The Hardware Store Restaurant’s gallery will be filled with two exhibits organized by island photographer Ray Pfortner. Viewers will be able to cast People’s Choice Award ballots for both shows.

The first show is the culmination of Pfortner’s 7th annual Shoot to Show class, presented in collaboration with Vashon Allied Arts. This year, Pfortner’s students included six adults and four teenagers, all eager to gain comprehensive skills in preparing and exhibiting photography in a juried exhibition. Pfortner’s students focused on the theme of water, and photographed more than 8,000 images in a two-month time span. Of those images, 100 were submitted to a panel of jurors that included Wendy Finkleman, Nance Scott, Melinda Sontgerath and Kristine and Rick Dahms. Thirty images were selected for the show.

The second exhibit will show photographs created by 8th-grade students at McMurray Middle School, during the school’s annual Exploratory Week. Pfortner, joined by co-teachers Karen Person and Katie Lewandowski, led 12 students in a four-day photography intensive, visiting sites in Tacoma, Seattle and on Vashon. The resulting show has 36 framed prints.

The Puget Sound Cooperative Credit Union will exhibit multi-media collage works by Claudia Hollander and John Lucas. Hollander will present montages and related photographs from her new book, “Vox Populi,” and Lucas will show collage-processed oil paintings that reflect his background in geology. The reception will feature the music of acoustic guitarist, songwriter and educator Daryl Redeker.

VALISE will exhibit work by Brian Van Buren, from his continuing “Thicket” series. The series, said Van Buren, started as an “expression of the situation we sometimes find ourselves in, either by our own doing or others’, through which we need to find our way.”

For Vashon Allied Arts’ show, “Portraits of Elders: People Who Inspire,” five artists will line the gallery’s walls with a show that is a “who’s who” of influential and inspiring islanders.

Vashon painter Olivia Pendergast came up with the concept for the show, after she heard local author and storyteller Michael Meade speak about the cultural importance of elders. For Pendergast, the word “elder” means something much more subtle than a chronological age or a list of accomplishments.

“It’s about the feelings an elder inspires in others,” Pendergast said. “I’m intrigued by the vibrant interaction between elders and other members of the community.”

The show includes pencil drawings by Bruce Morser, oil paintings by Pam Ingalls, watercolors by Donna Botten and paintings by William Forrester and Pendergast. Islanders Bettie Edwards, John Browne, Bruce Haulman, Edith and Ray Aspiri and John Jannetty are among the subjects of the artworks.

The evening will kick off at 5:30 p.m. with a presentation by Meade, who will present a mixture of poetry, song, storytelling and percussion. Jack Barbash, Steve Meyer, Fletcher Andrews and Peter Scott will play live music at the reception.

g photography, acrylic paintings, sandstone carvings and a “Medicine Wheel,” complete with leather and animal skulls.

Duet will exhibit watercolors by Vashon artist Michael Spakowsky, who specializes in maritime and island scenes.

The Heron’s Nest will show batik watercolor paintings by Marcia McKinzie.

Ignition Gallery will continue “Between the Tides,” an exhibition supporting Vashon Beach Naturalists in their educational endeavors. At 7 p.m. there will be an awards ceremony to recognize the artists who won the show’s People’s Choice awards, selected by gallery visitors’ votes in June.

Raven’s Nest will show a new collection of Native wearable art and accessories. A fashion show, scheduled for 7:30 p.m., will show off the shop’s latest T-shirts, hoodies, silk scarves, shawls, sunglasses, leather pouches, cedar bark hats and jewelry.

Snapdragon will show landscape and plein air paintings by Brooke Borcherding, who has been painting outdoors since 2009. Since that time, she’s won a slew of awards and honors at juried shows throughout the Northwest.

Two Wall Gallery will continue to exhibit two teen photography shows. Works in encaustic, by FamilyLink students, and Polaroid emulsion lifts, by Vashon High School students, were created in workshops led by island photographer Ray Pfortner.

Pfortner will also present another juried show at the Two Wall Gallery, “Visions of the Garden.” The show includes 25 prints by six photographers who enrolled in a workshop Pfortner held at the new Seattle Chinese Garden, located in West Seattle. The garden was built in 2011 by 21 artisans visiting from China, wood workers, sculptors and masons.

The workshop participants captured the images in the show during a time span that lasted from sunrise to sunset. They also shot their photographs under the light of a full moon.

Jurors for the show include Seattle Times photographer Ellen Banner, professional photographer Ilona Berzups, architect Jim Dawson and South Seattle Community College official Laura Matson.

To find out more about Pfortner’s next workshops at the garden, call 934-5219 or visit www.seattlechinesegarden.org.

Vashon Central and SAW, next door to Café Luna, will display paintings by Ditte Jensen.

Vashon Community Care will exhibit “Chickens and Friends,” a show of chicken quilts made by members of the Vashon Quilt Guild. Paintings by Sharon Hines-Pinion and photos by Linda Peterson will also be on display. The works will be on display for two months.

The Vashon Senior Center, on Bank Road, will exhibit Rondi Lightmark’s photographs of dogs.