FRYE ART MUSEUM

704 Terry Ave, 622-9250

REPRESENTING L.A.: PICTORAL CURRENTS IN CONTEMPORARY SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA WORK

An exhibition of California representational art that opens up the term "realist" to welcome work all along the spectrum from the very real to the conceptual, portraiture to landscape, narrative to still life. There's work by 70 artists--Alison Saar, Enrique Martinez Celaya, and Jim Morphesis among them--in this, the first show to conceptualize and gather together work in this stylistic vein. Through Feb 11.

MARY TIFT

Prints that combine the techniques of etching, silkscreen, embossing, and collage. Tift's realm is everyday objects, rendered with an Asian feel. Through Feb 4.

HENRY ART GALLERY

15th Ave NE at NE 41st St, 543-2280

BEYOND NOVELTY: NEW DIGITAL IMAGERY

An interesting little one-room show featuring artists who work with digitally manipulated images, some of them quite stunning. This is the logical extension to the question that photography poses about truth-telling, and about trusting what you see. Through Feb 4.

GRAPHIC DESIGN IN THE MECHANICAL AGE: SELECTIONS FROM THE MERRILL C. BERMAN COLLECTION

Covering the years around and between the World Wars, a time when design as we know it was born and really began to influence the way important information was seen; the styles that developed during that period still have currency today. Everything--the posters, the books, the ephemera--seems so elegant, and so powerful. Through Feb 18.

TERRAFORM 1

An installation designed and controlled by digital technology, and meant to change, or at least challenge, our ideas about the space contained by a gallery, as well as the use of technology in art. Developed by a group of artists with the support of CARTAH (the UW Center for Advanced Research Technology in the Arts and Humanities), Terraform contains a computer-generated structure that creates a new topography for the gallery, plus projected light, sound, and video. Reviewed this issue. Through April 19.

*UTA BARTH: IN BETWEEN PLACES

Barth is the best thing ever to happen to the still life. She returned the truth to the phrase, highlighting both stillness and life in her photographs of the places people tend to ignore. Corners, door frames, fields, light moving across the floor--these peripheral areas are events in Barth's eye. This, the first museum survey of her work, features photographs from her famously blurred series Ground and Field, as well as her latest projects, nowhere near and ...and of time. Through Jan 21.

NORDIC HERITAGE MUSEUM

3014 NW 67th St, 789-5707

TREES OF LIFE

This set of three installations by local artist Steve Jensen shows masks the artist created with kids from the Ballard community, wood sculpture, and a series of funeral boats. Jensen draws on both natural and mythological symbols to connect with his Norwegian ancestors. Through Jan 28.

SEATTLE ART MUSEUM

100 University St, 654-3100

CREATING PERFECTION: SHAKER OBJECTS AND THEIR AFFINITIES

An exhibition examining the Shaker culture through its furniture, textiles, and tools, as well as photographs, prints, and drawings. A selection of non-Shaker objects shows the influences absorbed, and rejected, by this simplicity-embracing group; an adjacent display of modern works traces a similarly strict formalism that artists use to create structure in the chaotic modern world. Through April 29.

*LANGUAGE LET LOOSE

A tiny little exhibition on the incorporation of text into the visual world. The show's centerpiece is Gary Hill's video installation House of Cards; there's also work by Walker Evans, Ed Ruscha, Alice Wheeler, and a set of Robert Heinecken's Recto/Verso pieces, complete with intelligent but unrelated commentary. Through April 29.

GINNY RUFFNER: MIND GARDEN

As part of the Documents Northwest/PONCHO Series, Ruffner has transformed a gallery into a metaphorical map of the brain, using dried rose petals, steel, and glass. Through Feb 25.

*JOHN SINGER SARGENT

This show, curator Trevor Fairbrother's swan song, pulls together an extensive representation of the work of Sargent, the premier portrait artist of his period (1856-1925). Included are a dozen of his famous portraits of the Wertheimer family, along with a good deal of his less famous works: his charcoal studies of male nudes and the watercolors he produced near the end of his life. Through March 18.

SEATTLE ASIAN ART MUSEUM

1400 E Prospect St, Volunteer Park, 654-3100

THE ART OF PROTEST

Social and political issues addressed through a variety of media, including the photography of Walker Evans and the mordant commentary of Jenny Holzer. Fang Lijun's enormous woodcut, No. 19, dominates the exhibition. Through Jan 21.

WING LUKE ASIAN MUSEUM

407 Seventh Ave S, 623-5124

THROUGH OUR EYES

An extensive exhibition of Asian American photography of the Northwest, from journalism to fine art, including the photography of Frank Matsura and the contemporary work of Dean Wong and Jessica Kim. Through April 8.

WRIGHT EXHIBITION SPACE

407 Dexter Ave N, 264-8200

*THE WRIGHT COLLECTION

Virginia and Bagley Wright have devoted one gallery entirely to their great collection of '60s and '70s color field paintings, and introduced a large David Salle oil and the John Baldessari piece Two Onlookers and Tragedy to the mix. Other highlights include a Robert Longo, Eric Fischl, a huge Warhol Rorschach, and Jules Olitski's Thigh Smoke. Open-ended run.

OPENING EXHIBITIONS

DANIEL ABRAMS

Intimate social settings rendered in oil paints. Opening reception Sat Jan 6, 6-10 pm. Trapeze Gallery, 1130 34th Ave, 329-3363. Through Feb 2.

LANNY BERGNER, LYNN GEESAMAN

Nature approached from two wildly varying poles. Bergner's sculptures fuse organic materials, such as gourds, with hardware and glass, creating work that is both molecular and constructed. Geesaman photographs gardens in Europe, California, and Louisiana. Opening reception Fri Jan 5, 5-7 pm. Elliott Brown Gallery, 215 Westlake Ave N, 340-8000. Through Feb 3.

BLIND DATE

A group show, with a twist: each of the co-op's members has invited another artist to exhibit work as well. Opening reception Thurs Jan 4, 6-9 pm. Oculus Gallery, 216 Alaskan Way S, 442-9365. Through Jan 27.

AMY DIED, BERND HAUSSMANN

Sculptures assembled out of found materials by Seattle artist Died; Massachusetts artist Haussmann shows oil on board and canvas. Opening reception Wed Jan 10, 5-8 pm. Ballard/Fetherston Gallery, 818 E Pike St, 322-9440. Through Feb 3.

SEAN MICHAEL HURLEY

Sequential panels in acrylic that may or may not reflect a narrative. OK Hotel, 212 Alaskan Way S, 621-7903. Through Jan 31.

JOE MAX EMMINGER

Emminger's world has an affinity with Marc Chagall's: dreamy, but somehow logical, populated with stray figures doing strange things. The work is eminently likable, with big blocky areas of color and small specific narratives. Grover/Thurston Gallery, 309 Occidental Ave S, 223-0816. Through Feb 10.

*HAROLD HOLLINGSWORTH, ARTHUR S. AUBRY

Reaching back to the rec rooms of his youth, Hollingsworth offers oil paintings of croquet balls and racing car decals. Aubry continues his investigation of the mechanical world with Large Color Photographs of Industrial Ephemera. See Stranger Suggests. Opening reception Thurs Jan 4, 6-8 pm. Esther Claypool Gallery, 617 Western Ave, 264-1586. Through Feb 10.

LINKAGES

A group figure exhibition. Opening reception Fri Jan 5, 5:30-8 pm. The Fountainhead, 625 W McGraw St, 285-4467. Through Jan 27.

PAUL MARIONI

This show is called Agnosia, a term that refers to the state of not being able to understand what you're seeing, a perceptual lapse that could also refer to the blank slate of the viewer in front of a work of art. This show includes prints and drawings as well as glasswork, which rocks, gyrates, and has definite sexual references. Opening reception Thurs Jan 4, 6-8 pm. William Traver Gallery, 110 Union St, second floor, 587-6501. Through Jan 28.

RICHARD MORHOUS

Highly colored interior and exterior views that verge on patterns but retain a feeling of painterly space. Opening reception Thurs Jan 4, 6-8 pm. Lisa Harris Gallery, 1922 Pike Place, 443-3315. Through Jan 27.

NORIKO SATO

Sumi painting in an exhibition called FuRuSaTo (Home Town). RAW Gallery, 409 Seventh Ave S, 340-1445. Through Jan 31.

SETH SEXTON

A series of drawings that meditate on cloning and artificial limbs. Victrola Coffee, 411 15th Ave E, 325-6520. Through Jan 31.

JOHN A. TAYLOR

Small Neighborhoods, a stoneware collection of apartment buildings, complete with people and animals going about their daily business. Opening reception Thurs Jan 4, 6-8 pm. King County Art Gallery, 506 Second Ave, Room 200, 296-7580. Through Jan 26.

DARRELL M. WESTMORELAND

In this show, entitled Behind the Lens, Westmoreland shows 30 years' worth of music photography. Crocodile Café, 2200 Second Ave. Through Feb 3.

CONTINUING EXHIBITIONS

00/01

An exhibition about the color white--ground zero for many artists (the blank canvas) but the goal for the 11 artists shown here. James Harris Gallery, 309A Third Ave S, 903-6220. Through Dec 16, then Jan 3-27.

NICHOLAS AFRICANO

New painting and sculpture from Africano, who reaches back to the spare style and high sheen of Greek statues, and then (it seems) can't resist the postmodern twist. His figures always seem rather lost in time. Winston Wächter Fine Art, 403 Dexter Ave N, 652-5855. Through Jan 10.

GARTH AMUNDSON

A strangely glowing garden of patched-together portraits. Amundson's suggestive and organic shapes are mounted on dowels, giving them the stalk-like grace of insects. Seattle Art Museum Rental Sales Gallery, 1334 First Ave, 654-3240. Through mid-January.

CHRISTEL DILLBOHNER

An installation by Dillbohner, who has been working and showing internationally in this genre since the '70s. About Sippwells and Other Places is an earthy reconstruction of the process of imagination and drawing on the unconscious. Suyama Space, 2324 Second Ave, 256-0809. Through Jan 19.

DOGS OF MEDINA

Vital 5 is artist Greg Lundgren, whose conceptual takes on art's business end range from the gently satirical to the scathing. His new space's inaugural show features works by 25 artists, all of dogs photographed in the Medina neighborhood. Who would refuse a portrait of their beloved pup? That's what we're going to find out. Vital 5 Productions, 2200 Westlake Ave, 254-0475. Through Jan 10.

STEVEN FEY, MALCOLM EDWARDS

Two kinds of environments caught by the camera: Fey trains his lens on the sandstone canyons of Utah, and Edwards documents the construction of the Seattle Chinese Garden (currently underway near South Seattle Community College). Benham Photography Studio/Gallery, 1216 First Ave, 622-2480. Through Jan 27.

ELLEN FORNEY

Posters by The Stranger's own cartoonist and documentarian of the strange and underground. Glo's Diner, 1621 E Olive Way, 324-2577. Through Jan 6.

GROUP SHOW/2001 PREVIEW

Work by Hiro Yokose, Ciao Fonseca, John Bowman, Philippe Cognée, and Tony Scherman. Winston Wächter Fine Art, 403 Dexter Ave N, 652-5855. Through Jan 10.

CHERYL H. HAHN, MICHAEL DICKTER, SCOTT FRISH

Hahn's installation Form Language/Handwriting is Disappearing addresses the emotional changes wrought on language by the new modes of information exchange; Alphabet, a series of 26 panels, addresses the strength of words when rendered in one's own hand. With paintings by paintings and lithographs by Dickter and Frish. Atelier 31, 122 Central Way, Kirkland, 425-576-1477. Through Jan 9.

*VICTORIA HAVEN

Haven builds strength through the repetition of delicate materials. Her recent rubber-band wall sculptures neatly crossed genres: partly like drawings, partly like sculpture, partly like the road map of an idea. This, her first solo show at Howard House, features the further exploitation--and elevation--of office materials, including white-out, tape, and carbon paper. Howard House, 2017 Second Ave, 256-6399. Through Dec 16, then Jan 9-20.

LIZABETH HOUCHIN

Paintings and prints of women in private and in public. I Capolavori, 2519 Fifth Ave, 448-2825. Through Jan 19.

STEFAN KNORR

Knorr's paintings, which combine found images with created ones, are savvy about the world and tend to make the media (in all its manifestations) their subject. Of late, Knorr has been moving toward images from the natural world. Gallery Unpublished, Methodologie, 808 Howell St, Sixth Floor, 623-1044. Through Feb 7.

*LOOK BOTH WAYS

The Fuzzy Engine folks are back, this time exploring themes of safety and the ways we've chosen to insulate ourselves from danger. The works include a loaded gun encased in cement, and "unsafe toilet paper." Fuzzy Engine, 2801 NW Market St, 720-1767. Through Jan 7.

*RYAN MCGINNESS

Where a lot of graphic designers seem content to watch the form slowly infiltrate the art world, McGinness takes a more kamikaze approach (for example, sneaking into major museums and covertly stuffing his own postcards into the sales racks). This show features his work in paintings, models, and skateboards. See Stranger Suggests. Houston, 907 E Pike St, 860-7820. Through Jan 27.

THE PACKAGE

Work by 24 artists on the theme of the package: vessel, concealer, commodity. Trapeze Gallery, 1130 34th Ave, 329-3363. Through Jan 5.

*CHARLES PETERSON

New photographs from Vietnam, by the photographer best known for his local music-scene images. Little Theatre, 608 19th Ave E, 675-2055. Through mid-January.

MICHAEL SCHULTHEIS

Paintings and drawings that recall Cy Twombly's passionate scribblings, but here arranged and colored to suggest bits of discrete--but unreadable--information. Patricia Cameron Fine Art, 108 S Jackson St #207, 343-9647. Through Jan 31.

SCATTERED, SMOTHERED, AND COVERED

Recent acquisitions of folk, self-taught, and so-called outsider art from gallery owners Karen and Marcus Pina's trips through the Deep South and Midwest. Garde Rail Gallery, 4730 35th Ave S, 760-3720. Through Jan 31.

RON VAN DONGEN

More sensual close-ups of flora, but these are more Blossfeldt than Mapplethorpe. G. Gibson Gallery, 122 S Jackson, 587-5751. Through Jan 14, then Jan 21-27.

EVENTS

*HIROSHIGE HONDA

For one night only, Ben Darby's hand-painted 1975 Honda Civic will be parked in the Bryan Ohno Gallery (155 S Main St). Darby draws his inspiration from traditional Japanese prints, drawn on one of Japan's most successful exports. From sumo wrestlers to koi ponds to a Zen rock garden on the dashboard--it's not your everyday commuting machine, but maybe it should be. Thurs Jan 4 (First Thursday), 6-8 pm.