BELLEVUE ART MUSEUM

510 Bellevue Way NE, Bellevue, 425-454-3322

* JOHN STAMETS: BAM AS BUILT

Large-format images of the new museum under construction. Through March 10.

H SHAPING STORIES

An odd and oddly beautiful little show about narrative, with work by some good local artists (R. Eugene Parnell, Phil Roach) and some tremendously good artists from elsewhere (Paul Pfieffer, Bill Viola), and a brand-new installation from the Typing Explosion, which will present a performance on Thurs Jan 31 at 7 pm. Through March 10.

* ROGER SHIMOMURA: AN AMERICAN DIARY

The subject of the World War II-era internment of Japanese Americans is one that Shimomura has visited time and time again. In An American Diary, and another series, Memories of Childhood, he discards his references to traditional Japanese prints and opts for a comic-book format that is at the same time more accessible and more eerie. Through March 24. A selection of newer works will be shown through March 10.

SEATTLE ART MUSEUM

100 University St, 654-3100

* DUTCH AND BRITISH MASTERWORKS

While Cincinnati's Taft Museum is closed for renovation, it is loaning us 10 works from such artists as Frans Hals, J. M. W. Turner, Jan Steen, and Pieter de Hooch. The Dutch paintings are gorgeous, gorgeous examples of the precise, slightly seamy genre scenes that characterized the Northern Renaissance and beyond. Turner, of course, is sublime. Through Feb 2003.

MORRIS GRAVES AND SEATTLE

An exhibition that concentrates on Graves' early career, and takes as its thread the artist's relationship with the Pacific Northwest. Through Oct 20.

TACOMA ART MUSEUM

1123 Pacific Ave, Tacoma, 253-272-4258

ART FOR THE MASSES

A selection from the over 400 works that make up Carolyn Schneider's collection of Associated American Artists prints. These were works made available during the Depression and World War II, a kind of social experiment with inexpensive art made for everyone. Through March 30.

* URBAN INVASION: PAINTINGS BY CHESTER ARNOLD

Bay Area artist Arnold's paintings are crowded--with debris, with consumable objects, with people, with land. There's a Northern European precision to them that is not so much a celebration as a curious gaze. Through March 10.

OPENING EXHIBITIONS

* EFRAIN ALMEIDA

Did you know that some of the hottest contemporary artists are from Brazil? No kidding! Almeida's sculpture includes strands of beads that are "drawn" over the floor, like a contour map, or a body outline. Opening reception Thurs Jan 24, 5:30-7:30 pm. James Harris Gallery, 309A Third Ave S, 903-6220. Through March 2.

TIMOTHY ANDERSON

The Dainty Sermon is a silent film-style narrative about three traveling ladies, styled and photographed by Anderson. Opening reception Tues Jan 29, 6-8 pm. Little Theatre, 608 19th Ave E, 675-2055. Through March 9.

ROBERT JONES

For the record, this is Jones the young Tacoma artist, not Jones the big-time Seattle husband-of-Fay artist. But he's very interesting and talented in his own right, and this series of paintings, Short Fiction, showcases his idiosyncratic sense of narrative. Still Life in Fremont Coffeehouse, 709 N 35th, 547-9850. Through March 4.

* FRANKLIN JOYCE

Joyce likes to take to the streets and the clubs armed with battery-powered backpack and mobile projection unit. The point is strictly interaction: projecting images onto people and spaces and becoming part of the action. As his final project for 911's artist-in-residence program, Joyce has created a window installation from his nighttime excursions. Opening reception Thurs Jan 24, 7 pm. 911 Media Arts Center, 117 Yale Ave N, 682-6552. Through Feb 17.

RICHARD LEWIS, JOHN DIVOLA, KEITH CARTER, RICHARD MISRACH

New works by everyone. G. Gibson Gallery, 122 S Jackson St, Suite 200, 587-4033. Through March 2.

CONTINUING EXHIBITIONS

14.15.ART

For the past eight years, 14.15.art--a group of 15 local printmakers and painters--has gathered each month for a kind of informal critique. This is their first show as a group. A new series of presentations begins Sun Jan 27, 2-4 pm. Phinney Center Gallery, Phinney Neighborhood Center, 6532 Phinney Ave N, 783-2244. Through Jan 28.

ERIK ANDREWS

New paintings: big abstractions with very specific text. Victrola Coffee, 411 15th Ave E, 325-6520. Through Jan 31.

ARTIST TRUST AUCTION PREVIEW

Work donated by over 200 Northwest artists for the Artist Trust benefit auction (on Feb 20; for tickets call the gallery, or Jennifer West at Artist Trust, 467-8734, ex. 14). Bank of America Gallery, 701 Fifth Ave, 3rd floor, 585-3200. Through Feb 4.

DEBRA BAXTER

Baxter has an interesting way with a canvas: she likes to attack it, disembowel it, and put it back together. Now, however, she's interested in clouds, which makes sense in a roundabout kind of way--solid, but not; heavy, but fragmented--if you think about it enough. Zeitgeist, 171 S Jackson St, 583-0497. Through Jan 31.

BEACON HILL PRINTMAKERS

Another longtime group of printmakers... must be something in the water. Opening reception next week. ArtsWest, 4711 California Ave SW, 938-0963. Through Feb 2.

ALICIA BERGER and JOHN BURROW

A sound and video installation about superheroes by two Cornish faculty members. Henriette E. Woessner Alumni Gallery, Cornish College of the Arts, 723 Harvard Ave E, 800-726-ARTS. Through Feb 9.

PHIL BORGES

The prolific photographer's newest work, from the (pre-9/11) Pakistan/Afghanistan border. Odegaard Undergraduate Library, University of Washington campus, 685-3130. Through Jan 31.

GEORGE J. BRANDT

Mixed media, personal/spiritual journeys, and a disemboweled doll. Mary Vitold Gallery, 110 S Washington St, 624-9336. Through Feb 2.

SIMONA FOGGITT

New mixed-media works with lots of newspaper. Nico Gallery, 619 Western Ave, 2nd floor, 264-1710. Through Feb 2.

GALLERY ARTISTS GROUP EXHIBIT

With work by Isabel Kahn, Brandon Zebold, Dean Eliasen, Mary Henry, Ben Harby, Jim Hansen, and the Lisas--Zerkowitz and Buchanan. Bryan Ohno Gallery, 155 S Main St, 667-9572. Through Feb 2.

CHRISTOPHER MARTIN HOFF

Paintings of Seattle as a "built" place--industry, architecture, the little-noticed undersides of things. Paramount Cafe, 911 Pine St, 621-8376. Through Feb 7.

PAVLINA HONCOVA

Photographs of a monastery's destroyed rooms; architecture as built, and as ravaged. FotoCircle Gallery, 562 First Ave S, Suite 300, 624-2645. Through Feb 2.

IT'S JUST LIKE THE MOVIES

Except when it isn't. Reactions to 9/11. Li'l Red Shack Gallery, 1020 First Ave S, 621-7807. Through Feb 3.

* LISA LIEDGREN, BLAIR WILSON

Both Liedgren and Wilson use the most ordinary of shapes--dots--but to entirely different ends. Wilson is a sort of cartoony post-Pointillist, while Liedgren's work looks more like Braille, or Morse Code, or some other unreadable system. She's like Damien Hirst, only smarter. Kittredge Gallery, University of Puget Sound, 1500 N Lawrence St, Tacoma, 253-879-3100. Through Feb 24.

* NIKKI McCLURE AND BEATRICE CORON

If you've never seen McClure's intricate cut-paper works, I implore you, once again, to go. Here, she's also showing two books that she collaborated on with Coron, mailing them back and forth between coasts, building on each other's work. Wessel and Leiberman Booksellers, 208 First Ave S, 682-3545. Through Jan 31.

MEMBERS' EXHIBITION

Juried by Marsha Burns. Photographic Center Northwest, 900 12th Ave, 720-7222. Through Jan 30.

LAMONT MUDD

Pop culture and other fleeting sensations, captured in painting. dirtworks gallery, 214 First Ave S, lower level, 625-4101. Through Jan 31.

MIKE NIPPER

The same paintings he showed at the Croc in September--but Nipper works here, and if I don't mention him, I won't get my mail. Also, poor guy's last two shows have been upstaged by WTO riots and terrorism, so give him a break. Re-Bar, 1114 Howell St, 233-9873. Through Jan 31.

FRANK OKADA

An exhibition of the works remaining in Okada's estate when he died last year. His last works combine the strictness of geometric abstraction with a detailed brushwork and attention to paint-handling that brings them to life. Greg Kucera Gallery, 212 Third Ave S, 624-0770. Through Feb 2.

LAURA JANE PETELKO

Two photographic documentaries. Artemis Gallery, 3107 S Day St, 323-0562. Through Jan 31.

TIM RIPLEY

Bright, idiosyncratic photographs and lightboxes from Ripley's travels in Brazil and other countries. Sunset Tavern, 5433 Ballard Ave NW, 784-4880. Through Feb 8.

* STEPPING FROM THE SHADOWS

See Stranger Suggests and review box. Excellent closing reception Fri Jan 25, 7-10 pm. Independent Media Center Gallery, 1415 Third Ave, 262-0721. Through Jan 31.

RYAN SWANSON

Drawn on whatever the artist can find--paper bags, sugar sacks--and then digitized, Swanson's creatures are helpless-looking, sweet, and more than a little threatening. They're not unlike those amorphous, unidentifiable Japanese cartoon creatures. Nation Gallery, 1921 Fifth Ave, 374-9492. Through Feb 10.

JESSE JOSHUA WATSON

New work in a show called Black Music Seen. The Bohemian, 111 Yesler Way, 447-1514. Through Feb 5.

RICH WERNER

Comics-influenced art--including some watercolor--on cold-press illustration board. Cut Kulture Gallery, 2018 First Ave, 374-8753. Through Feb 1.

EVENTS

* LINDA FARRIS LOOK ONE-DAY SALE

Leftover goodies at a fraction of the original price! Including some super-hot items by Superflat artists Takashi Murakami and Yoshitomo Nara. Sat Jan 26, 12-7 pm at Linda Farris LOOK, 3425 E Denny Way, 322-0994.