Hutton's work, which includes some sculptural constructions, seems slight initially, but the more one considers its human associations, the more affecting it becomes. She packs considerable feeling into innocuous packages.
Hutton's show segues neatly into Neil Patterson's ceramic sculptures, which strongly suggest reliquaries or ritual objects. Many pieces are architectural structures that contain niches in which the artist has placed small objects.
Patterson, a potter, combines wheel-throwing with hand-building. Surfaces are rhythmically ribbed and grooved, and the pieces are finished in a smooth terra-cotta hue.
Three larger sculptures stand on the floor; their ritual quality is even more pronounced. Patterson doesn't offer specific religious references, although the images and forms feel vaguely eastern.
However, the spiritual mood is deliberate and intense. Patterson clearly believes that life needs more of this emotion. In their modest way, these pieces supply it.
Fleisher Art Memorial, 719 Catharine St. 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Fridays and, when school is in session, 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays; 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturdays. Through March 15. 215-922-3456 or www.fleisher.org.
The faces of portraiture. The exhibition "Perspectives in Portraiture" at the Gershman Y announces that photographic portraits can take many forms.
While this isn't a revelation, the examples offered by Larry Fink, Judy Gelles, Rita Bernstein and Michael A. Smith effectively demonstrate that making a portrait is as much attitude toward the subject as it is technique.
Gelles and Smith's approach is essentially formal in terms of pose and interaction. And yet, both strategies are unusual.
