BELLEVUE ART MUSEUM

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

PACIFIC NORTHWEST ANNUAL 2001

LAST CHANCE! Traditionally one of the best local annuals, this year juried by Sue Spaid, curator of the Contemporary Arts Center in Cincinnati. With works by 41 regional artists. Through Jan 6.

* 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. 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.

FRYE ART MUSEUM

704 Terry Ave, 622-9250

THE RUSSIAN CONNECTION

Paintings and drawings by Fechin, Bongart, and Gaspard. Through Feb 17.

WITNESS AND LEGACY: CONTEMPORARY ART ABOUT THE HOLOCAUST

How can art represent tragedy on a grand scale? What can be derived from it? What can be learned? Answers--perhaps--here. Through Jan 13.

HENRY ART GALLERY

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

* JEFFRY MITCHELL: HANABUKI

LAST CHANCE! In Hanabuki, ideas abound: contemplation vs. participation, fragments vs. whole, East vs. West, puns, bears, movement. It's a two-level installation loosely tied to ideas of heaven and earth, with a fur-lined cave below and clean white ikebana above. Through Jan 6.

* SHORT STORIES

A series of staggered rotating exhibitions that includes work from the Henry's permanent collection, commissioned projects, and installations. Work currently featured includes photographed drawings in sugar, chocolate, and dirt by Vik Muniz. Through May 12.

* SUPERFLAT

Contemporary Japanese art in the pop art vein, from work influenced by comics culture (manga and anime) to erotic doodles and weirdly blank photography. Superflat was curated by artist Takashi Murakami--of the wonderful Mr. DOB and a recent balloon installation in New York's Grand Central Terminal--who nurses a theory that the privileging of line over form is nothing new in Japanese art, but rather looks back to 14th-century scrolls, screens, and paintings. Through March 3.

MUSEUM OF FLIGHT

9404 E Marginal Way S, 764-5720

2001: BUILDING FOR SPACE TRAVEL

An exhibition developed in collaboration with the Art Institute of Chicago about changes in space design. What influences these changes? How is it that popular culture influences something as serious as space travel? Wait and see. Through May 15.

NORDIC HERITAGE MUSEUM

3014 67th St NW, 789-3271

ABANDONINGS

Photographs of abandoned homesteads, which bring to mind that quote about all buildings being future ruins. Through Jan 13.

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.

ANNIE LEIBOVITZ: WOMEN

LAST--God help us--CHANCE! Photographs of women from all walks of life. Leibovitz gained her high profile with her Rolling Stone and Vanity Fair covers, but these images are anything but sensational; rather they are quiet, powerful, and even ordinary. Through Jan 6.

ANNA SKIBSKA

Insisting on the delicacy of glass, Skibska stretches it into intricate webs. Through Feb 17.

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.

WASHINGTON STATE HISTORY MUSEUM

1911 Pacific Ave, Tacoma, (888) 238-4373

STUFF AND JUNK: THE STORY OF A BRICOLEUR

An assemblage by Eastern Washington sculptor Harold Balazs, best known for his public art: enormous gate-like structures in enamel, metal, and concrete. Through Sept.

WING LUKE ASIAN MUSEUM

407 Seventh Ave S, 623-5124

IF TIRED HANDS COULD TALK: STORIES OF ASIAN GARMENT WORKERS

Tired hands can't talk, but a series of videos, oral history interviews, and an installation re-creating the working conditions of Asian immigrant workers can. Through Feb.

WRIGHT EXHIBITION SPACE

407 Dexter Ave N, 264-8200

A CELEBRATION OF ABSTRACT ART

From the Wrights' collection, with work by Sol Le Witt, Kenneth Noland, Jules Olitski, Gerhard Richter, and others. Ongoing run.

OPENING EXHIBITONS

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. Opening reception Fri Jan 4, 7-9 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. Opening reception Sat Jan 5, 7 pm. Victrola Coffee, 411 15th Ave E, 325-6520. Through Jan 31.

BEACON HILL PRINTMAKERS

See Stranger Suggests. 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.

RICHARD BEERHORST

Portraits and still lifes that are--wait for it--optimistic. Opening reception Thurs Jan 3, 6-8 pm. Esther Claypool Gallery, 617 Western Ave, 264-1586. Through Feb 9.

GEORGE J. BRANDT

Mixed media, personal/spiritual journeys, disemboweled doll. Opening reception Thurs Jan 3, 6-8 pm. Mary Vitold Gallery, 110 S Washington St, 624-9336. Through Feb 2.

NORAH FLATLEY

A sculptural narrative of the Smith Tower--clever, since in exhibiting in the Smith Tower, the work becomes part of the narrative in an endless reflexive loop. Opening reception Thurs Jan 3, 6-8 pm. King County Gallery, 506 Second Ave, room 200, 296-7580. Through Jan 25.

MEMBERS' EXHIBITION

Juried by Marsha Burns. Opening reception Fri Jan 4, 6-8 pm. Photographic Center Northwest, 900 12th Ave, 720-7222. Through Jan 30.

LAMONT MUDD

Pop culture and other fleeting sensations, captured in painting. Opening reception Thurs Jan 3, 6-9 pm. dirtworks gallery, 214 First Ave S, lower level, 625-4101. Through Jan 31.

NORTHWEST PRINTMAKERS: 1900-1060

See Stranger Suggests. Even more prints, this time from well-known and less well-known artists, such as Roi Partridge, Glen Alps (who created the hate-it-or-love-it sculpture formerly on the site of the future Civic Center), and Pauline Johnson. Martin-Zambito Fine Art, 721 E Pike St, 726-9509. Through Feb 6.

LAURA JANE PETELKO

Two photographic documentaries. Opening reception Sat Jan 5, 6-9 pm. Artemis Gallery, 3107 S Day St, 323-0562. Through Jan 31.

MELANIE REED, D.A. JONES

Surrealism times two. Opening reception Fri Jan 4, 6-8 pm. JEM Studios, 1205 S Vale St (Georgetown), 767-3166. Through Jan 28.

INEZ STORER

New paintings in Fantasies/Lies. Opening reception Thurs Jan 3, 6-8 pm. Grover/Thurston Gallery, 309 Occidental Ave S, 223-0816. Through Feb 14.

CONTINUING EXHIBITIONS

* GARTH AMUNDSON

In this window installation, there are a couple of dozen cameras outfitted with hand-sewn plastic-bottle lenses--some more emphatically telephoto than others, if you get my drift. The prevailing idea here is how lenses distort vision, how vision distorts reality, and how debatable reality actually is. It's a bit tantalizingly painful that none of the resultant photographs are shown; the imagination reels. Seattle Art Museum Rental/Sales Gallery, 1334 First Ave, 748-9282. Through Jan 7.

* THE BUNNY CHRONICLES

Hooray! It's back! Don't miss Tomiko Jones' adventures of the lonely, angry, wistful bunny-girl. Glazer's Camera Rental & Lighting, 517 Dexter Ave N, 233-0211. Through Jan 12.

COLOR

Artists who... use it. A rotating exhibit with Rich Morhous, Jan Erion, Fulgencio Lazo Amaya, Joe Max Emminger, Ben Darby, Matthew Dennison, and Lois Silver. Seattle Art Museum Rental/Sales Gallery, 1334 First Ave, Suite 140, 654-3240. Through Jan 5.

BARBARA DePIRRO

Environments explored through photography and painting. Still Life in Fremont Coffeehouse, 709 E 35th St, 547-9850. Through Jan 22.

MARK DITZLER, BILL AND DONITA DAVIES, DEBORAH BIGELOW-JOHNSON

Glass and more glass. Columbia City Gallery, 4916 Rainier Ave S, 760-9843. Through Jan 15.

DONALD FELS

Audio memoirs of growing up with plywood, plus a big ol' installation. Jack Straw Productions, 4261 Roosevelt Way NE, 634-0919. Through Feb 28.

SIMONA FOGGITT

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

* HELEN GAMBLE, TIM DETWEILER, OTTO YOUNGERS

Gamble rarely fails to make her sculpture take up space--weighty, striking, hard to ignore. With enormous wood sculptures by Younger, and a mixed-media work by Detweiler. Commencement Art Gallery, 902 Commerce St, Tacoma, (253) 591-5341. Through Jan 10.

ANNIE GRGICH

Twelve years of Grgich's work--intensely layered, intensely personal--which has its roots in the punk scenes and zines of Portland and San Francisco. Garde Rail Gallery, 4860 Rainier Ave S, 721-0107. Through Jan 26.

GROUP SHOW

With Larry Bemm, C. Blake Haygood, Elizabeth Jameson, Nan Johnson, and others. Ballard/Fetherston Gallery, 818 E Pike St, 322-9440. Through Jan 5.

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.

DEBORAH HORRELL

An exploration of vessels as metaphors. Elliott Brown Gallery, 215 Westlake Ave N, 340-8000. Through Jan 26.

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.

DIANN KNEZOVICH

New spaces created by altering photographs of architectural and landscape elements. Francine Seders Gallery, 6701 Greenwood Ave N, 782-0355. Through Jan 13.

* 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.

THE MEXICANA SHOW

The gallery's usual prankster-artists (Jim Blanchard, David Tupper, Cook & Walsh) take on Mexi-kitsch (wrestlers! little dogs!). Roq la Rue, 2224 Second Ave, 374-8977. Through Jan 2002.

FRANK OKADA, KATHRYN VAN DYKE

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. Van Dyke's amazing mirror installation, Knowing You, Knowing Me, is a postmodern hall of mirrors: hundreds of tiny little mirrors, regularly spaced apart on invisible monofilament line to create a four-walled room. From such a simple premise comes such a refraction of meaning and visual experience that one feels truly through the looking glass. Greg Kucera Gallery, 212 Third Ave S, 624-0770. Through Feb 2.

CHRISTOPHER PALMS

Photographs from over 15 years of shooting. KALO Gallery, 214 First Ave S, #B8, 781-7786. Through Jan 27.

* PAUSE

A sound and video installation by Heather Dew Oaksen and Norie Sato, who investigated through film simultaneous 10-second pockets of time at opposite ends of the world. Suyama Space, 2324 Second Ave, 256-0809. Through Jan 4.

CRAIG POZZI

Reflections on the bounty, excess, and capitalistic scourge of the American mall. Little Theatre Gallery, 608 19th Ave E, 675-2055. Through Jan 26.

RESIDENT ARTIST HOLIDAY EXHIBIT

With featured work by Alan Pogue and Phil Borges. Benham Photography, 1216 First Ave, 622-2480. Through Jan 12.

SEATTLE COLLECTS 2001

The Seattle Arts Commission's Seattle Collects program acquires work for the city's portable works collection. This year's honorees are Jennifer Dixon, Dai Giang, Tom Hall, Mary Iverson, Joel Lee, Victoria Haven, Blake Haygood, and Glenn Rudolph. The Gallery, Key Tower Building (Cherry St and Fifth Ave), 3rd floor, 684-7312. Through Jan 11.

JUNIPER SHUEY

This boy gets around (SOIL, ConWorks, Sand Point)--and he's only just finished his BFA at UW!--but that's not the reason to keep an eye on him. Here, he shows documentation of his performances, which seem at times designed for maximum discomfort, both for artist and audience. Nation Gallery, 1921 Fifth Ave, 374-9492. Through Jan 6.

STEPPING FROM THE SHADOWS

IMC's latest art venture brings graffiti artists from around the country inside--with works on canvas and installation projects by PARS (of the sad children in the scary and carnivorous urban landscapes), Cause-B (of the revolutionary heroes and sexy kittens), and Amir H. Fallah (a writer whose graffiti runs backward, like Farsi), among others. Independent Media Center Gallery, 1415 Third Ave, 262-0721. Through Jan 31.

* TRANSMOGRIFIED

Other curators have meditated on the intersection of science and art, the Benjaminesque implications of mechanical reproduction, and the through-the-looking-glass world of things that were formerly too small (or too hidden) to see. Here is Jim Harris' take, with the work of four exceptional Seattle artists (Claire Cowie, Patrick Holderfield, Susan Robb, and Ephraim Russell) and Stephanie Syjuco from San Francisco. James Harris Gallery, 309A Third Ave S, 903-6220. Through Jan 19.

* PATTI WARASHINA

This is Warashina's first solo show in Seattle in a decade; here, she focuses on the human body as seen in ancient history with sculptures that create a point on a visual timeline. Howard House, 2017 Second Ave, 256-6399. Through Jan 26.

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

CINEMA REMIX

See Stranger Suggests. An event featuring the great future merge of all art forms: music, film, performance, art. Thurs Jan 3 at 8 pm at the Little Theatre, 608 19th Ave E, 675-2055. Tickets $10.