Time-honored ceramic and porcelain pieces are here from a range of modern styles -- Arts & Crafts, Art Nouveau, Jugendstil, Limoges and Art Deco. The collection includes works of Rookwood, Tiffany, Limoges and Meissen.

Title: The Prince, 1988 Artist: Dan Dailey Dailey is part of the Studio glass movement that comprises the work of small, artist-run studios in glass from 1962 forward.

Title: The Bodhisattva Maitreya This painting dates back to the 15th century and is thought to originate from central or western Tibet.

Title: Die heilige Cacilie oder die Gewalt der Musik Artist: Frank Stella, 1998 This five-paneled mural is about 10 feet (three meters) high and 41 feet (12 meters) tall.

Fragile, fragile, fragile. Seventy pieces of Studio glass are being showcased, carefully, at the Detroit Institute of Arts. The "Studio movement" defines the development of small, artist-run studios for the production of art glass beginning in 1962. Dale Chihuly, whose glass sculptures appear at the Citadel in the Jerusalem 2000 program, is among the artists represented in the Detroit show.

A lot of time has gone into building Tibetan culture, and that ethos informs 60 sacred paintings called tangkas in this show at the Kimbell Art Museum. Painted on cotton or silk and often framed with brocade, the tangkas are portable icons that typically feature the Buddha, deities or visions of paradise. The paintings date from the mid-13th century to the early 20th century.

Now, what have artists spent more time on than the mystique of the human figure? Mastering the nude has long been a touchstone of aesthetic endeavor, a focus spanning cultures, faiths, politics and economies. This exhibit shows an evolution of figural drawing over 400 years, from the early Renaissance to the 1800s. Highlights include Rubens' "Anatomical Studies," Courbet's "Standing Female Nude" and Pontormo's "Dead Christ."

Frank Stella's abstract artworks of the 1990s are so enormous that it's been nearly impossible to hold a comprehensive showing of his work. But North Miami's MoCa is using its cavernous exhibition space to display more than 40 pieces from the decade. One section features drawings and models devoted to Stella's major commission for Miami's new American Airlines Arena, a 34-foot (10-meter) structure that derives its shape from the outline of a Brazilian foam beach hat.

Throughout American history, folk artists have expressed their visions and prophecies, often in relation to sweeping expanses of time. "Millennial Dreams" traces the tradition in both spiritual and secular manifestations in 65 works, including Shaker spirit drawings, illustrated Adventist charts and Edward Hicks' "Peaceable Kingdom" paintings illustrating verses from the biblical Book of Isaiah.

Well, of course you're a masterpiece, just ... before your time, right? In her new video installation, French artist Sylvie Blocher turns to an unusual source -- the Princeton University football team -- for an examination of religion, art, heroes and self-perception. She asks team members such questions as "Is there a painting over your bed?" and "When do you feel feminine?" and "Are you a masterpiece?"

Those queries are meant to push viewers, let alone the players, to reframe their ideas about who qualifies as an expert, what questions we ask ourselves and what questions we all address as human beings. Another kickoff. Happy New Year.