Cheryl Nickel combines crutches, X-rays, pipettes, wood and linoleum to create a sculpture "Gothic Cathedral" - an homage to the intersection of religion and science, more specifically medicine. This holy temple of healing has the sterility of a typical hospital setting and is a sturdy reminder of how everyone prays to be delivered from illness - even those without religion. Her other works are precise and their mandala forms again blend the idea of religion and science. Has science replaced religion in our society? Nickel's works bring us to ask that question and for that they are standouts.

Linda Litteral's piece, "Speak the Story", is a metaphor for her development and experience after sexual abuse as a child. She is able to allude to the pain without any explicit references to that horrible past.

Wendy Maruyama has several pieces that were inspired by the World War II internment of Japanese Americans. "Cascade" was created to look like the I.D. tags of 1,011 Japanese Americans that were moved from San Diego and Chula Vista to the Poston Camp on the Colorado River Indian Reservation. It's a powerful reminder that the phrase 'freedom and justice for all' does not apply if our country decides we want to treat certain groups of people as enemies - every member of that group is then treated as guilty with no chance to prove their innocence. It's a shameful part of our history and our present - which this next artist handles with incredible grace and power.

Paul Henry's "Conversation Chairs" of ebonized birch, gold stencil, rebar, and cotton rope with oil paintings by Candy Kuhl are magnificent meditations on our imprisonment and abuse of an undisclosed number of people at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay. Their elegance and refined surfaces make the acts of torture seem ruthless and calculating. Their old world sensibility highlights our long history of domination and cruelty to various so-called 'enemies' over time.

Also of note, Ellen Phillips takes on the topic of the internment of Japanese Americans and creates a beautiful abstraction of barbed wire, transparencies and stainless steel tubing called "The Wall". This show has quite a number of pieces that do more than look pretty, often the minimal goal of 'craft'. The show as a whole has taken on a number of challenging topics for the viewer to think about while enjoying the visual nature of the works presented.

Do not miss (in the back room) Anne Mudge's "Chance & Circumstance" - a collection of 14 pieces mostly made of stainless steel wire, pigment plastic fiber, etc. My personal favorite is called "Study 127" which feels like a giant grin of a sensual nature.