Art marathon: 8 events this weekend at Twin Cities galleries

Leave your Blahniks at home. Wear something really comfortable for a weekend of art all over the metro area. At least eight attention-worthy shows and events are in store, offering everything from high-fashion photography to American Indian satire.

Now 17 years old, Art Attack is getting sassy and going multimedia. Some 250 artists will open their Northrup King studios for a free one-stop art fest that includes performances by poet Sheila Packa and sound artist Kathy McTavish, soul singer Timotha Lanae, a "Nighttime Post" event, a storytelling game, book signings by Tom Combs, a U.S. map made from 24,204 pennies, music and more.

5-10 p.m. Fri., noon-8 p.m. Sat., noon-5 p.m. Sun. • free • Northrup King Building, 1500 NE. Jackson St., Mpls. • 612-363-5612 • www.northrupkingbuilding.com/artattack

Written and photographed under the pseudonym H. Lee, "Grassland" sums up a year the photographer spent documenting the illicit production of marijuana in California's Humboldt County. Covering more than most people might care to know about the care and cultivation, pruning and processing of pot, the book — and 30 color photos in the show — offers a National Geographic-style account of a reclusive tribe of hardworking, slightly paranoid ag workers nurturing beautiful plants in hidden enclaves amid the redwoods.

5-10 p.m. Fri., noon-11 p.m. Sat. (with reception at 8 p.m.), noon-5 p.m. Sun. • ends Jan. 31 • free • Icebox Gallery, 1500 NE. Jackson St., Mpls. • 612-788-1790 • www.iceboxminnesota.com

Twin Cities artists John Diebel and Nick Howard ruminate on the irksome issues of modern life (chaos, terrorism, inequality, ecological collapse, impending doom, bad behavior, etc.) in cut-paper collages, photo montages and sometimes humorous and playful drawings.

Opening reception 7-10 p.m. Sat. • noon-4 p.m. Sat.-Sun. • ends Nov. 30 • free • Rosalux Gallery, 1400 NE. Van Buren St., Mpls. • www.rosaluxgallery.com

Opening reception 5:30-7:30 p.m. Fri. • 8 a.m.-8 p.m. Mon.-Fri., 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Sat.-Sun. • ends Dec. 18 • free • Christensen Center Art Gallery, Augsburg College, 2211 Riverside Av., Mpls. • 612-330-1524 • www.augsburg.edu/galleries

Never politically correct, Anni­shanabe painter Denomie lets rip in a new show of biting satire about Christianity's misbehavior, Euro-American arrogance, history, violence, creativity, cultural imperialism and misunderstandings. Everyone from Jesus to Elvis, Van Gogh, Botticelli, Mike Tyson and Alfred E. Neuman gets skewered by Denomie's savage wit, Fauvist colors and cartoonish style.

Opening reception 6-9 p.m. Fri. • noon-5 p.m. Wed.-Sat. • ends Dec. 13 • free • Bockley Gallery, 2123 W. 21st. St., Mpls. • 612-377-4669 • www.bockleygallery.com

Girls wear the pretty frocks; guys snap the pictures. Given the dominance of male fashion photographers, the field might seem devoid of women. With 40 period photos by a dozen top female photographers, this show spotlights women in front and behind the camera. Beginning with Louise Dahl-Wolfe who photographed for Harper's Bazaar in the 1930s, the show features work by Toni Frissell, Ina Jang, Frances McLaughlin-Gill, Sheila Metzner, Sarah Moon, Deborah Turbeville and more.

Opening reception 6-8 p.m. Fri. • noon-5 p.m. Tue.-Sat. • ends Jan. 17 • free • Weinstein Gallery, 908 W. 46th St., Mpls. • 612-822-1722 • www.weinstein-gallery.com

Opening reception 6-8 p.m. Sat. • 8 a.m.-8 p.m. Mon.-Fri., noon-6 p.m. Sat.-Sun. • ends Dec. 19 • free • Catherine G. Murphy Gallery, Visual Arts Building, St. Catherine University, 2004 Randolph Av., St. Paul. • 651-690-6644 • www.stkate.edu/gallery

In a joint exhibition, Jamie Winter Dawson turns biomorphic forms into metaphors while Susan Hensel muses on "age, gender and fertility" in photos (shot by her son John) that document a performance inspired by a troublesome shoulder surgery.

Opening 6-8 p.m. Fri. • 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.-Tue., 10 a.m.-7 p.m. Wed. & Fri., 10 a.m.-8 p.m. Thu. • ends Dec. 4 • free • Larson Art Gallery, St. Paul Student Center, University of Minnesota, 2017 Buford Av., St. Paul. • www.sua.umn.edu/events

Swedish-born Elof Wedin (1901-83) was a venturesome artist with a sophisticated sense of color and keen eye for detail and design. Trained at what is now the Minneapolis College of Art and Design as well as the Art Institute of Chicago, he worked as an industrial boilermaker to support himself and his family. Incredibly productive, he exhibited his colorful Cubist-inflected portraits, landscapes and abstractions in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and elsewhere around the country for more than 50 years. The "Modern" show will feature 25 paintings on loan from a 300-piece bequest to the Cambridge Center for the Arts.

Opens Sat. • reception 2-5 p.m. Sun. • 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Tue.-Sat. through Nov. 29 • free • Banfill-Locke Center for the Arts, 6666 East River Rd., Fridley • 763-574-1850 • www.banfill-locke.org