No surprise, because many of the large and small pieces obviously were shaped by the same concerns that informed his earlier work, and consequently share their look.

Now, however, there's often monumentality as well as strong communicative power. And the new paintings often reach a new level of complexity.

In short, the forms are bolder, the message is clearer, and the details are more refined in paintings by this Pittsburgh-born Elverson resident, a former classmate of Hollywood's David Lynch at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.

And while Danziger's recent works record considerable development, one unusual trait has persisted almost to now: his devouring regard for subject matter - unusual in a serious painter.

It's evident here in his wide range of subjects, from Union Electric Steelyard, a mural-size statement of the spirit of a particular industrial site; to still life, portrait heads, and Maine coastal scenes at dawn; to small oil studies done on site.

Not until 9/11 did Danziger truly begin focusing in on nature. Early results of this are impressive and stunning in his Rachel's Garden image (referring to Rachel Carson) of a Maine tidal pool done passionately enough that it shows an intimate, emotional edge.

Also on view at La Pelle is an exceptionally promising solo by young painter Jeanine Leclaire of Fishtown - small acrylics of family or friends in domestic settings.

Williamson exhibit

The Marple Township campus is in a whirlwind of physical growth and development expected to reap many indirect benefits for the arts program there. And the thinking was that Philadelphia is a mural arts city - a public art city - so let's stage a show of the art that Williamson did in a Brooklyn train station as part of the Arts for Transit program sponsored by New York's Metropolitan Transit Authority.

DCCC's Bertha Gutman had been a classmate of Williamson's at New York's High School for Music & Art. The two reconnected to plan for this show.

Williamson's featured large preparatory oil sketches on canvas portray children's figures that complement and animate seasons of the year. Efforts were made to retain Williamson's painterly qualities when these works were finalized in 18 fused-glass panels at Franz Mayer glass works in Munich. The point of this soothing, upbeat display is one worth making.

On suburbia

Nuance and the sharp precision of ornamental detail evoke a particular poignancy, and her focus as a reportorial observer is the image-rich East Coast vintage suburbs around Merion (where she lives), Narberth, and New Hampshire.

She paints tightly clustered small houses, always leading us in toward them, and accenting specific vegetation. Yet she generalizes from each ingredient and recombines things that, in real life, aren't together.

Such works have a certain power, a way of pricking the senses and making inroads. They're made to convey symbolic meaning rather than straightforwardly expressed feeling.

These partly stylized emblems are creatures of a dream, which is why this two-part show, shared with Chad Andrews of Montoursville, is called "Imagine." His are accomplished and spirited abstract works mostly on paper, denoting drafting-room savvy with a poignancy of their own.