Art spotlights: 'Ralph Rapson: Chair Design in the Architect's Studio'

Famed in Minnesota for his festive design of the original Guthrie Theater, Ralph Rapson (1914-2008) was also a prolific furniture designer starting in the 1940s. His lean-lined modernist rocking chair with webbed back and seat is a contemporary classic that will be showcased in a new exhibition of his chair designs. The show will include a vintage Rapson rocker, a newly issued highback version of the rocker, and a collection of Rapson's original drawings including designs for chairs that were never built. Visitors and online enthusiasts can vote for one of three unrealized Rapson chairs they would like to see produced. The family firm Rapson-Inc. has licensed Minneapolis-based Danish Teak Classics to produce a new chair, with production expected in 2012. Free opening reception 6-9 p.m. Dec. 29. --Mary Abbe

Concert photographers are arguably the unsung heroes of the music industry, capturing moments poignant and visceral, in-the-moment and transcendent, for an ADD-addled audience. With this joint photography show by Erik Hess and Stacy Schwartz, those moments get the spotlight they deserve. The prolific local talents will offer a look back at the year in music with selections of their favorite shots from 2011, ranging from local to international artists, captured at Twin Cities clubs big and small. All prints will be framed and available for sale, ranging from $10 to $250. While there, sling back the special "Money Shot" shot and take in live sets from Iguano, Crescent Moon Is in Big Trouble, Kruddler, Wizards Are Real and DJs Lady Heat. --Jahna Peloquin

Calling 19th-century Japanese woodblock prints "pop art" is a little cheeky given their delicate colors, refined lines and beautiful subjects. But it works because the handmade prints depicted popular subjects and diversions much like those celebrated in American pop art of the 1960s, including actors and entertainers, new fashions, celebrities, wrestlers, travelers and scenes from popular fiction. The heart of this engaging show is the Minneapolis Institute of Arts' own collection of rare Edo period (1615-1868) prints. including landscapes and urban vistas by Hiroshige, delicate floral studies and dramatic scenes from Kabuki performances. Modern videos, light boxes, folding screens and graffiti-influenced paintings close the show with an up-to-the-minute peek at Japan today, but it's the traditional prints that really sing here, many of them never previously shown and too fragile to appear again soon. Don't miss them. --Mary Abbe