Sept. 30-Oct. 5

Sometimes we write about exhibits at the MFA - in fact there might be something on the site now - and sometimes we write about artists who deal with ... sock dolls. That's what Thomas Durand does and he joins other artists at the Jamaica Plain JP Licks Gallery as part of the Jamaica Plain Open Studios celebration. But what about those monkeys? Durand says he got into it "shortly after I became sober" and found that they were first made during the Great Depression and were perfect to express the "seemingly never-ending raw emotions I was experiencing at the time." He makes the dolls, then photographs them. The sock monkey photos we've seen are more whimsical - a monkey doing a snow angel, monkeys hanging out on a beam, a monkey's eyes peaking out between a snow cap and scarf. Durand's photos - and the work of others -  hangs at the Jamaica Plain JP Licks Gallery, Twenty-four other spaces hang the work of numberous artists as well. It's up Sept. 30-Oct. 5.

659 Centre St, 617-524-2020 jpopenstudios.com