Cutesy monsters, art made from fire, an entire venue transformed into a work of art itself and large-scale oils that evoke Barbarella, only better. With so many powerful draws materializing at local art shows this weekend, the best strategy to enjoy the whole bag of creative substances and tasty ideas is to apply the trick-or-treat approach and visit them all. Here the Weekly peruses the sweets that await.

HALLOWS AT ALTERNATIVE CAFE

This new gallery’s underground artist shows traverse paintings, sculpture, toys, prints and more. Their new exhibit, Hallows, spotlights five artists, opens on Halloween and is appropriately freaky.

Seaside’s Butch Adams, himself a byproduct of comic books, cartoons and anime, creates, in the words of gallery director Maya Freeman, “cutesy monsters.” True. But his “The Holy One” rabbit painting is more Donnie Darko than Thumper.

Ray Magsalay’s 37 years as city of Monterey parks supervisor made him an authority on local horticulture. He’s also a prolific assemblage artist and bonsai master who uses found objects like discarded toys and animal bones in his elaborate art. When, at 13, Paxton Mobley discovered Salvador Dali, he found his artistic brethren in the Surrealists. Now the Monterey artist paints animals, plants and objects in bizarre and whimsical juxtapositions.

Devon Ryan (RIP) did special make-up f/x in Hollywood for over 30 years on Flesh Gordon, Blade Runner, The Lost Boys, Star Wars and so and on. His contribution to Hallows is “Scaryonettes,” gruesome, gothic marionettes poignantly focused on mortality.

San Francisco’s Eric Joyner joins the cast late with two uncharacteristic (meaning no robots, no donuts) paintings. The opening reception is loaded with Chateau Sinnet wine, Acme coffee, music by DJ Christina McKnew– and leaves time to spare for later Halloween shenanigans.

Opening reception 6-9pm Friday, 1230 Fremont Blvd., Seaside. 583-0913. Runs until Dec. 8; 10am-4pm Mon-Fri, noon-3pm Sat.

TOPOGRAPHIES AT CARL CHERRY CENTER FOR THE ARTS

One thing’s for sure: Christel Dillbohner loves nature. When she’s not teaching art classes among trees in the woods, she brings the outdoors inside, through her art. The results are transformative: The German-born California transplant turns raw, earthy materials and “primitive” cultural artifacts into avant-garde shapes that suggest harmony between people and nature. Topographies, says Dillbohner, with traces of a German accent, seeks to “get an understanding for a physical landscape, but also a psychological landscape.” The site-specific exhibition of art was created and arranged with the space of the Carl Cherry Center in mind, using bees’ wax, plant matter, charcoal and manmade materials. It’s not unusual for her assemblage pieces to resemble curtains or furniture or other items cut from nature’s cloth. But her end product can possess a ghostly beauty that people respond to.

“I was part of a new, German, expressive, colorful painting movement,” says Dillbohner. “Coming to California, my palette and what I wanted to accomplish, changed. It became very quiet, very meditative. I created these installations to draw people in, to become part of the aura, so you have some kind of sensation.”

Opening reception 3-5pm Saturday, Fourth and Guadalupe, Carmel. 624-7491. Runs until Dec. 5; 11am-4pm Mon-Fri, 1-4pm Sat.

SMOKE & ASH AT EL CAMINITO STUDIOS

“Most of my photography has to do with the earth,” says photographer and artist Cynthia Johnson Bianchetta, the 25-year Big Sur resident who co-founded the Creative Arts Center at Esalen. So when Big Sur burned this past summer, the sight of it seared into her psyche– and inspired her art. She writes in her artist statement of “hot glowing embers like an amber necklace cascading slowly down the mountain slopes… red fiery sunset skies.” When she and her husband, also a photographer, weren’t building firebreaks, they photographed the spectacle from Burns Creek Bridge and elsewhere. When the worst was over, their home and studio were spared, but Cynthia needed to process the ordeal. Her process applied an appropriate medium.

“I paint with actual fire,” continues her artist statement. “Hot molten wax and blowtorches are my tools for these paintings.” The resulting encaustic (derived from Greek, meaning “to burn”) paintings are abstract, textured, layered like earth strata and contain ash from the fires. They will join her photographs in Smoke & Ash.

She seems to have arrived at some peace already. “Those of us who choose to live in nature, these are the things you encounter,” she says. “Nature’s mighty powerful.” She subscribes to the dynamic of rebirth; she unveils her work at this benefit for Big Sur Fire Relief at El Caminito Studios, which was once Magic Circle Theater.

Benefit reception 2-5pm Sunday, 8 El Caminito, Carmel Valley. 594-3232. Call for availability and hours.

SCENE AT WAVE STREET STUDIOS

Wave Street Studios, the state-of-the-art performance/recording space, has played host to everything from garage rock bands to live teen TV shows to bellydancing. Their newest art happening is SCENE, a one-woman retrospective of Marsha Karen Olson culled from three of her previous solo shows in San Francisco– CAKE, MODE and BAKUDAN (Japanese for “bomb”). Like most artists, Olson has difficulty talking about her art. Phrases like “beauty and destruction,” “essence of female” and “Andy Warhol” tumble out, often in disarray. Her illustrative acrylics and large-scale oil paintings, however, are more precise: a pop culture-informed collection of B-movie actors, flowers, pills and bubbles, Barbarella-esque space cadets toting ray guns and 1950s housewives in nervous breakdowns after the “better living through chemistry” thing has failed. The apparent flagship of the lot is an arresting, sinister, sexy photograph called “Superhero.”

The opening reception enlists Bruno’s Market ‘n’ Deli and Surf ‘n’ Sand for catering and vino, and DJ Steve Etough spins down-tempo music and electronic cuts inspired by Olson’s art, all broadcast live on www.livenetwork.tv.

Opening reception 6-9pm Sunday, 774 Wave St., Monterey. 655-2010. Runs until Dec. 1; call for hours.

NEW WORKS AND THE PATRON’S SHOW AT PACIFIC GROVE ART CENTER

There is such a diversity of art at PGAC right now that it would be at least a misdemeanor to let it slip by. For their annual Patron’s Show Fundraiser, they’ve received a flood of donated acrylics, oils, mixed media, gouache, collage, photographs and more, by artists like (deep breath) Johnny Apodaca, Robert Armstrong, Carolyn Berry, Carole Bestor, Joanne Bevilacqua, Connie Boggess, Beverly Borgman, JoAnne Boulger, Jean Brenner, Peter K. Brooks, Jeannie Brookshire… and that’s just A through B.

They are all up for raffle, every ticket purchased ($50/member; $65/non-member) wins a work of art, and it’s testament to PGAC’s reputation that so many collectors, artists and galleries have contributed to the nonprofit. Adding to that bounty, PGAC also exhibits new work in its adjoining gallery spaces from the Monterey Bay Metal Arts Guild, Gary Coleman’s Landscapes, and Laura Williams’ Of Land and Sea: The Splendor of California.

Noon-5pm Wed-Sat; 1-4pm Sun. 568 Lighthouse Ave., Pacific Grove. 375-6141. Runs until Dec. 11.