Sweet Briar College Art Gallery opens its 2005-06 season Saturday, Aug. 20, with “Fragments from the Alternate Encyclopedia,” by artist Sue Johnson in the Babcock Fine Arts Center Art Gallery. The exhibition runs through Oct. 16 and the artist will deliver a gallery talk at a reception from 5 to 6 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 13.

Her ongoing mixed-media project investigates the “history of picturing nature,” Johnson said. “ ‘The Alternate Encyclopedia’ zeros in on the critical roles printmaking, publishing, and the artist have played in the dissemination and articulation of knowledge, and at the same time attempts to underscore the inherent fiction in all visual images and the mutability of truth.”

Johnson is associate professor of art and department chair of art and art history at St. Mary’s College of Maryland. She teaches printing, drawing, printmaking, and combined media arts, as well as special courses such as an interdisciplinary team-taught course in scientific illustration.

An exhibition by Amherst resident Paula Heneveld will open Thursday, Aug. 25, in the Benedict Hall Gallery. “Ancient Wisdoms and Natural Actions at Akrotiri, 1500 B.C.” contains photographs of archaeological remains of Akrotiri, a town in Greece that was buried in a volcanic eruption 3,500 years ago.

The exhibit introduces viewers to the design principles of interiors at Akrotiri, said Heneveld, who has a master’s degree in interior design. Today she operates pH balance DESIGNS in Amherst, which specializes in harmonious living spaces. She has taught at several universities and art schools, was a designer for architectural design companies in Boston and Chicago, and directed design studios in Savannah, Ga., and Richmond, Va.

Heneveld will give a gallery talk followed by a reception from 4:30 to 6 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 15. The exhibit runs through Oct. 30.

Gallery hours are noon to 9:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday, noon to 5 p.m. Friday, and 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Exhibits, lectures, and events are free. For more information, please e-mail Rebecca Massie Lane, director of SBC galleries, or call (434) 381-6248.