Howard Barlow’s last sculptures were made of bright orange earplugs
and cubes of metal, painted in cheerful colors and riddled with
bullet holes. For his new works (including Seven Pains
Mended and Big Guns Make Good Neighbors) the
Thorp-based artist uses institutional powder-coat colors, gun-barrel
patina finishes, recycled bullet-lead solder, broken window panes, wool
yarn, and abused steel—all of it knitted, hacked, shot, and
shattered. (Punch Gallery, 119 Prefontaine Place S, 621-1945.
Noon–5 pm, free.)

Jen Graves (The Stranger’s former arts critic) mostly writes about things you approach with your eyeballs. But she’s also a history nerd interested in anything that needs more talking about, from male...