While I Am Still Melding science and the psyche, Linda Alterwitz captures the black and white and the gray areas in between in works that are simultaneously ominous and warm. The mid-career retrospective presents five series of the artist’s work and includes haunting images made from medical imagery and photography. Alterwitz’s layered Mojave-based works consider dimensions of life, and her “Just Breathe” series includes portraits made from breathing patterns of subjects lying on their backs with cameras photographing the sky in 30-second intervals. Through May 9, the Studio at Sahara West.

Santa Confessional Ensuring a stake in Christmas morning prosperity through childhood department-store testimony begins and (unfortunately) ends in childhood, but in Santa Confessional artist David Colman revives the ritual and adds religion. By marrying the early Catholic Church’s “selling of indulgences” with Santa visits in a wooden “open-air” confessional, Colman bridges the similarities in an interactive performance piece that has salvation and consumerism in the same transaction. Through March 8, Cosmopolitan’s P3Studio.

MFA With simultaneous shows at MCQ Fine Art Advisory, Brett Wesley Gallery and Nevada Humanities Project Gallery, UNLV’s talented crop of MFA candidates gets ample exposure this month. Highlights include Maureen Halligan’s minimal color and pattern pieces and Audrey Barcio’s mixed-media works. While Brett Wesley shows only MFA work, MCQ’s exhibit (held as a fundraiser for MFA candidates, culminating with an auction) also includes works by professors and artists outside the university. Nevada Humanities focuses on works inspired by the environment. MCQ: February 20, 6-8 p.m.; Brett Wesley: Through February 28; Nevada Humanities: Through March 27. –Kristen Peterson