CENTERS

BELLEVUE ART MUSEUM, 301 Bellevue Square, 425-454-3322.

Gloria Bornstein--A 30-year survey, curated by Vicki Halper, of an important Northwest artist. In the 1970s Bornstein began as a groundbreaking performance artist and evolved into one of the region's most visible sculptors and creators of public works. The exhibition incorporates emotionally charged installation pieces with sculpture, paintings, and prints. Through June 21.

Dona Ann McAdams--A photographic project focusing on a small farming community in the Appalachian Mountains of West Virginia consumed McAdams, and the result is a dignified view of the dwindling population of a rural community. Through June 21.

CENTER ON CONTEMPORARY ART, 65 Cedar St, 728-1980.

Catherine Chalmers--Food Chain: Encounters Between Mates, Predators, and Prey is the first substantial survey of the photographs by this New York artist. Playing with scale and heightened drama, Chalmers has photo-graphed various insects she's raised up close and personal during a complex dance through the food chain. Caterpillar eats the tomato... praying mantis eats the caterpillar... tarantula eats the praying mantis, and so on. The insects are behaving naturally, but the range of seeming emotion is startling. Through May 22.

FRYE ART MUSEUM, 704 Terry Ave, 622-9250

Carlo Maria Mariani--An exhibition of paintings using neo-classical images to tackle contemporary dilemmas, entitled The Mysterious Enchantment of Beauty. Through June 27.

The Hermitage Group--Eight Russian contemporary artists who work and study at the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg. Through June 6.

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

Coming to Life--The Henry has featured a series of exhibitions focusing on the figure in art since the mid-century. This, the final installment, concentrates on the figure in American art with works by Diane Arbus, Willem DeKooning, Richard Diebenkorn, Philip Guston, Lucas Samaras, and more. Through June 13.

*Josiah McElheny--Renowned conceptual artist and glassblower McElheny was commissioned by the Henry to create a new installation. The result is An Historical Anecdote About Fashion, which includes dresses and textiles from the Henry collection alongside the artist's glass sculpture. One is wrapped in a web of deceit upon entry into an exhibition of the fictitious possessions of Italy's Paolo Venini and his couture-clad wife. Through May 30.

Allan Sekula--Fish Story is a perfect exhibition for Seattle--a series of photographs examining labor, life, and technology in port cities around the globe. The images are familiar but not inviting; instead a forceful, cool examination. Through May 16.

SEATTLE ART MUSEUM, 100 University St, 654-3100

*Chuck Close--Washington native and UW graduate Close exhibits 80 portrait paintings spanning 30 years. He gained international fame in the 1970s with a series of large-scale non-emotional airbrushed likenesses of his artist friends and family, and has continued to capture attention by remaining true to the portrait format while exploring a wide range of techniques and mediums. Working in oil, acrylic, watercolor, and pastel paintings, lithograph, serigraph, and woodblock prints, paper pulp, fingerprints, and even woven silk, Close's obsession with the face has taken him from photo-realism to figurative abstraction to minimalism. This exhibition travels here from the Museum of Modern Art. Through Sun May 9.

*The Virginia and Bagley Wright Collection of Modern Art--Over 100 works collected by these passionate, aggressive, and visionary Northwest collectors. Through Sun May 9.

SEATTLE ASIAN ART MUSEUM, 1400 E Prospect St, Volunteer Park, 654-3100

Flights of Fancy--Screens, scrolls, and lacquers pulled from the museum's collection in this exhibition about natural and supernatural imagery in Japanese art. Heads up for the flamesames of hell, dragons, cranes, horse-headed demons, and other fantastical visions, both evil and sublime. Through July 25.

Worlds of Fantasy: Chinese Shadow Puppets--Volunteer Park hosts more than 70 puppets from the 19th century. The majority of the exhibited works come from the collection of Theodore Bodde, who purchased the extraordinary objects while in Beijing in the 1930s. Chinese textiles with related themes will accompany. Ongoing.

TACOMA ART MUSEUM, 1123 Pacific Ave, Tacoma, 253-627-1898.

The Art Guys Again and Again--Art hijinks at their best. The Art Guys, Jack Massing and Michael Galbreth from Houston, take everyday objects and make hysterical sculptures, installations, and often performance-based pieces. TAM has pieces made of American cheese, 99 bottles of beer, and 1950s suitcases. Don't be surprised if you see the pair sporting their Todd Oldham suits with embroidered advertising plugs for companies like Absolut Vodka. Through July 25.

Sue Coe--A retrospective of prints featuring works from 1979 to the present. Coe is renowned for her hard- hitting, propaganda-filled prints dealing with subjects of controversy and high emotion. The violence of war and rape, the vulnerability of children, animal cruelty, and racial and social injustice are themes she tackles in a somewhat shocking, but always informative way. Through July 18.

OPENING

DAVID ANDERSON--A show entitled Pretty, Dumb Paintings, and I'll leave it at that. Accompanied by moderately more interesting paintings by Erik Geschke. Esther Claypool Gallery, 617 Western Ave, 264-1586. Thurs May 6 through May 29.

ALFREDO ARREGUIN--A Northwest treasure, Arreguin has spent a long career painting large-scale, densely textured works that ring of a Latin American vision of nature and its relationship with humanity. TULE Gallery, 316 First Ave S, 748-9904. Thurs May 6 through June 3.

*CARAPACE--A show dealing with the theme of "self-created armor" with works in various media by Siobhan Arnold, Leslie Clague, Elizabeth Jameson, Jennifer McNeely, Chanda Martin, and Sue Anne Rische. Project 416, 416 Occidental Ave S, 749-9220. Thurs May 6 through June 30.

*CYNTHIA CONNOLLY--A retrospective of photographic work by a D.C.-based artist who, along with creating her own work, has had photos published in magazines such as Paper, Index Speed Kills, and Punk Planet, and regular works for the inflamesuential record label Dischord. Milky World, 111 Battery, 374-0933. Sat May 8 through June 9.

DANGEROUS DOLLS--Curated by Lisa Petrucci, an exhibit featuring 13 West Coast women artists who deal with the issue of femininity in contemporary society through erotically charged pop-ish artworks. Roq La Rue, 2224 Second Ave, 399-6952. Sat May 8 through June 1.

*BETSY EBY--We are engulfed in a sea of wax here as every Northwest painter covers their work with beeswax, or begins to explore encaustics. It's a tired regional phase. Eby is one of the few utilizing the media who's not making a mess, but instead creating rich, luminous works. The abstracted boat forms dividing the compositions provide a conceptual vessel for interior and exterior exploration. Ballard Fetherston Gallery, 818 E Pike St, 322-9440. Wed May 5 through June 5.

LIAM EVERETT--Francine has a young painter. His name is Liam Everett, and he is outstanding. The paintings are mixed media on paper, and create a narrative incorporating figurative and abstract elements. They're honest works by an artist to watch for. Francine Seders Gallery, 6701 Greenwood Ave N, 782-0355. Fri May 7 through May 30.

WAYNE HARJULA/MIYUKI SHINKAI--A team of Vancouver, B.C. artists who have collaborated to create 3-D multi-media wall pieces with glass and kinetic components. LEAD Gallery, 1022 First Ave S, 623-6240. Thurs May 6 through May 29.

BOOTSY HOLLER/JIMMY MALECKI--Holler combines revealing self-portraits with poetry in mixed media works. Malecki presents black-and-white photos of local women in A Girlie Fashion Show. Proceeds go to benefit the Nonviolent Action Community of Cascadia. Healey Gallery, 7209 Greenwood Ave N, 789-8984. Fri May 7 through May 31.

RAYMOND KEMPE--Mixed media totems, animals, and sculptural objects. Zeitgeist, 161 S Jackson Ave. Thurs May 6 through June 2.

SALLY KIRK--Sculpture and paintings with fragile, angelic, figurative elements and strong earthbound components like graffiti and wire cages. Robbie Mildred Gallery, 307 E Pike St, 903-1246. Sat May 8 through June 10.

RICHARD LEWIS--Lewis places his naked figures in the misty Northwest woods alongside clothed onlookers in mural-sized photographs. FotoCircle Gallery, 163 S Jackson, Second Floor, 624-2645. Thurs May 6 through May 29.

*PATRICK LOCICERO--Illusion of Memory aptly suits a series of oil and collage works by an artist new to the Northwest. Look carefully. The elements you suppose are collaged are actually skillfully rendered, and it is the chaotic background that contains the mixed-media components. Crisp and clear, hats and sweet little bikes flamesoat on jumbled fields, much like the emergence of our favorite objects from jumbled memories. Grover Thurston Gallery, 309 Occidental Ave S, 223-0816. Thurs May 6 through May 29.

DANTE MARIONI--More tall, graceful, and very slick glass vessels. William Traver Gallery, 110 Union St, 587-6501. Thurs May 6 through May 30.

JEFFERSON PINDER--Likening himself to musicians that sample sounds, Pinder pulls images from print media, and fashions startling photomontage works that attempt to define the image of the "New Negro." In surreal contemporary settings, these complex compositions feature central characters who confront and question the viewing audience. Oculus Gallery, 163 S Jackson, Second Floor, 366-2108. Thurs May 6 through May 29.

PRINTS AND MULTIPLES--Prints by Jennifer Bartlett, Louise Bourgeois, Richard Diebenkorn, Helen Frankenthaler, Ann Hamilton, Roy Lichtenstein, Kerry James Marshall, Henri Matisse, Robert Motherwell, Sean Scully, Kiki Smith, and others. Greg Kucera Gallery, 212 Third Ave S, 624-0770. Thurs May 6 through May 29.

STEPHEN TALASNIK--An artist from New York who takes drawing seriously. Biomorphic and vaguely architectural, his objects are woven together, or bound and contained by other objects, making an incredibly complex composition filled with a satisfying amount of surface distressing. Davidson Gallery, 313 Occidental Ave S, 624-7684. Thurs May 6 through May 29.

BETHANY TAYLOR--The Usual Accessories includes conceptual pieces that deal with false identity and paintings inspired by a general search on the Internet using the word "carrier." SOIL, 310 First Ave S, 264-8016. Thurs May 6 through May 30.

WITHIN--The first exhibition curated by new executive director Christian French. He's lined up six installation artists, all of whom have presented site-specific works in Seattle in the last two years, to create new site-related pieces. Participating artists are Leslie Clague, Michelle Levesque, Yuki Nakamura, Erin Palmer, Anat Pollack, and Bridget Young. ArtSpace, 216 Alaskan Way S, 442-9365. Wed May 5 through May 30.

*PATRICK ZENTZ--This nationally renowned sculptor has installed three environmentally controlled sound sculptures at a Belltown alternative art space. Three instruments (a timpani, a stringed instrument, and a flamesute) are connected with receptors installed on the gallery roof that respond to the velocity, flamesuctuations and direction of wind activity. Suyama Space, 2324 Second Ave, 256-0809. Fri May 7 through July 2.

CONTINUING EXHIBITS

MARSHA BURNS--Another terrific collection of work by Burns, entitled Photographs from another place continued.... G. Gibson Gallery, 122 S Jackson St, 587-4033. Through May 15.

EXPOSURE--An exhibition celebrating the study of the human form in photography. Basically--nudes, nudes, nudes. Benham Gallery, 1216 First Ave, 622-2480. Through June 12.

RICHARD GILKEY--Paintings from the 1950s by this veteran Northwest artist. Works by Mark Tobey accompany. Kurt Litke Gallery, 318 Second Ave S, 623-5082. Through May 22.

*JON HADDOCK--Works from two captivating and distinctively different bodies. There are 20 digital c-prints from the series Internet Sex Photos in which the artist has downloaded images from amateur Internet porn and removed the sex act, pixel by pixel, leaving average, if not depressing, interiors. Accompanying is a group of socio-political "toys" from his American Fine Art Products International series. Howard House, 2017 Second Ave, 256-6399. Through May 31.

JEAN HICKS--Skin, a felt installation. Madrona Automatic, 1435 34th Ave, 329-7869. Through May 23.

JEFF MITCHELL--Where have you been, Jeff? New work by an artist who wraps social and sexual commentary up in the cuddliest bunnies and flamesowers you've ever seen. Hilariously naughty and deadly serious. Domestic Furniture, 1422 34th Ave, 323-0198. Through May 28.

OPEN CALL EXHIBITION--Jurors Larry Calkins and Alyssa Stevens chose a terrific group of artists from their open call, including Jennifer Carroll, Jennifer McNeely, Kathy Ross, Elizabeth Wong, Randy Wood, and more. The Pound Gallery, 1216 10th Ave, 726-8040. Through May 16.

RUTH SORENSEN--This little frame shop in Madison Valley has had a great run of shows this year, and this one is no exception. Sorensen proves she is an exceptional painter with a series of glowing oils, featuring displaced figures in surreal landscapes. Baas Gallery, 2703 E Madison, 324-4742. Through June 12.

TRES FLORES--Prints, drawings, and paintings by three of Mexico's leading female contemporary artists. Tule Gallery, 316 First Ave S, 748-9904. Through May 31.

EVENTS

Fourth Annual Greenwood/Phinney Artwalk--Neighborhood galleries have special exhibits, storefronts host installations, musicians play on the sidewalk, poets yammer in alleys, and children draw with chalk on anything and everything. Fun for all. Greenwood Ave between 65th and 87th. Fri May 7, 6--9:30 pm.

Catherine Murphy--Murphy's lecture, entitled Exploring Word and Image, Critical Discourse in Contemporary Art , will discuss her work and her "highly self-conscious pictorial language." University of Washington, Henry Gallery. Mon May 10, 7 pm.

Catherine Murphy and John Yau--A conversation with Murphy, a renowned painter and teacher at Yale University, and Yau, a widely published art critic and poet. University of Washington, Kane Hall, Wed May 12, 7:30 pm.

Public Art 101--Presented by the Seattle Arts Commission, this three-day national conference aims to educate city agencies, planners, and citizens on how to go from idea to reality in designing and funding public art programs for their own communities. Wed-Fri May 5-7. Call 684-7076 for more information.

Stokely Towles--In the spirit of the Art Guys, visual and performing artist Towles presents A Chaos Theory, a performance looking at the turbulent moments of his life. Tacoma Art Museum, (253) 272-4258. Thurs May 6, 7:30 pm.

*Y2BASH--The Henry celebrates its second anniversary in its new home with a blow-out party. More than 160 regional artists have donated works to be sold for $100 each. The press release promises music from "funk to surf." Tickets are $40. University of Washington, Henry Gallery. Sat May 8, 8 pm.

Patrick Zentz--Zentz lectures on his work, which consists of sculptural instruments that translate the forces of nature into sounds. This presentation coincides with a solo exhibit at the George Suyama art space. Seattle Art Museum, Thurs May 6, 7 pm.

OPPORTUNITIES

Box Populi--1. ArtSpace will be handing out stamped, numbered boxes to Seattle residents to fill with whatever they want. 2. The boxes are given to participating artists on First Thursday to make art referencing or incorporate the contents of the boxes. 3. On Sat June 26 the boxes are auctioned for a minimum of $50. 4. People buy the boxes and a great alternative space gets some support. For more information, please call 442-9365.

PHRESH--The Pacific Northwest Arts Council of the Seattle Art Museum announces the first biennial juried exhibition on the grounds of Bumbershoot, titled PHRESH. The focus is on fresh talent featuring the region's best up-and-coming artists. Trevor Fairbrother, Deputy Director of Art, is the juror. Call for a prospectus at 654-3119. Deadline for submission is June 7.

Washington State Lawyers for the Arts--Every second and fourth Monday from 6:30-8:30 pm, volunteer lawyers specializing in arts and entertainment law are available to answer questions. Artists may receive a private session for a suggested $15 donation. First-come, first-served; arrive early. For information call the Arts Legal Clinic at 328-7053.