpinfest this year and next. Trimpin is a sound artist whose varied creations are playful and rigorous, sometimes in equal doses. That's the case in this rarely seen early work. Through Feb 24. 4261 Roosevelt Way NE, 547-2503.

JAMES HARRIS GALLERY
Final week. Works on Paper is Mary Ann Peters's fabulous first solo show in five years. Through Feb 11. 309A Third Ave S, 903-6220.

PHOTOGRAPHIC CENTER NORTHWEST
San Francisco–based artist Todd Hido portrays "the most mundane scenes with a menacing air of expectancy," according to the gallery. Through Feb 27. 900 12th Ave, 720-7222.

PLATFORM GALLERY
Final week. In Build: Conceptual, three mediums (sculpture, photography, drawing) are employed by three artists (Lucas Kelly, Sebastian Lemm, and Will Yackulik) to examine architectural space. Through Feb 11. 114 Third Ave S, 323-2808.

SOIL ART GALLERY
Featuring new members Isaac Layman, Chauney Peck, and Satomi Jin. Through Feb 26. 112 Third Ave S, 264-8061.

SWEATSHOP INC.
Innerspaces is painting, drawing, installation, and photography by Vincent Parker, Kinoko, Sindri Bartholomew, and Stefanie Loveday. Through Feb 22. 1202 E Pine St, Ste B, 388-2373.

SUYAMA SPACE
Dis-place in Time is a massive opaque fiberglass box by John O'Brien with curlicue handrails splashing out from its top, intended to represent memory, and sandwiched between two pedestals of fine, monogrammed jewelry. Unfortunately, the metaphor is both heavy handed and inscrutable without the artist's testimony, and the structure's appearance flirts unpleasantly with whimsy. Through April 7. 2324 Second Ave, 256-0809.

WESTERN BRIDGE
In Crash. Pause. Rewind. 12 artists and groups look at "the disaster imagery generated by Hollywood and the news media alike as contemporary equivalents to the Romantic attraction to ruins." Through March 4. 3412 Fourth Ave S, 838-7444.

WILLIAM TRAVER GALLERY
Dick Weiss shows abstract, strongly graphic leaded-glass screens. Through Feb 26. 110 Union St #200, 587-6501.

WINSTON WÄCHTER FINE ART
Self-portraitist Brian Murphy makes new watercolors eight-feet tall and five-feet wide. Also on view are Susan Dory's abstractions. Through Feb 24. 203 Dexter Ave N, 652-5855.