Today in Durham from 5 to 8 p.m., Branch Gallery hosts an opening reception for "Casa de Carton" (Cardboard House), a group show aligning "the ephemeral and the sublime," curated by William Cordova. The show takes its title from the writings of Peruvian author Martin Adan. The roster of artists includes Robert Thiele, George Smith, Carlos Sandoval de Leon, Jorge Pantoja, Geon Moreno, Rashawn Griffin, William Cordova and Derrick Adams. In addition, in Gallery II, he has curated "Up Against the Wall," an archival photography exhibition of work by German-born photographer Ilka Hartmann, highlighting documentation of radical political causes. Cordova was one of three featured artists in last year's "Street Level" at the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University and is represented by Branch Gallery, where Nasher curator Trevor Schoonmaker's wife, Teka Selman, is a partner. 401-C Foster St., Durham. 918-1116, www.branchgallery.com.

Also opening today in Raleigh, at Gallery C, is "Twenty Photographs" by Eudora Welty, composed of works made in the 1930s when she was a photographer for the Works Progress Administration. Her subjects equally embrace the white and African-American populace, vividly capturing a sense of the Great Depression era and a rapidly disappearing Old South, whether in the varied expressions of tousle-haired little boys taking in the sights of a side show or the rapt religious ecstasy of "Preachers and Leaders of the Holiness Church." From a limited edition of just 75 published in 1980, they offer a rich and illuminating corollary to Welty's literary achievement. Through July 22. 3532 Wade Ave., Raleigh. 828-3165, www.galleryc.net.

The "soft" opening of Somerhill Gallery's new space in Durham tops this week's Durham art news. Trading the compressed verticality of its spaces in the former Chapel Hill location at Eastgate Mall for urban digs in downtown Durham's evolving Venable Center complex, the new space unfolds on one spacious floor of 9,600 square feet. Architect Phil Szostak has done a phenomenal job of transforming a rather nondescript former warehouse space into a fine gallery unlike any other in the Triangle in just a few months, refining the classic "white cube" aesthetic of white walls, a ceiling painted an icy, silvery blue that leaves vents, pipes and ducts exposed, radiating around a central light-filled sculpture courtyard replete with a palm tree and Mark Chatterley's engaging life-scale ceramic figures. On opening Saturday this past week, bustling workers were in evidence everywhere, as boxes of art glass wares were being unpacked, paintings were being hung, and landscaping of the courtyard was tended. Highlights of the new space include a pivoting wall, behind which expansive gallery storage allows clients to browse through all selections of in-stock artwork -- a feature specifically modeled after New York City's Pace Gallery, noted gallery owner Joe Rowand. A discrete photography gallery with flat files for storage of unframed prints will allow careful handling of works by clients wearing cotton gloves, as well as a room for framing and a wing for glass. The airy, spread-out space allows for more breathing room between works of art, and more pedestals, integrating two- and three-dimensional works. 303 S. Roxboro St., Durham. 688-8868, www.somerhill.com.

Get $150+ in coupons in every Sunday N&O. Click here for convenient home delivery.