CENTER ON CONTEMPORARY ART (CoCA)

1420 11th Ave, 728-1980

2002 NORTHWEST ANNUAL

Curated by Linda Farris, with work by lots of talented people you've heard of, and haven't. Through July.

NORDIC HERITAGE MUSEUM

3014 NW 67th St, 789-5707

NORN: IN AND OUT OF TIME

Ancient Scandinavian myth seen through the long lens of three young artists: Astrid Larsen (with fire), Steffan Herrick (with prints and sculpture), and Erik Reime (with tattoos). Through July 14.

WRIGHT EXHIBITION SPACE

407 Dexter Ave N, 264-8200

* SELF-PORTRAITS

Local collectors Bill and Ruth True have a generous definition of a self-portrait; in a way, it's anything looked at by the artist. There's some great and seminal work here that you won't find at any local institution--Nicholas Nixon's The Brown Sisters series, a Jim Campbell LED sculpture, a Gary Hill installation with a strobe light and a lot of grunting. We love the Trues. Open-ended run.

OPENING EXHIBITIONS

ROBERT ADAM

Collages informed by politics and graphic design. Ace Studios Gallery, 619 Western Ave, 3rd floor, 623-1288. Through June 29.

LARRY BEMM

New (and very large) paintings. Bryan Ohno Gallery, 155 S Main St, 667-9572. Through June 29.

ANN FERNALD BORWICK

Sculpture made from materials contributed by friends and neighbors. Opening reception Sat June 8, 6-9 pm. Artemis Gallery, 3107 S Day St, 323-0562. Through June 28.

CHRIS COLE

New paintings. Opening reception Sat June 8, 6-9 pm. Victrola Coffee, 411 15th Ave E, 325-6520. Through June 29.

*CRITICS (*MEANS WE RECOMMEND IT)

An exhibition of portraits of Seattle's extremely brilliant, creative, and charismatic art critics. (Very clever, Mr. Lundgren! Did you think that including a star in the show's name meant an automatic star in the calendar?) Opening reception Fri June 7, 7-10 pm. Vital 5 Productions, 2200 Westlake Ave, 254-0475. Through July 1.

TONY de los REYES

In his paintings, de los Reyes focuses on details from Baroque and Rococo decorative art; blown up and rendered in lavishly applied paint, they become abstract signifiers of desire. Opening reception Sat June 8, 6-8 pm. Howard House, 2017 Second Ave, 256-6399. Through July 20.

GRADE

The first of a series in which artists will be challenged to create art in response to a single word. With work by Kipling West, Laurel Anderson, Elizabeth Jameson, Robert Rini, Neil Bashor, Jan Haag, and Arleann Lourdes. Otis Café, 1005 Boren Ave, 342-9866. Through July 28.

GAIL GRINNELL

Works on paper, including graphite and Wite-Out drawings. Opening reception Sun June 9, 2-4 pm. Francine Seders Gallery, 6701 Greenwood Ave N, 782-0355. Through June 30.

BOOTSY HOLLER

Photographs of flower-patterned textiles, re-patterned with drawing and painting. Opening reception Sun June 9, 6-9 pm. The Rose Club, 3601 S McClellan St, 725-3654. Through June 30.

KIKI MACINNIS

The anatomy of trees and topiary of the body, in drawings and sculpture. Opening reception Thurs June 6, 6-8 pm. King County Art Gallery, 506 Second Ave, 2nd floor, 296-7580. Through June 28.

TIM MARSDEN, CLIFF VANCURA

Artists seem to love mining the work of Francisco Goya for insight into human oddness (cf. the Chapman brothers' Disasters of War); Marsden's take is through cartoon characters you might call whimsical if they weren't so damn dark. With paintings by Vancura, inspired by the shapes of the cranes in the Port of Seattle. Opening reception Thurs June 6, 6-8 pm. Gallery 110, 110 S Washington St, 624-9336. Through June 29.

JOHN McQUEEN, RICHARD MARQUIS

Basket-woven sculptures by McQueen, and new glass objects--both crazy and everyday--by the wry and prolific Marquis. Opening reception Thurs June 6, 5-7 pm. Elliott Brown Gallery, 215 Westlake Ave N, 340-8000. Through July 20.

MARK MUELLER, NANCY BLUM

Graphite drawings and rubbings from Mueller; exquisite pattern studies from Blum. Opening reception Thurs June 6, 6-8 pm. Esther Claypool Gallery, 617 Western Ave, 264-1586. Through June 29.

SEED

Artistic and literary mediation on "seed." As in, "I went to that gallery, I seed the art." Opening reception Sat June 8, 7-10 pm. SOIL Artist Cooperative, 1317 E Pine St, 264-8061. Through June 30.

CHAD STATES

Photographic fables. Opening reception Thurs June 6, 6-8 pm. Zeitgeist, 171 S Jackson St, 583-0497. Through July 2.

* JOHN TAYLOR

Taylor's ships are phenomenal things: meticulously made from driftwood, bits of old machinery, and tiny obsessive touches such as rulers, lights, and stamps. Opening reception Fri June 7, 6- 10 pm. Garde Rail Gallery, 4860 Rainier Ave S, 721-0107. Through July 27.

WHITING TENNIS

Still cleverly sampling from early American work, Tennis' new work features motifs from early American maps, architecture, and agriculture. Opening reception Thurs June 6, 6-8 pm. Grover/Thurston Gallery, 309 Occidental Ave S, 223-0816. Through June 29.

NIK TONGAS

Text and images in Catastrophes of Gravity. Opening reception Thurs June 6, 5-8 pm. Solomon Fine Art, 1215 First Ave, 297-1400. Through June 28.

EVE WARNOCK

New paintings. Opening reception Thurs June 6, 7-9 pm. Toys in Babeland, 707 E Pike St, 328-2914. Through June 31.

JOHN WATERS

See Stranger Suggests. Opening reception--he'll be there!--Thurs June 6, 6-8 pm. Greg Kucera Gallery, 212 Third Ave S, 624-0770. Through June 29.

CONTINUING EXHIBITIONS

JOHN BISBEE

Three Tons refers quite literally to the amount of material shaped by the artist into large, prickly sculptural landscapes. In this case, it's three tons of nails. Suyama Space, 2324 Second Ave, 256-0809. Through Aug 16.

* DRAW

It sounds like a command, doesn't it? With work by Mark Ryden, Charles Burns, Blair Wilson, and others. Roq la Rue, 2224 Second Ave, 374-8977. Through June 7.

ELEMENTS

Design-influenced art by Shawn Wolfe, Evan Sult, Peter Lucas, and Daniel Kohn. Little Theatre Gallery, 608 19th Ave E, 675-2055. Through July 10.

GROUP EXHIBITION OF GALLERY ARTISTS

All kinds! Gallery 110, 110 S Washington St, 624-9336. Through June 1.

* BLAKE HAYGOOD

At the risk of repeating myself: Haygood's prints of fantastic, useless machines are superb. Ballard Fetherston Gallery, 818 E Pike St, 322-9440. Through June 12.

MARC LAWRENCE, KEITH TABELLIONE

Two artists look at the signs, symbols, and clutter that surround us. Li'l Red Shack Gallery, 1028 First Ave S, 621-7807. Through June 30.

* JASON MOUER

Here's someone who's found something to do with all those old telephone books. Bubba-Mavis Gallery, 1158 Eastlake Ave E, 405-3223.

OUT OF THE FRAME

Nontraditional photography, mixing suggestively with other media. G. Gibson Gallery, 122 S Jackson St, Suite 200, 587-4033. Through June 15.

PARS and AHF

AHF is Amir Fallah, who created that lovely vomitous installation at the Independent Media Center a few months ago. His latest work is a collaboration with Pars, called .925. Nation Gallery, 1921 Fifth Ave, 374-9492. Through June 9.

* AMY REUFFERT

Glass work based on Reuffert's obsession with some patterned bedsheets from the 1970s. She never simply makes objects; she looks backward at nostalgia and the retro fetishes. Vetri, 1404 First Ave, 667-9608. Through June 16.

* MICHAEL SCHULTHEIS

Math and randomness and sneaky patterns. Still Life in Fremont Coffeehouse, 709 N 35th St, 547-9850. Through June 16.

LINO TAGLIAPIETRA

A lot of glass artists try to imitate Tagliapietra's sexy, singing, curvaceous work. Few succeed. William Traver Gallery, 110 Union St, #200, 587-6501. Through June 30.

BRIDGET YOUNG

A window installation about regenerative female energy. Seattle Art Museum Rental/Sales Gallery, 1334 First Ave, 654-3240. Through July 29.

EVENTS

* ONE NIGHT ONLY

The fifth in Randy Wood's series "11 Shows in 11 Months." With Juniper Shuey and his 60-person moving installation; from 6 pm to 7 pm, these tribes--painted head to toe--will be drifting around downtown Seattle, doing whatever the hell it is that tribes do, and then they'll converge at Thinklab (1932 Second Ave, 720-9909) where spectators can watch them... do things... through the gallery's picture window. Like television, but not really. Fri June 7 at 7 pm, or maybe you'll be lucky enough to catch them on the fly.

SPIRIT OF PLACE

Never mind the feel-good title. About once a year, Mahlum Architects puts up a good art show and provides good food. This year's artists are John Stamets, Eduardo Calderón, Andrew Keating, Lanny DeVuono, Michael Dennis, and Ford Gilbreath (it's a very Esther Claypool year). Thurs June 6, 6-8 pm at the offices of Mahlum Architects, 71 Columbia St, Suite 400, 441-4151.