A fierce, evil-eyed bird of prey or Woodsy, the cute environmentalist of our TV youth? "WOWLS!," a new two-person show at Honeymilk, considers both serious and lighthearted representations of the nocturnal ones. Emily Glaubinger and Damian Weinkrantz manage to instill their creatures with elements of mythology, science and even personality. Weinkrantz's owls tend toward the predator end of the spectrum, while Glaubinger's are more, aw, cuddly. Weinkrantz says he usually depicts "strange, tense situations, where wolves are there, owls are there, maybe a deer." And the mood of his work for "WOWLS!" is quite similar. "I read a lot of mythology on owls," he says, and that research led him to create "anxiety-ridden" works imbued with death, loss and fear. "But," he says, "to be perfectly honest with you, owls are really fun to draw. I really like making tiny marks on paper over and over again." As for Glaubinger's approach to the project, she has no fear; rather, she wanted to portray "what I would like my meeting with an owl to be." So her creatures are nonthreatening, surrounded by leaves and flowers and whimsical decorative flourishes. She'll also be sewing leaves and flowers to adorn the space, providing a soft accent to her drawings. So wend your way through Vagabond to Honeymilk's space in the back of the boutique. And remember: Give a hoot. Don't pollute. Opening reception, Fri., June 2, 5-8 p.m., 37 N. Third St., 215-668-4873.

Alyse Bernstein has been practicing aikido, "the art of peace," for five years now, but she hasn't limited the martial art practice to the mats. She's translated the discipline and grace of the form to her first art, printmaking. Bernstein received an Independence Foundation Fellowship in 2003 to go to Japan, where she trained with the grandson of the founder of aikido, studied with one of the few female instructors in Japan and apprenticed with a papermaker. When she began working on the prints, she found similarities between the two art forms. "I wanted to stick with a traditional Japanese art, so I took some woodblock printing classes, and had to relearn the art," she says. "There was this parallel to aikido training. With aikido, you have to practice, practice, practice. And I had to keep recutting these boards [for the woodcuts]."

Bernstein will show two series of prints for this exhibition. One comprises images of aikido training, depicting techniques and movements, like the folding of the hakama garment; the other is a collection of calligraphic images of quotations from aikido's founder, which she sent out to 30 friends, family members and colleagues to transcribe in their own handwriting. Throughout the opening event at Aikido of Center City, experts will demonstrate various forms of martial arts—aikido demo, 5-5:30 p.m.; laido demo (the art of drawing the sword), 5:45-7 p.m.; and aikido practice, 7:15-8 p.m. Opening reception Fri., June 2, 5-8 p.m., exhibition runs through June 30 during training hours, 722 Market St., third floor, 215-922-4311.

Two pears and a metal vessel… go! Such was the charge to nine artists from Artists' House this month in a special show called "Artistic Dialogue." Inspired by a MoMA exhibition that paired the works of Cezanne and Pissarro, the gallery decided to try a similar idea: They gave the artists the subject matter and the freedom to paint them in their distinct styles. Nancy Bea Miller, who's previously composed still lifes with fortune cookies, kewpie dolls and starlight mints, tackles the task with a lovely assemblage of pears, saucepan, knife and sugar on a bright aqua backdrop. Adam Vinson and Noah Buchanan's approaches are classical and naturalistic—Vinson's with a dark dropcloth and bright reflections in the vessel, and Buchanan's with a sliced-open cantaloupe for extra color. David Graeme Baker adds a figure to his work, Blue Coat (with Two Pears and Metal Vessel), with the assigned subjects relegated to a parenthetical and a place deep in the recesses of the painting. Renee Foulks, Amber Lia-Kloppel, Brian Schumacher, Andrew Wrigley and David McShane also participate, with the last also contributing to the House's other June group show featuring Carolyn Pryform, Qimin Liu and Lee Dunsmore. Opening reception, Fri., June 2, 5-8:30 p.m. and a second reception Sun., June 4, 1-4 p.m., 57 N. Second St., 215-923-8440.

Sculptor Isaac Witkin passed away last month, but not before beginning to oversee the installation of four of his large-scale works in the roof garden at Locks Gallery. Locks honors him with a memorial service and reception this Friday. Fri., June 2, service 5-5:30 p.m., reception 5:30-7:30 p.m., 600 Washington Square South, 215-629-1000.… The Asian Arts Initiative closes its "A Different Lens" show, a collection of photojournalistic images from Asian-American shooters, this Friday. Closing reception Fri., June 2, 6-8 p.m., 1315 Cherry St., second floor, 215-557-0455.… The Manayunk Art Center started in an Acme supermarket on Main Street in 1956. Its resident artists in the Manayunk Artists Co-Op include painters John Hagarty, a founding member, and John Graham, a relative newcomer to the group. Both artists are featured in MAC's June show, and stay tuned for the start of the Center's 50th anniversary celebrations later this summer. Opening reception Sun., June 4, noon-3 p.m., 419 Green Lane (rear), 215-482-3363.… A couple weeks back, the Rosenbach Museum and Gallery 339 teamed up for a "Neighborhood Photography Evening," celebrating the openings of their respective shows, which you can still catch: Nancy Crampton's "Writers," a book lover's dream, with images of John Updike, Susan Sontag, Jhumpa Lahiri and many others; and Yuichi Hibi's "Imprint," which features dark, silvery work in New York City and Japan during the 1990s, catching reflections in rain-slicked streets and quiet moments in deserted corners. "Writers," through Aug. 13, 2008-10 Delancey Pl., 215-732-1600; "Imprint," through July 8, 339 S. 21st St., 215-731-1530.