Events
SURREALIST BALL Celebrate New Year’s Eve with this benefit for the Fremont Arts Council. Features a Haute Trash Fahion Show, R&B from StingShark, art creations from a half-dozen artists, a “melting clock,” and, obviously, more. Essential Chocolate Factory, N. 34th St. and Phinney Ave. N., 675-1208, www.surrealistball.com, $20 adv./$25 door. 9 p.m.-3 a.m. Wed. Dec. 31.
Last Chance
BENHAM “Interpretations of Light:” flashy photographs by University of Washington alumni Michael Gesinger and longtime photographer Bruce Barnbaum. 1216 First Ave., 206-622-2480. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tues.-Sat.; 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Sun. Ends Wed. Dec. 24.
BLUEBOTTLE Celebrating one year of weird fridge magnets, percolator lamps, and heaps of affordable stuff by undiscovered artists, Bluebottle stages its first annual holiday bash. On offer: gallery owner Matthew Porter’s latest series of cartoony paintings based on obscure entertainments (this time masked Mexican wrestlers) and all manner of cards, ornaments, and objects by locals. 415 E. Pine St., 206-325-1592. 1 p.m.-7 p.m. Tue.-Fri., noon-6 p.m. Sat.-Sun. Ends Wed. Dec. 31
CAROLYN STALEY Recent acquisitions of ukiyo-e and modern Japanese prints on display include kacho-ga (bird and flower subjects) by Ohara Koson and Jun’ichiro Sekino’s Suizokukan (Aquarium), a rare commodity since it was achieved with a cumbersome 30-step process that destroys the printing block after only one print is made. 314 Occidental Ave., 206-621-1888. 10:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Tue.-Sat. Ends Wed. Dec. 31.
LINDA HODGES Solo exhibitions by two Seattle artists: Gillian Theobald, whose new series of spiritual paintings pay tribute to earth, air, fire, and water; and Jack Chevalier of Vashon Island, whose large wooden surfaces are bursting with paint, geometric figures, and elements that extend beyond two dimensions. 316 First Ave. S., 206-624-3034. 10:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Tues.-Sat.
LISA HARRIS Working with a palette knife rather than brushes, Northwest painter Ed Kamuda achieves a rough-hewn, childlike stylecreating spiritual landscapes with echoes of Paul Klee and Kamuda’s mentor, Guy Anderson. 1922 Pike Pl., 206-443-3315. 10:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Mon.-Sat.; 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Sun. Ends Mon. Dec. 29.
PITCAIRN SCOTT Jessalyn Haggenjos’ still lifes of fruit, old bottles, and garbage. 2207 Second Ave., 206-448-5380. 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Tues.-Sat. Ends Tues. Dec. 30.
PRICELESS WORKS Eric Olson’s dizzying dot paintings. Olson generates randomly distributed patterns of dots in various colors via computer, then hand-paints the resulting matrix of chaos and order, aiming for a long, rational derangement of the visual. 619 N. 35th St., Suite 100, 206-349-9943. Noon-7 p.m. Fri.-Sun. Ends. Wed. Dec. 31.
Galleries
BRYAN OHNO Seattle artist Lisa Buchanan’s elegant abstract paintings percolate, bubble, and grid in pleasing compositions, while Junko IIjima, in “Hybrids,” takes shapes that look vaguely like consumer products and places them in “high art” settings: on pedestals or a Zen sand garden. 155 S. Main St., 206-667-9572. 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Tues.-Sat.
CDA GALLERY Tucked away in the Smith Tower, an exhibit at the county’s excellent venue for unrepresented artists takes a self-referential look at CDA’s home building. Local artist Ellen Sollod brings together three other artists (Don Fels, Jack Mackie and Buster Simpson) to create “Thinking in Public.” 506 Second Ave., Suite 200 (Smith Tower), 206-296-7580. 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Mon-Fri.
GREG KUCERA “Images from the Inside,” a retrospective Bruce Davidson’s career, demonstrates why this photographer is acclaimed as one of the most influential of the past century. There’s a little bit of everything from Davidson’s four-decade career: searing accounts of the Civil Right movement, scenes from his legendary series documenting urban poverty, including “Brooklyn Gang, 1959,” and recent images of two very different urban locales: Central Park and Las Vegas. 212 Third Ave., 206-624-0770. 10:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Tues.-Sat.
JAMES HARRIS In Ramona Trent’s first solo show in Seattle, the photographer poses women in contemplative settings, with a nod to Cindy Sherman’s ironic glamour self-portraits of the 1980s. The result is a series of strangely melancholy vignettes deconstructing what it means to be feminine. 309A Third Ave., 206-903-6220. 10:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Tues.-Sat.
MARTIN-ZAMBITO Rare early-career works by twentieth century Northwest artists, including a nude study of artist Guy Anderson in the 1930s by Morris Graves. 721 E. Pike St., 206-726-9509. 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Tue.-Sat.
SOLOMON FINE ART In “Reserved,” eight local artists eschew bombast for understatement and subtlety in both subject matter and execution. Featured artists include Mark Dombrowsky and Chris St. Clair. 1215 First Ave., 206-297-1400. 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Mon.-Sat.
WASHINGTON STATE CONVENTION & TRADE CENTER Works by 50 Cornish College alumni, including Jennifer McNeely, Rich Lehl, and Dan Webb (the 2003 winner of Seattle Art Museum’s Betty Bowen award.) 800 Convention Pl., 206-694-5000. 8 a.m.-10 p.m. daily.
WILLIAM TRAVER Big, glass-and-steel chandeliers and other glass objects by James Mongrain. 110 Union St., second floor, 206-587-6501. 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Mon.-Fri.; 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Sat.; noon-5 p.m. Sun.
WINSTON WăHTER High-modernist abstract canvases and works on paper by New York-born artist Caio Fonseca. 403 Dexter Ave. N., 206-652-5855, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tues.-Sat.
Museums
FRYE ART MUSEUM What would Velazquez paint if he were a twenty-first century American born in Georgia? I’m not sure, but Bo Bartlett seems to think he has the answer. A student of Andrew Wyeth, Bartlett’s images are realistic, tightly structured and loaded with theatrics. There’s a palpable sense of mystery and foreboding in such paintings as “Homecoming.” For my taste, there’s just enough weirdness in Bartlett’s work to make it compelling. Meanwhile, Chinese expat Zhi Lin’s “Five Capital Executions in China” brings a brutal realism to the topic of inhumanity. In “Starvation,” a crowd of revelers feasts ravenously, oblivious to the torture in their midst. It’s like Auden once saidsuffering always takes place “while some one else is eating or opening a window or just dully walking along.” Perfect for the kids! Also on display, “Watermarks” features depictions of the world’s waters by wandering painter Tony Foster. 704 Terry Ave., 206-622-9250. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tues.-Sat.; noon-5 p.m. Sun.; 10 a.m.-8 p.m. Thurs.
HENRY ART GALLERY In addition to Lee Bul’s “Live Forever” karaoke pods, James Turrell’s “Knowing Light” has been extended into February, and if you haven’t treated yourself to these magnificent rooms of pure color and light, you need to stop making excuses and go. “Architecture and Light” showcases some rather sterile but technically interesting photographs from the Henry Monsen collection, while Victoria Haven’s “Supermodel City” is a filigree of red tape pinned to one of the gallery’s walls. In “Flirting With Rodchenko,” a dozen or so artists attempt monochromatic paintingsworthy of note is Anne Appleby’s “Summer in Aspen,” a kind of variation on abstraction inspired by the natural world. UW campus, 206-543-2280. 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Tues.-Sun; 11 a.m.-8 p.m. Thurs.
MUSEUM OF GLASS “Moving Through Nature” explores variations on landscape and nature through installations by sculptors Mayme Kratz and Stacey Neff as well as Michael Kenna’s dreamy, Zen-inspired black and white photographs of Japan. 1801 East Dock St. Tacoma, 253-396-1768. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tues.-Sat., noon-5 p.m. Sun.
