HOPE AND VICTORY: Writer Nancy Mairs has long dazzled Tucsonans with her candid portrayals of a life spent with literature, her family and the debilitating effects of multiple sclerosis in books like Remembering the Bone House, Plaintext and Carnal Acts. Now she gives us her most honest glimpse yet into living with MS with Waist-High in the World: A Life among the Nondisabled, which emerges as pure testimonial to will. Blending humor with fierce insight, the book charts her disease, and how it's shaped both her self-perception and the reactions of those around her. She reads from her work at 7 p.m. Sunday, February 16, at Antigone Books, 411 N. Fourth Ave. Event is free. For information, call 792-3715. LANDSCAPES AND LUMINOSITY: The works of Bailey Doogan, Holly Roberts and Chris Rush combine with potent force in a new exhibit at the Etherton Gallery. The ever-shifting shape of simply being is the focus of Doogan's Land/Scape series. Giving us a glimpse into the power of the painted image and pictorial invention, the body of work is stamped with Doogan's signature portrayal of contemporary, unstable and empty human forms. They reveal us all to be merely works-in-progress. Roberts is known for unconventional combinations of photography and painting, fearlessly delving into areas where day-to-day existence and the world of imagination merge. It's that duality she's after, and the ongoing shift is evident between the interiors and exteriors of her subjects. Chris Rush's painting takes symbolism to new, full-blown levels, as he explores the nature of disparate ideas. Using common cultural icons, he introduces tension-producing alternative elements. The result is unsettling probes of the icon itself, in its new, exaggerated context. See this week's art review for details. Exhibit runs through March 29 at Etherton Gallery, 135 S. Sixth Ave. Hours are noon to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, noon to 7 p.m. Thursdays, and Downtown Saturday Nights. Call 624-7370 for details. MUGS OF LIFE: The UA Flandrau Science Center displays our collective portrait in About Faces. The traveling exhibit features 18 components that use visitors' faces as the medium, demonstrating a broad range of information we're constantly expressing. Those glimpses express our hopes and dreams, our failures and frailty. And it's a learned technique, based on findings from anthropology and psychology and presented with a mix of artistic ingenuity. There's also plenty of humor. Haven't we all occasionally wondered if our own mugs were symmetrical, or weirdly misshapen? Or how we'd look with Sharon Stone's perfect proboscis and Rodney Dangerfield's lovely eyes? About Faces runs through April in the Flandrau Science Center, located at the corner of Cherry Avenue and University Boulevard on the UA campus. Hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday. Admission is $3, $2 for children ages 13 and under, or free with a planetarium or laser light show purchase. For information, call 621-7827.

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