Visual Studies Workshop's Summer Institute, running May 19 through June 29, offers intensive workshops by visiting artists, including Brooklyn-based creator Hernease Davis. Davis will be in town in early June to teach "Imaging Empathic Possibilities," which will examine how empathy can be used by artists to create worlds that challenge complexity in community structures, systems, and their own artistic practices. But this week you can catch Davis's solo show, "A Womb of One's Own (Mistakes Were Made in Development)" on view at VSW's Gallery through June 29. The exhibit includes photograms, cyanotypes, sound pieces, crocheted pillows and blankets, and performance elements. Davis uses her own body to create much of her work, transferring her form onto photo-sensitive paper and recording myriad emotional gestures.

"A Womb of One's Own" opens Friday, May 4, at Visual Studies Workshop, 31 Prince Street. The First Friday opening runs 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. A performance and artist talk will be held Saturday, June 16, at 7 p.m. Gallery hours are Tuesday through Friday, 12 p.m. to 5 p.m.; and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Free. 442-8676; vsw.org.