NW GALLERIES

3D CENTER OF ART & PHOTOGRAPHY

"Avshalom Cave" by Yitzhak Weissman.
Stalactites a few meters in diameter photographed in a small cave outside the city of Beit Shemesh?  Oy ve!  What a talent to capture such beautiful things!  Ahf mir gezogt! 1928 NW Lovejoy St., 227-6667. Closes March 1. Map

BELLA PERLA GALLERY

Angelo Mauceri.
Picture Jimmy Mak’s cheesy imagery of grand pianos, collaged with sheet music à la eighth-grade art class, and you’ll get an idea how truly execrable Angelo Mauceri’s paintings are. For work this amateur to hang in a semi-respectable gallery in the Pearl District is sufficient cause to undermine, perhaps even quash, any human faith in the past, present or future of art. 327 NW 9th Ave., 222-1862. Closes Jan. 30. Map

BEPPU WIARDA

Curated by local art collector Leo Michelson, Winter Light is an energetic group show themed around light boxes, a perfect counterpoint to the dark January doldrums. Highlights include Dave Meeker’s Fuzzy Chiclet (gotta love the title), with its hundreds of tiny straws sticking porcupinelike out of a square of light; and TJ Norris’ ravishing blk_pwr. Is there any artist in town who combines compositional simplicity, semiabstract imagery, and a judicious deployment of color as well as Norris? The show’s one drawback: With 27 artists in this small space, it’s overhung. 319 NW 9th Ave., 241-6460. Closes Jan. 31. Map

BLACKFISH GALLERY

Judith Wyss.
With their quiet, reflective, borderline morose imagery (a woman staring through a window at birds alighting on bare branches), Judith Wyss’ stained and painted glass pieces have an existentialist feel, which is undermined by their unsophisticated presentation. One senses that the artist has something important to say but lacks the technical abilities to say it. 420 NW 9th Ave., 234-2634. Closes Jan. 31. Map

BULLSEYE GALLERY

Jeff Wallin.
In the spring of 2008, Portland artist Jeff Wallin went on a RACC-sponsored fellowship to Amsterdam. There he painted Dutch models using glass frit, in a manner that uncannily mimics techniques native to drawing and painting. The works have crackled surfaces, shot through with rivuletlike fissures, lending this series the feel of classical antiquity, with a touch of Peter Paul Rubens. 300 NW 13th Ave., 227-0222., 227-0222. Closes Jan. 31. Map

BUTTERS

Barbara Scheidler Bartholomew.
For 19 years, painter Barbara Scheidler Bartholomew showed her elegant, expressive paintings at Butters. In April 2007 she died of a heart attack at 65, but her work lives on in this superbly curated posthumous show. With an ability to balance gestural abandon with minimalist restraint, Bartholomew at her best channeled Adolph Gottlieb and Franz Kline, marrying iconic shapes, assured brushwork, and a mastery of negative space. 520 NW Davis St., 2nd floor., 248-9378. Closes Jan. 31. Map

CHAMBERS @ 916

Wesley Hurd.
This gallery’s new space is bare-bones verging on bleak. Wesley Hurd’s unassertive drawings on paper do nothing to liven the space up and may be the dullest, most yawnable work Chambers has ever mounted. 916 NW Flanders St., 227-9398. Closes Jan. 31. Map

CHARLES A. HARTMAN

Wayne F. Miller.
Ninety-year-old photographer Wayne F. Miller looks back in this pictorial memoir of the years 1942 to 1958. These pivotal years are reflected in Miller’s sure sense of composition and empathy for his subjects. 134 NW 8th Ave., 287-3886. Show runs Jan. 8-Feb. 21. Map

ELIZABETH LEACH GALLERY

Drake Deknatel.
The late Drake Deknatel is the subject of this thoughtful posthumous show, highlighted by the artist’s poignant depictions of a little boy wearing a grown man’s jacket. The expressiveness of Deknatel’s brush strokes and self-assured palette are matched by the humanity and complexity of his themes. The work is less engaging, however, in abstract and semi-abstract works. 417 NW 9th Ave., 224-0521. Show runs Jan. 8-Feb. 28. Map

FLOATING WORLD COMICS

Presence Presents Prescience.
Philosophy, introspection, and 27 different people pawning off their unique perspectives.  Throw in some PBR, a little weed, and a crappy part-time job, and you're back in college.  But aside from the PBR, college really wasn't so bad. 20 NW 5th Ave. Suite 101., 241-0227. Closes Feb. 5. Map

MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY CRAFT

The Ceramics of Gertrud and Otto Natzler.
Gertrud and Otto Natzler crafted ceramics together out of their Los Angeles-based studio for over 40 years. The Natzlers arrived in the U.S. in 1938 after fleeing Austria during World War II and created over 25,000 pieces of ceramic art during their tenure. Select pieces of the Natzler collection will be on display. 724 NW Davis St., 223-2654. Closes Jan. 25, 2009. Map

MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY CRAFT

Seattle artist Mandy Greer paints, crochets, beads, and braids together a full-room installation, inspired by Renaissance artist Jacopo Tintoretto's painting The Origin of the Milky Way. 724 NW Davis St., 223-2654. Map

MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY CRAFT

Professor Darrel Morris of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago is best known for his "snapshot-sized, thickly layered needleworks." In this show, Morris's embroidery sprawls across massive, nearly life-sized canvases. 724 NW Davis St., 223-2654. Map

OREGON NIKKEI LEGACY CENTER

Desert Sands: Photographs by Emily Hanako Momohara.
Photographer Emily Hanako Momohara draws inspiration for this exhibit from her family's experiences in the Japanese internment camp at Minidoka, in southern Idaho.  The sand and objects represent the hardships and loss of history that resulted from the incarceration. 121 NW 2nd Ave.,., 224-1458. Closes March 15. Map

PDX CONTEMPORARY ART

Nancy Lorenz.
Nancy Lorenz’s new show is a mixed bag. In works such as the pitter-patter Cill Railaig and the virtuoso Reclining Buddha, her extravagant media (mother-of-pearl, lacquers, and metallic leafs) impart a winning luxuriance. Elsewhere, her compositional sense falters; her figurative pieces seem hackneyed; and when she essays landscape, she falls short. Still, when her technique and subject matter cohere, the results are astonishingly beautiful. 925 NW Flanders St., 222-0063. Closes Jan. 31. Map

PNCA

Robert Hanson and Molly Dilworth.
Robert Hanson is obsessed with the human head, hence his ongoing project called "BEAUTIES" for which he draws pictures of the heads of three different models.  Molly Dilworth also likes the human head, but instead of drawing it, she creates a set of experiments to explore her own brain and calls the project "Dispersion."  Sounds like a "heady" experience!  1241 NW Johnson St., 226-4391. Closes Feb. 20. Map

SW GALLERIES

AUGEN GALLERY

Utopia, the title of this group show, is also the name of the town in Central Australia where these paintings were made. A splendid group show by Aboriginal artists, the paintings display the myriad dots, earth tones and semi-abstract imagery typical of this genre. They portray traditional stories and narratives of the mystical cosmology known as “dreamtime.” 817 SW 2nd Ave., 224-8182. Closes Jan. 30. Map

BRODERICK GALLERY

Fire & Ice.
Everyone responds differently to the same stimuli, and that is what 29 artists are trying to convey in the newest show at Broderick Gallery. 15800 SW Upper Boones Ferry Rd, Ste 120., 684-5511. Closes Feb. 18. Map

FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH

Night and Day.
Alan Pierce's exhibition looks interesting, but his personal story is even more captivating.  An artist currently living in Portland, Pierce was raised in Indonesia, studied in Paris, and his travels have taken him to 25 different countries. 1126 SW Park Ave., Closes Jan. 31. Map

INDEPENDENT PUBLISHING RESOURCE CENTER

The story of two local tiny printing companies—Loaded Hips Press and Red Bat Press—told in a collection of small woodblock, lino-cut, and letterpress prints from the company founders Shannon Buck and Carye Bye. 917 SW Oak St., No. 218., 827-0249. Map

LEWIS & CLARK COLLEGE

reGeneration: 50 Photographers of Tomorrow.
There appears to be no real theme of this exhibit, which is what makes it so interesting.  All of the photos are different to the point of being unrelated, making shows with a prevading theme seem trite in comparison. 0615 SW Palatine Road., 768-7000. Closes March 15. Map

MARK WOOLLEY GALLERY

In the three-person show Land, Air, and Sea, Trish Grantham contributes childlike imagery in faded hues for an effect that is over-produced but visually underwhelming. Evan B. Harris’ works are fantastical, with a neo-surrealist bent, while Amy Ruppel’s visual vocabulary seems to borrow a page from the Brenden Clenaghen book of drip-droppy motifs. As a whole, the show feels fresh and stronger than the sum of its parts. 817 SW 2nd Ave., 224-5475. Closes Feb. 28. Map

PORTLAND ART MUSEUM

Apex: MK Guth.
For Ties of Protection and Safe Keeping, artist MK Guth asks people, “What is worth protecting?” Their answers are written on countless red flannel ribbons and interbraided with over a quarter-mile of synthetic golden hair, a reference to the Rapunzel fairy tale. Guth's Apex was featured in the Whitney Biennial and appeared on the front page of The New York Times' Weekend Arts section. 1219 SW Park Ave., 226-0973. Closes Feb. 28. Map

READING FRENZY

Meeting Modernity.
Former Portlander Ian Lynam returns to town with a grip of found Japanese photography taken during the Meiji and Taisho periods. The collection was discovered outside the city of Sano. 921 SW Oak St., 274-1449. Show runs Jan. 8-Feb. 1. Map

THE KINGSTAD CENTER

ArtPeace:PeaceArt.
Artists take a stand against war and celebrate the comforts of religion and home.  Mediums such as sculpture, mosaic, and painting will be used to promote global peace. 15450 SW Millikan Way, Beaverton., 626-6338. Closes March 7. Map

NORTH PDX GALLERIES

NE GALLERIES

LEWIS & CLARK COLLEGE

reGeneration: 50 Photographers of Tomorrow.
There appears to be no real theme of this exhibit, which is what makes it so interesting.  All of the photos are different to the point of being unrelated, making shows with a prevading theme seem trite in comparison. 0615 SW Palatine Road., 768-7000. Closes March 15. Map

PORTLAND INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT

Art on Display from Pacific Northwest Sculptors.
Got some time to kill before your flight leaves?  Head over to Concourse E, where ticketed passengers can view 13 sculptures created by artists from the Pacific Northwest.  These pieces, made from various materials like metal and stone, can be found in the artOBJECTS case. 7000 NE Airport Way., 460-4040. Closes June 15. Map

SE GALLERIES

CHAOS CAFE & PARLOR

Visions and Voices: Black and White Photographs by Diverse Women Working in the Sex Industry.
Sex workers have needs, too.  And I hate to tell you, but she was lying when she said that you were all she wanted for Christmas. 2620 SE Powell Blvd., 546-8112. Closes Jan. 30. Map

GOODFOOT

Art of Musical Maintenance V.
Goodfoot celebrates its fifth installment of national rock-poster awesomeness with a collectible book showcasing the finest from designers Guy Burwell, Mike King and more. KELLY CLARKE. Goodfoot, 2845 SE Stark St., 239-9292. Opening party 5 pm Thursday, Dec. 4. Art show is free. Book is $35. 2845 SE Stark St., 239-9292. Closes Jan. 26. Map

LAUNCH PAD

Apples.
Curator Jamie Watson refers to the artists as apple seeds.  The fruit that they bear is their artwork. This is where the fruit theme kind of deteoriates - somehow the apples are going to show interconnectedness and friendship through communication with one another.  Talking apples, huh? 534 SE Oak St., 971-227-0072. Closes Feb. 1. Map

NEW AMERICAN ART UNION

Laura Fritz.
Eerie, haunting and enigmatic, the luminescent sculptural installations of Laura Fritz do not readily give up their secrets. Past artworks have mimicked the movement of insects and cats on light boxes, and simulated the slow undulations of sea urchins. Whatever she does with the large NAAU space, count on it to be thought-provoking and borderline creepy. 922 SE Ankeny St., Closes Feb. 22. Map

NEW AMERICAN ART UNION

With her creepily clinical work, Portland artist Laura Fritz leaves you disoriented, curious, perhaps even repulsed, and above all scratching your head, saying, “Whaa?” When you enter Evident’s darkened, vaguely sinister exhibition space, you see only a black wardrobe cabinet, its door ajar, and a black box riddled with holes—shooting rays of light outward and upward onto the gallery walls. The images they’re projecting on the walls are bugs. In her own way Fritz is a scientist, a psychologist, a sociologist who sets up absurdist situations and then watches us react. Evident leaves you wanting more. 922 SE Ankeny St., Closes Feb. 22. Map

OMSI

Presentation by "Secrets of Mona Lisa" Creator Pascal Cotte.
Cotte explored how the Mona Lisa looked before touch-ups and preservation techniques were applied.  Using a 240 million pixel camera, he came up with 13 photos of the Mona Lisa pre-alterations.  At this presentation, he discusses the fruits of his labor.  ("Secrets of Mona Lisa" is part of a larger exhibit called "Da Vinci: The Genius," which opens at OMSI on Jan. 31.) 1945 SE Water Ave., 797-4000. 7 pm. Reservations required, call 797-4634. Map

PUSHDOT

You Were a Perfect Gentleman.
Animator Zak Margolis shows off the grandparents of his "moonbabies," which are a set of twins birthed by a wolf.  Is your curiosity piqued yet? 1021 SE Caruthers St., 224-5925. Closes Jan. 30. Map