Maryland Art Place

An alligator with a tail sprouting ducks' heads? An owl sitting on a branch that appears to grow out of a covered metal tureen? A hybrid that appears to be part rodent, part snake and part bug? Strange creatures indeed, and the stuff of Sue Johnson's art.In her continuing project "The Alternate Encyclopedia," Johnson creates such imaginative natural phenomena. They are funny but also reflect the weird animals people in former times thought existed in far-off parts of the world. And they're a comment on the kinds of mutations that might conceivably happen if we keep messing with the ecology.

Why stop at painting the town red? The galleries at Maryland Art Place covered the color spectrum at "R&R -- A Rare and Raw Evening," its annual benefit exhibition and auction. As they sipped wine and nibbled on hors d'oeuvres, partygoers perused creations by Maryland artists. Dinner came with a side order of a live -- and lively -- auction, as guests eagerly bid on works of art between bites. Among the 250 art lovers attending were: Mike Lewin, honorary event chair; Martha Macks, Allison Parker and Max Weiss, event committee members; Karen Bokram, MAP board chair; Suzi Cordish, Diane Hutchins and Flo Lipitz, board members; Mary Ann Mears, board emeritus; Jack Rasmussen, MAP executive director; Greg Barnhill, managing director of Deutsche Banc Alex.

Retro art show Art from a retro era is on display at the St. Mary's College of Maryland's Boyden Gallery. Andy Warhol, Miriam Schapiro and Sam Gilliam are among a group of well-known artists who are featured in the exhibit RE: life: 60's and 70's Art from the Permanent Collection. The show, which includes more than 20 works, runs through Oct. 4. The Boyden Gallery is in Montgomery Hall on the campus of the St. Mary's College of Maryland at 18952 E. Fisher Road, St. Mary's City. Hours are 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Mondays-Fridays and noon-3 p.m. Saturdays.

The casually chic atmosphere at Maryland Art Place made for a perfect spring soiree at the Hampden Family Center's silent auction and cocktail reception. Some 225 guests nibbled canapes, sipped wine and perused both the artwork and the silent auction -- results of the latter helping the center raise more than $23,000 from the party to help provide support to Hampden residents. This cocktail mix included: Dina Mallis Klicos, event chair; Alice Ann Finnerty, event honorary chair; Priscilla Calvert, Janet Majev, Annette Paterakis, Lindy Small, Charlotte Wanner and Kim Zaharis, event committee members; Beth Volk, Hampden Family Center board president; Bob Gerring, Lynn Henss, Pam Malester and Alice C. Smith, board members; Lisa Ghinger, center executive director; Karen Bokram, Maryland Art Place board president; Suzi Cordish, MAP board chair; John McMullen, Hampden Family Center volunteer coordinator; Nathan Braverman and John Miller, Baltimore District Court judges; Betsy Dugan, Octavia owner; Claire Miller, Constel- lation Energy director; Kip Mandris, Brass Monkey owner; Mary Ann Masur, ATAPCO Properties Inc. leasing manager; Karen Patten, Kali's Court co-owner; Rebecca Jones, R.D. Jones & Associates principal; David Hartman, Steamship Trade Association of Baltimore administrative manager; Brian Gleeson, Bank of America financial planner; Mary Kay Groeninger, Grant, Thornton CPA; and Andrew Meredith, Merrill Lynch financial adviser.

Art Links Baltimore -- the artist-designed miniature golf course that made its celebrated debut at the Inner Harbor last May -- appears to have landed in the rough.The attraction lost the space it had occupied last summer next to the Power Plant because of renovations of the building. The nonprofit downtown art gallery that conceived the idea of the course -- with holes replicating Baltimoreana from Fort McHenry to the face of William Donald Schaefer -- had hoped to be able to open this year on city-owned parkland at the harbor.

COMING UP Join the Johns Hopkins University in welcoming spring at the 33rd annual Johns Hopkins Spring Fair tomorrow through Sunday. The Homewood campus will be filled with carnival rides, inflatable extreme games, craft vendors and food ranging from gyros to funnel cakes. Performers and interactive workshops will entertain children. Bands such as the Silent Groove and Snoozebox will rock the Hopkins campus. On Saturday, Guster will bring its alternative sound to the Ralph S. O'Connor Recreation Center.

Painted chairs and other exotic forms of seating are high profile in the decorative arts.It's a trend that Maryland Art Place, the West Saratoga Street downtown art center, will salute during the coming week in furniture exhibitions and an auction.Meredith Gallery on Charles Street will also show chairs and other samples of contemporary work by nine Maryland furniture designers, with part of the proceeds from the exhibition to be contributed to the Maryland Art Place program.The painted chair idea will range wide, historically speaking, in the MPA show -- three separate exhibitions illustrating various periods and trends.

Colorful installations and subdued drawings contrast in Territory/Ambiguity, on display at the Maryland Art Place. Artists Paul Bartow and Richard Metzgar's massive collaboration, a site installation called "Collection Intersection," is bright and busy. Panels of wood, many of which are coated with candy-colored paints, collide with upholstered furniture, industrial building materials and Plexiglas-encased ferric chloride drawings in a large work that fills two of the gallery's three rooms.