The Photographic Resource Center's 14th annual juried exhibit "Exposure" is one of those half-fun, half-infuriating roundups of emerging art that maybe gives you a glimpse of the future. This year the 14 photographers picked by guest juror Russell Hart, executive editor of American Photo magazine, hail from as far away as Albuquerque and as nearby as Cambridge. Half of the artists focus on families, children, coming of age — a coincidence rather than a sign of any trend.
The pictures that stick with me include Betsy Schneider's The Tub, a shot of a little nude girl curled up fetal-like in a plastic tub of water; Beth Lilly's photos of trees pruned so that they seem to dance the limbo around utility wires; Elizabeth Fleming's Pink Shoes, glimpsing, from the back seat of a mini van, the pink glory of a little girl's feet propped up on the back of the seat in front of her; and Kevin Van Aelst's inventive transformations of everyday stuff — hair near a drain becomes the curve of an EKG, sugar packets dumped onto a restaurant table form a giant fingerprint. The highlights are catchy single images — not groups — that plumb mysteries in the quotidian.
Related:
States of the art, Slideshow: Sigg Collection at Peabody Essex Museum, Photos: Dutch Seascapes at Peabody Essex, More 
- States of the art
In New England, where you can't swing a sack of cranberries without hitting a venerable cultural institution, anyone with access to a car (or even a subway pass) can scope out these topnotch art museums.
- Slideshow: Sigg Collection at Peabody Essex Museum
The Sigg collection of contemporary Chinese artwork on display at the Peabody Essex Museum
- Photos: Dutch Seascapes at Peabody Essex
Dutch Seascapes at Peabody Essex
- Lost in translation
Spring can't come soon enough, since it'll be bringing with it some engaging museum shows in and around Boston.
- Magpie and copyist
If you were going to recount the evolution of hippie guy fashion, you might say that what began with psychedelic ruffled shirts and corduroy pants in 1968 has in late middle age split into two streams: collarless white button-down shirts, usually buttoned right up to the neck and worn with a black vest, and Hawaiian shirts.
- Ruling the waves
The Dutch emerged at the dawn of the 17th century as a pre-eminent military and commercial power on the sea. They were in the midst of throwing off Spanish rule and developing a shipping empire that would reach from the Americas to South Africa to Asia.
- Great walls
"Mahjong: Contemporary Chinese Art from the Sigg Collection" at Salem's Peabody Essex Museum opens with a pair of interesting choices.
- Maritime after time
There's no question about the Peabody Essex Museum's unwavering love of all things nautical. How many other museums employ a curator of maritime art and history (in this case, Daniel Finamore)?
- Photos: SurfLand at Peabody Essex Museum
SurfLand at Peabody Essex Museum, photos by Joni Sternbach, now showing through October 4
- More than words
What are we to make of Robert Indiana? His is generally considered part of the Pop art group of artists who came into prominence in the late '60s, along with Andy Warhol, James Rosenquist, and Roy Lichtenstein, and though he is not perhaps as highly regarded in the art world, he has a wider popular following than any of them.
- Beauty and the East
Gallery-goers with an affinity for art from Asia will have plenty of reason for excitement with a handful of enticing shows this winter.
- Less
Topics:
Museum And Gallery
, Boston University, Photography, Visual Arts, More
, Boston University, Photography, Visual Arts, Cultural Institutions and Parks, Museums, Peabody Essex Museum, Peabody Essex Museum, Peabody Essex Museum, Photographic Resource Center, Photographic Resource Center, Less
