So many worthy shows crowd the end-of-spring calendar, it will be difficult to see them all -- but let's at least start by citing some of Raleigh's First Friday special picks.

At Artspace's Gallery I, a special exhibition of Herb Jackson's "Veronica's Veils" series opens from 6 to 10 p.m. Begun in 1980, the series has grown to include more than 200 paintings. These abstract works take the sudarium (the veil Veronica used to wipe Christ's face, leaving his image on the cloth) as a point of departure for excavations of layered paint surfaces, often blended with pumice and other additives that seem to allude to geology. 201 E. Davie St., Raleigh, 821-2787 www.artspacenc.org

Around the corner at the Visual Art Exchange, "scope," focusing on interpretations of the North Carolina landscape, juried by Tom Grubb, director of the Fayetteville Museum of Art, looks promising. Reception from 6 to 9 p.m. 325 Blake St., Raleigh 828-7834 www.visualartexchange.org

At DesignBox's new location at 323 W. Martin St., sculptor Matt McConnell offers "Momentum," ambitious translations of parabolic curves and vortices into steel, glass, acrylic, light and, especially for tonight's opening, a sphere cast in ice. From 7 to 10 p.m. 834-3552 www.designbox.us/gallery.html

Flanders Gallery opens "Spectrumed," an exploration of political and social issues around the world, featuring artists Torkwase Dyson, Andre Leon Gray, Morolake Odeleye (who shows concurrently in "PepperPot" - see below), and Fahamu Pecou. 18 Seaboard Station, Raleigh 834-5044 flandersartgallery.com

Open until 7 p.m. today, Gallery C's "Best of North Carolina" show is particularly satisfying this time around, delivering three lovely drawings by Minnie Evans, several Edith London collages and a Sarah Blakeslee drawing of her husband, Francis Speight. Elliot Clark's delicate drawing, "Canal in Venice," is another highlight. Ridgewood Shopping Center, 3532 Wade Ave., Raleigh. 828-3165 www.galleryc.net

At UNC-Chapel Hill's Ackland Museum of Art, "New Currents in Contemporary Art," the annual MFA showcase, especially strong this year, delivers lively, engaging works by each of the six candidates. Natalia Vega-Forero and Ellie Pierson offer different takes on deconstructed rooms Cat Manolis creates a menacing "Mascot" of chemical gloves and bullet casings. Brad Reagan invokes retro flower power with sculptures of unlikely materials such as expanding foam. Taj Forer chronicles Cedar Grove, N.C.'s efforts to unite a community divided over an unexplained murder through a community gardening project. And Lori Esposito's rivulets of flowing paint magically pool into unexpected representational vignettes, a la Julie Heffernan. Through May 11. South Columbia and East Franklin streets, Chapel Hill 966-5736 www.ackland.org

Also at UNC-CH, "PepperPot," on view at the Robert and Sallie Brown Gallery and Museum of the Sonja Haynes Stone Center, offers a contemporary multimedia perspective on themes of African Diasporic art. Curated by UNC alumna Pamela Phatismo Sunstrum, it includes works by Andrea Chung, Morolake Odeleye, Lauren Kelley and Cosmo Whyte. Chung uses wooden shipping pallets and spices to suggest the trade economies that so deeply affected black culture. Odeleye has painted and cast the black body with brown sugar and paste. Lauren Kelley explores and challenges stereotypes of black culture in her photographs and video, "Big Gurl." And Cosmo Whyte offers a quiet meditation on the death of his father with the lovely hand-drawn animation, "In My Dreams He Never Speaks." The gallery has limited viewing hours, weekdays from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Through May 11. 150 South Road, Chapel Hill. 962-9001 www.unc.edu/depts/stonecenter

Attend a Mark Hewitt Spring Kiln preview today from 4 to 7 p.m. and sale Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday from noon for some of the finest N.C. pottery around. 424 Johnny Burke Road, Pittsboro. 542-2371 www.markhewittpottery.com

On Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday from noon, the 14th annual Art in the Garden Sculpture Invitational adds veteran N.C. sculptor Wayne Trapp to its numbers. Held in the charming garden/studio of clay sculptor Tinka Jordy, a pleasant country drive just outside Chapel Hill, the show features original artist-created sculptures especially for the garden in clay, mixed media, stone, wood and metal, viewed in situ. Other artists are Virginia Gibbons, Jim Adams, Mike Roig, Sam Spiczka, William Moore and Edwin White. 1902 Borland Road, Hillsborough 968-2115 www.garden-art.com