Cindy House's exquisite pastel landscapes of the New England countryside include "Autumn on Monhegan."

On a given day at the Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, Ohio, there will be an exhibition with a realist lean and something buzzing in the Beecher new media wing. Current offerings also include drawings by "Columbo" actor Peter Falk, works on paper by Kiki Smith, and a survey of Stephen Hannock's work, including paintings and Oscar-winning set design.

My pick is the Smith show, 24 pieces including two small sculptures, accompanied by a short video featuring the artist.

Smith, who has exhibited in the past decade at Carnegie Museum of Art and at the Mattress Factory, has an idiosyncratic vision that keeps her among the most engaging of contemporary artists.

The subject of the print "Immortal" is an enigmatic, fictitious primate with empty eye sockets, a stitched mouth and bound hands and feet. It hangs limply upon the page, arousing empathy and questions about its origin and plight.

	"Trinity Heaven and Earth" by Kiki Smith, one of the works on display at the Butler Institute of American Art in Youngstown, Ohio. Click photo for larger image.

The nude figure of the "Spinster Series" morphs over eight panels from a nubile young woman with full glowing hair to a wrinkled woman with thin hair and drooping body, while a spinning wheel becomes more evident within the compositional frame.

"Ginzer and the Cat," a digital photo montage, is either an homage to or riff on the late Joseph Beuys' 1974 Action "I Like America and America Likes Me," for which he spent three days wrapped in felt in a room with a coyote. Smith lies under a mound of felt near what appears to be a ceramic cat.

In the video, she says that she's a little uncertain as to why she makes some of the things she does, but that she's learned to follow her instincts. Certainly that's a quality that keeps her on target and endlessly fascinating. (Show continues through Sunday.)

Also of interest is Hannock's varied body of work in a number of media, from the memorial series that incorporates text, "Launch at Dawn for Steve," to "The Scream (Welcome to New York)," a loose, pastel and oil stick work that references the famed Munch work and Keith Haring.

A fine, detailed 7-by-10¹/₂-foot painting with a mysterious cast, "American City With Restored Park," was inspired by a personal event, as was "Self Portrait With Oscar & Skin Cancer" of 2001, an image that projects interior reflection.

Hannock won an Academy Award for Special Effects for his images for the 1998 movie "What Dreams May Come," which starred Robin Williams. Exhibited are a grouping of eight "Painted Shots and Printed Stills" from a series derived from the movie.

Most appealing are several small, glowing landscapes inspired by the Hudson River School painters, their linkage to the historical source enhanced by use of antique frames.

Three directly reference, in title and in composition, Thomas Cole's famed 1836 "View From Mount Holyoke, Northampton, Massachusetts, after a Thunderstorm -- The Oxbow." Other artists also come to mind, such as Martin J. Heade for Hannock's transcendent "Desert City Nocturne: Evening Storm" (through Nov. 19).

In the relatively new Giffuni Gallery of American Pastels, Cindy House exhibits exquisite landscapes of the New England countryside that show masterful command of her medium and knowledge of her locale. Skillful renditions depict the beauty of the environment, with such detail that the flora and fauna may be identified.

In "Flight Over Winter Landscape" a red-tailed hawk skirts above a whitened field blending in with the background tree line. "April Beach" is more abstract with its bands of grass, beach, water and sky.

House has illustrated bird field guides for the National Geographic Society, Reader's Digest Association and the Peterson Field Guide Series (through Nov. 26).

Falk writes "My idea of heaven is to get up in the morning and be able to draw all day long."

In 1971, when acting in the "Prisoner of Second Avenue" in New York, he wandered into the Art Students League and became hooked on drawing, which he pursues whenever he can.

Falk is a capable draftsman and shows an intense interest in his subject matter that here, aside from a couple of self-portraits as Columbo, is the scantily-clad female model of life drawing classes (through Nov. 26).

In the Beecher is "Strata Series Holograms" by Sally Weber, which originated at the Center for Holographic Arts, Long Island City, N.Y. The nude figural images gain impact by being presented as an installation that surrounds the visitor. Contour banding references such bodily functions as breath and blood circulation (through Dec. 30.)

"LoVid (Kyle Lapidus & Tali Hinkis): Reversible Strata Threshing" is fresh and edgy, with its vivid digitally printed abstract works on paper and curious mixed-media patchwork and electronics sculptures. The cat-sized latter, "CoAdNe" and "CoDeAn," rest on pedestals like alien lifeforms, ringing and buzzing, spurting and burping (through Jan. 14).

Youngstown State University's McDonough Museum of Art, directly across the street and open the same hours, is showing "Figures of Thinking: Convergences in Contemporary Cultures," through Friday (see Art Review: 'Figures' a bold contemporary show).

The Butler is 68 miles northwest of Pittsburgh. Hours are 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays and until 8 p.m. Wednesdays. Admission is free; 1-330-743-1107 or www.butlerart.com.