TINY BEASTS RECEPTION TOMORROW AT THE EVERGREEN STATE COLLEGE >>>

When I think of "pet portraits," I can't help but remember an ugly oil painting of my aunt's beloved Clancy, an ottoman-shaped dog who ate like the spoiled child of wealthy parents. (He had a favorite cookie: Nabisco Brown Edge Wafers.) But the portraits of Tiny Beasts Live Among Us, a show of photographs by Portland's Carli Davidson, have a wild and outlandish charm.  "Animals are my people," says Davidson, who graduated from The Evergreen State College in 2006. "They're honest, loving and food-motivated and do totally gross things on a regular basis."

My aunt would not approve.

Tiny Beasts Live Among Us

Reception 4-7 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 9
Exhibit through Monday, Feb. 28, free
The Evergreen State College Gallery Photoland Library Building
2700 Evergreen Pkwy. N.W., Olympia