HENRY ART GALLERY
15th Ave NE and NE 41st St, 543-2280.
* SHORT STORIES
Now with new stories! A series of staggered rotating exhibitions that includes work from the permanent collection, commissioned projects, and installations. Through May 12.
SEATTLE ART MUSEUM
100 University St, 654-3100.
ART FROM AFRICA: LONG STEPS NEVER BROKE A BACK
Tribal masks, statues, robes, coffins, and some (but unfortunately too little) contemporary art. Be sure to rent the audio tour; this exhibition eschews the usual tag-on-the-wall route. Through May 19.
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.
GLORIA BORNSTEIN: STILL LIFE
Two installations which look into the idea of roots, in both Bornstein's Polish family and her husband's Japanese--specifically, Nagasaki, Japan. Through Oct 20.
OPENING EXHIBITIONS
CHRIST2000™
He's Seattle's own trash/value artist. In Lawncritters of Landfill, a storefront installation, christ2000™ gives us creatures made of recontextualized, newly commercialized junk. Opening reception Thurs March 14, 7 pm. 911 Media Arts Center, 117 Yale Ave N, 682-7422. Through April 21.
BEATRIZ EZBAN
Ezban's drawings and sculpture use amate paper, a handmade pounded-bark surface; it simultaneously acknowledges a tradition, while also moving forward. Opening reception Thurs March 14, 6-9 pm. Kirkland Arts Center, 620 Market St, Kirkland, 425-822-7161. Through April 5.
JOSEPH FINDEISS
New work featuring old and new firecracker labels. Opening reception Sun March 17, 9 pm. SureShot, 4505 University Way NE, 632-3100. Through March 31.
GROUP SHOW
Photography by Black Lab's instructors, including the strange and wonderful Bootsy Holler. Black Lab Gallery, 5208 Ballard Ave NW, 706-7017. Through April 11.
WILLIAM HARRIS
One of the reasons that color field painting generally leaves me cold is the loss of its sublimity; after Rothko's big, consuming canvases, it's all sort of derivative. But I love Harris' paintings, with their thick, poured hues in layers that let you look deep into the picture plane--beautiful swimmy things, they are. Opening reception Sat March 16, 6-8 pm. Howard House, 2017 Second Ave, 256-6399. Through April 20.
HEROES
See Stranger Suggests. Opening reception Fri March 15, 5-9 pm. Vital 5 Productions, 2200 Westlake Ave, 254-0475. Through April 1.
INTRODUCTIONS
This rotating show continues with work by Lisa Buchanan, Laura Castellanos, Claire Cowie (hooray!), Dorit Ely, Rachel Illingworth, Reilly Jensen, Alex Michael Ohge, Jane Richlovsky, and a window installation by Kathleen McMahan. Opening reception Thurs March 14, 5-7 pm. SAM Rental/Sales Gallery, 1334 First Ave, 654-3240. Through April 13.
JEFF MIHALYO
There's lots to look at in Mihalyo's real and fantastic landscapes; a good thing, since both are being shown in leisure settings. Zerene Salon, 5140 Ballard Ave NW, 2nd floor, 297-6385. Through March 31. (Also at Victrola Coffee & Art, 411 15th Ave E, 325-6520. Through March 31.)
SHAG
You would think that the ultra-mod thing would have passed by now (playboys and attenuated glamour-pusses sprawled in butterfly chairs), but since it hasn't, we're lucky to have Shag as its reigning image-peddler supreme. Opening reception Fri March 15, 6-10 pm. Roq la Rue, 2224 Second Ave, 374-8977. Through April 5.
SURIMONO
Early 19th-century Japanese wood-block prints--more compelling and modern than a lot of the art in neighboring galleries. Carolyn Staley Fine Japanese Prints, 314 Occidental Ave S, 621-1888. Through March 30.
CONTINUING EXHIBITIONS
* RIAIN CALLAHAN
Inspired by her work as a peepshow dancer, each of Callahan's photographs becomes its own little peepshow. She advances the debate about art by sex workers by making--bless her--thoughtful, interesting work. Little Theatre Gallery, 608 19th Ave E, 675-2055. Through April 20.
* MICHELLE FIERRO
See Review: Art. James Harris Gallery, 309A Third Ave S, 903-6220. Through April 6.
GARDE RAIL at STILL LIFE
A selection of work from the gallery specializing in folk and outsider art. Still Life in Fremont Coffeehouse, 709 N 35th, 547-9850. Through May 6.
ROBERTA GREGORY
Just what you want: Bitchy Bitch glowering at you over brunch. Glo's Diner, 1621 E Olive Way, 324-2577. Through April 6.
MATT HOUSTON
In the final exhibition in his eponymous gallery, Houston (a.k.a. Matthew Clark) is showing murals, sculpture, and drawings. Houston, 907 E Pike St, 860-7820. Through March 31.
BARB JAKSA, NINA FRENKEL
Jaksa's constructed boxes are no mere Cornell rip-off, but thoughtfully build on the master's tradition. In some cases, the artist encourages you to pick them up and handle them. With collages by Frenkel. Artemis Gallery, 3107 S Day St, 323-0562. Through March 30.
TOMIKO JONES
The absolute genius behind The Bunny Chronicles proves that she's no one-trick rabbit. In Infused, she's showing rich, saturated photographs of empty places. The Green Room, 1424 First Ave, 262-0262. Through May 4.
* YUMIKO KAYUKAWA
Pure eye candy, in a lovely, girly Japan-pop vein. Roq la Rue Gallery, 2224 Second Ave, 374-8977. Through April 5.
STEVE LAZEN
New photographs, with text borrowed from the brilliant weirdo Georges Perec. Blu, 2226 First Ave, 269-6699. Through March 31.
SPIKE MAFFORD, MICHAEL SPAFFORD
In Shared Labors, the son (Mafford, the photographer) and the father (Spafford, the painter) collaborate on mythical-themed work, and document the collaboration. Francine Seders Gallery, 6701 Greenwood Ave N, 782-0355. Through March 31.
JEFFRY MITCHELL, KATHERINE GRAY
Mitchell explores the dreamy realm where animals are both symbolic and real. With mixed-media work by Gray. Elliott Brown Gallery, 215 Westlake Ave N, 340-8000. Through March 23.
MIKE NIPPER
Yeah, him again. More of his bright, bold, inscrutable paintings. Elliott Bay Gallery 101, 101 S Main St, 682-6664. Through April 3.
TED NORDLANDER, MARILYN JONES
Nordlander's paintings deconstruct the body into its recognizable parts and then defamiliarize them; Jones' series of paintings and photographs meditate on the artist's studio, and the idea of the art-making space. Gallery 110, 110 S Washington St, 624-9336. Through March 30.
GINNY RUFFNER
The much-awarded Ruffner continues her inquiry into the life of the mind through the shape of the sculpture. Woodside/Braseth Gallery, 1533 Ninth Ave, 622-7243. Through March 20.
* CHRIS ST. PIERRE, DEMI RAVEN
Two good artists who haven't given up on figurative work; nor have they resorted to expressionistic pap. The Pound Gallery, 1216 10th Ave, 323-0557. Through March 31.
KATHLEEN STONE
An installation, called Calamity Blooming, of drawings of wounded and bloody flowers. King County Art Gallery, 506 Second Ave, room 200, 296-7580. Through March 29.
NORMA STRAW
New color photography. She won Seattle Weekly's photo contest, but we won't hold that against her. Cut Kulture Gallery, 2018 First Ave, 374-8753. Through April 23.
JIMMY LEE SUDDUTH, WALLY SHOUP
Sudduth is a major folk-art hero, who at 93 is still painting every day with his signature material: molasses mixed with Alabama mud. Shoup captures the complexity of natural rock surfaces in paint. Garde Rail Gallery, 4860 Rainier Ave S, 721-0107. Through March 30.
SWEET AND WILD
An art menagerie, featuring animals in the work of Kara Walker, Bill Owens, Marcel Dzama, Louise Bourgeois, and others both local and not. Greg Kucera Gallery, 212 Third Ave S, 624-0770. Through March 30.
* AKIO TAKAMORI
New porcelain and stoneware figures from one of Seattle's premier ceramicists. Grover/Thurston Gallery, 309 Occidental Ave S, 223-0816. Through March 30.
WILLIAM TRAVER GALLERY TWENTY-FIFTH ANNIVERSARY EXHIBITION
Traver has made his name by championing the Studio Glass movement, and introducing glass artists such as Lino Tagliapietra and Anna Skibska to the United States. Talents in other media include Doug Jeck and the excellent Friese Undine. William Traver Gallery, 110 Union St, 2nd floor, 587-6501. Through March 31.
REBECCA WOODHOUSE, ENRICO GOMEZ, CHRIS COLE
Words, paint, and lots and lots of steel. Secluded Alley Works, 113 12th Ave, 839-0880. Through March 21.
YURIKO YAMAGUCHI
Two installations which suggest--one in an ordered way, one more chaotically--a way of seeing and interpreting systems. Suyama Space, 2324 Second Ave, 256-0809. Through April 5.
EVENTS
FASHION PLATES AND FLYING SAUCERS
Fashion designed by the Art Institute's students. Thurs March 14 at 7:30 pm at the Moore Theatre, 1932 Second Ave. Tickets are $6 and available through Ticketmaster. For more information call 239-2251.
