“Weaving: A Common Thread,” an exhibit at...

“Weaving: A Common Thread,” an exhibit at International Gallery (643 G St.), is evidence that fiber is as effective as any other medium for making statements of great artistic beauty. It is also a reminder that most works in fiber, as in other mediums, are at best banally decorative.

Fiber, like clay it seems, is especially susceptible to people’s instincts for play. Melita Horvat-Stupak’s immense (87 by 114 inches) “Spider in Orb-Its” is a case in point. Although it illustrates a variety of fiber techniques and is intriguing to children, it is an example of huge kitsch, a debased kind of art.

Sheila O’Hara’s “Only My Palm Reader Knows for Sure” belongs in the same general category. The use of a palm tree to represent a palm reader is not a sophisticated strategy. Nevertheless, the composition of the work is strong and its colors appealing. The three-dimensionality of the work, with two pairs of perspectively correct columns standing (suspended, actually) on two different planes in front of the image, makes the piece a standout (figuratively as well as literally) in the exhibition.

O’Hara’s “Cuba Libre,” an homage to rum and Coca Cola inspired by a trip to Mexico, is also a fine composition, though conceptually trivial.

Many other works in the exhibit, whether geometric, lyrical, representational pure or semi-abstract, are equally trivial, at best pleasant while you look at them but immediately forgettable.

There are exceptions--artists whose works it would be instructive and enjoyable to see in depth.

Jayn Thomas, for example, is represented by two large, vertical hangings with vertical compositions, one a romantic image of New York City at night, the other a Whistlerian image of harbor lights.

Ann Epstein’s abstraction using flame colors on a pink-lavender field is a seductive work of art.

The small abstractions of Lolli Jacobson and Lynn Basa are compositionally strong and emotionally satisfying.

Among the pure geometric abstractions, those of David Johnson, composed of rows of one-inch squares in a full palette of colors, are especially successful. So, too, are the lyrical, sensual works of Jeff Glenn, made of Ultrasuede and linen.

Also included in the show are traditional ethnic weavings from throughout the world, including Latin America, North Africa, Indonesia, Scandinavia and the Near East. Their beauty, sophistication and integrity should be as instructive to contemporary artists as they are useful to viewers as standards of comparison.

The exhibit continues through May 8.

The Art Collector (4151 Taylor St.) is exhibiting wrapped and coiled fiber wall sculptures by Karen Rhiner.

These are honestly decorative works, but not the less beautiful and engaging for that.

All have the unusual format of groups of components made of fiber wrapped around fiber, wire or cast acrylic supports.

The most impressive and seductive are organic forms, some of which allude to sea creatures like anemones. Others resemble birds’ wings and ocean waves.

Two works composed of rectilinear components look like jumbles of “pick-up sticks.” Still others look like fanciful curls.

The exhibit continues through April 30.

Circle Gallery in Old Town (2501 San Diego Ave.) is exhibiting the works of Vietnamese-French artist Lebadang, who aspires, and often succeeds, in creating works that are more than decorative.

He makes his works through combining mediums and techniques, including handmade paper, collage, lithography, embossment and watercolor.

His multiples in the series entitled “Spaces” look like aerial views of the earth, with natural and architectural features in high relief. Those with white fields look like the surfaces of dead planets.

The more handsome series, with fields constructed of pulp dyed black, are especially intriguing for their inclusion of more complex information--figurative, or human, as well as topographical, or environmental. They are rich with possibilities for interpretation.

A large lithograph from an older series of multiples entitled “The Human Comedy” epitomizes Lebadang’s empathy for the condition of humankind.

Also on view are a large oil painting with imagery reminiscent of that of Swiss painter Paul Klee and a number of lyrical abstractions in watercolor.

The show continues through May 2.