Want more? Here's everything we recommend this month: Music, Visual Art, Literature, Performance, Film, and Food.

Peter Ferguson + John Brophy + Jean Labourdette

Dec 12–Jan 10

Three solo shows under one roof at Roq La Rue offer paintings of the jaw-dropping ilk. Each artist wields the paintbrush like a Dutch master, and each delves headlong into the realm of dark fairy tale with their unique twist. Montreal-based Peter Ferguson (described as “Norman Rockwell meets H.P. Lovecraft”) offers luminous (yet somehow dim) visions of sepia-drunk cityscapes and other scenes frozen in time that send the mind spiraling in search of a story. Jean Labourdette’s hyperrealistic miniatures of birds, skulls, and other ephemera are often only two or three inches in size, encased in vintage hinged gilt wood casings or antique reliquaries. John Brophy’s oil paintings of characters seem to glow from within: The shimmer of gathered fabrics, reflecting pools of satin, gloss of grass, and threads of delicate pointelle lace will have you hopelessly, luxuriously lost in the details. (Roq La Rue) AMANDA MANITACH

Equinox Studios: 19th Annual Very Open House

Dec 13

For nearly two decades, Equinox Studios in Georgetown has been a hub for arts. Sited in a World War II-era factory, the complex oozes that Georgetown gearhead grit and realness and is home to over 150 artists, from dancers and ceramicists to blacksmiths and painters (such as the brilliant Beth Gehan and Mary Ann Peters). We know that Georgetown loves to throw a good party, and this December iteration of the Georgetown Art Attack will be one for the books, as it syncs up with the Equinox open house (the annual event usually draws 6-8k visitors). Festivities this year include a pop-up Native Art Market, a host of food trucks, and artist-made fire pits scattered through the block. Live music starts at 4 p.m. with nance!, Flesh Produce, the Noble Manes, Bandski, Sirens of Serpentine Bellydancers, Night Owl, Town Forest, and Lil Lebowsxi. And since it’s Georgetown, of course there will also be a renegade marching band on the premises. (Equinox Studios, 3 pm–late) AMANDA MANITACH

Dan Webb: Yespalier

Jan 8–Feb 21

Dan Webb is a woodcarver—the old fashioned kind who chips away slowly at a tree, through sap and heart and bark, to draw things out. His melting chairs and busts draped in luxurious fabric-y folds speak to a mastery of the medium, as well as a playful sensibility that coaxes unexpected meaning from a blank block. Despite the trompe l’oeil playfulness, the wood-ness of Webb’ s sculptures is always felt; the tree is present. Like Michelangelo’s non finito Prisoners emerging from their stone, Webb’s subjects feel as though they’ve willed themselves into being, emerging from the raw pith of the earth. In Yespalier (a portmanteau of yes and espalier—the ancient horticultural technique in which fruit trees are trained along a frame to direct their growth) Webb has created a body of work that is less planned, more improvisational and sketchy. How does one “sketch” with wood? By starting with a simple square frame and carving inward. The resulting sculptures are delightfully meandering, surreal, and all over the place in the best way. (Greg Kucera Gallery) AMANDA MANITACH

Merlantis, or the Great Pacific Garbage Patch

Opens Jan 30

What lies beneath the Great Pacific Garbage Patch? An underwater city loosely based on Seattle and built of fallen trash, of course. While “the damaging effects of commodification and rampant capitalism on our planet” sound like heavy themes for troubled times, this exhibition put on by the group True Misschiff promises to handle the subject with campy panache in an attempt to “normalize non-normative approaches to life and gender” through the adventures of characters like Brosiedon, the douchey ruler of the merpeople. Base Camp 2 has recently restructured its exhibition timeline to focus on four big shows a year, which is great news, as the massive old luggage store space lends itself to immersive worlds such as Merlantis promises to be. In addition to ticketed events and cabaret performances (sponsored by the fictional corporation Blissfish), there will be art for sale, a thematic gift shop, and more fishy shenanigans available through March. (Base Camp 2) AMANDA MANITACH

More

Face Time: Joey Brock, Gary Hill, and Mickalene Thomas Through Dec 19, James Harris Gallery, free

Hello Again: Fresh From the Back Room Through Dec 20, Greg Kucera Gallery, free

Jen Ament: Headtrip Through Dec 20, Spectrum Fine Art, free

Timea Tihanyi Through Dec 20, Greg Kucera Gallery, free

Emily Tanner-McLean: Let your karma be your dharma Through Jan 3, Shift Gallery, free

Scott Coffey: Going on a Walk at the End of the World Through Jan 3, Shift Gallery, free

Asian Comics: Evolution of an Art Form Through Jan 4, MoPOP

Tariqa Waters: Venus Is Missing Through Jan 4, Seattle Art Museum, Wed–Sun

Storytellers: A Group Exhibition Through Jan 6, Stonington Gallery, free

Thirty Years, A Thousand Stories Through Jan 17, ArtX Contemporary, free

Beau Dick: Insatiable Beings Through Jan 18, Frye Art Museum, free

Farm to Table: Art, Food, and Identity in the Age of Impressionism Through Jan 18, Seattle Art Museum

Cultured Commodities: Photographs from the Henry Collection Through Jan 28, Henry Art Gallery, free

Aisha Harrison: Porous Body Through Feb 22, Bainbridge Island Museum of Art, free

New Nordic: Cuisine, Aesthetics, and Place Through Mar 8, National Nordic Museum

Boren Banner Series: Camille Trautman Through Apr 12, Frye Art Museum, free

Priscilla Dobler Dzul: Water Carries the Stories of Our Stars Through Apr 19, Frye Art Museum, free

Jonathan Lasker: Drawings and Studies Through Sept 27, Frye Art Museum, free

A Room for Animal Intelligence Through Nov 1, Seattle Art Museum

Ten Thousand Things Through Spring 2027, Wing Luke Museum

Ash-Glazed Ceramics from Korea and Japan Through July 12, 2027, Seattle Art Museum

Ai Weiwei: Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads (Bronze) Through Oct 2027, Olympic Sculpture Park, free

Gossip: Between Us Ongoing, Tacoma Art Museum

Haunted Ongoing, Tacoma Art Museum

Cut, Stitch, Liminal - Curated by Trung Pham Opens Dec 4, SOIL, free

The One-Two Punch: 100 Years of Robert Colescott Opens Dec 4, Tacoma Art Museum

The Game Show Opens Dec 12, The Vestibule, free

Panic Room: Jeju Island.Artist Collective Opens Jan 3, The Vestibule, free

Marjorie Thompson: New Works Opens Jan 6, Patricia Rovzar Gallery, free

Dan Webb: Yespalier Opens Jan 8, Greg Kucera Gallery, free

Sara Jimenez: Why should our bodies end at the skin? Opens Jan 9, MadArt, free

Chris Kallmyer: Song Cycle Opens Jan 10, Seattle Art Museum

Crystalline Lens - Curated by Allyce Wood Opens Jan 23, SOIL, free

Qiu Zhijie: Map of the History of Science and Technology Opens Jan 28, Olympic Sculpture Park, free

Early Warnings

Samantha Yun Wall: What We Leave Behind Opens Feb 5, Seattle Art Museum

Beyond Mysticism: The Modern Northwest Opens Mar 5, Seattle Art Museum

Monochrome: Calder and Tara Donovan Opens May 13, Seattle Art Museum