"Soothing," "Zen-like," "dynamic" "elegant" are just some of the effects evoked at the Martin Puryear Retrospective at San Francisco's Museum of Modern Art. Stepping into SFMoMa's exhibition of Puryear's work is to witness sculptures that are both pleasing but confounding, structurally complex yet visually simple. Puryear works in natural materials: wood, tar, rawhide, and stone, combining modern geometry with traditional crafts such as woodwork, construction and an adventurous technique in basketry as seen best in "Old Mole," above, an intricate 5-foot, lattice work of red cedar.

Even without knowing its title, Puryear's "Old Mole" resonates with the viewer, an ancient animal rendered for the modern era.

The Martin Puryear Retrospective is at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art through Jan. 25. www.sfmoma.org.

— Chris Oliver

LAS VEGAS

WYNN'S NEW RESORT BOASTS RESTAURANT NAMED FOR SINATRA

Entrepreneur Steve Wynn's new $2.3 billion Las Vegas resort and casino Encore has opened with an Italian restaurant named for the late crooner Frank Sinatra. Wynn and Sinatra worked together and were friends in the early '80s, when Sinatra sang for Wynn at the Golden Nugget hotel-casinos in Las Vegas and Atlantic City, N.J. The public caught glimpses of the pair's relationship through a series of humorous commercials promoting the Nugget casinos. Wynn was usually the butt of jokes, treated as a bellhop or other low-level employee by Sinatra. www.encorelasvegas.com.

— Associated Press

WORLDWIDE

UNUSED FREQUENT-FLIER MILES CAN HELP SOLDIERS VISIT FAMILY

If you're interested in donating your unused frequent-flier miles to a good cause, the Fisher House Foundation will turn them into airline tickets, offering them free to men and women in the military who are receiving medical treatment at a Veterans Affairs or military facility. The "Hero Miles" program is available to service men and women with an approved leave of five or more days for a trip from the medical center to their home and return if they are not eligible for government-funded airfare.

Qualifying service men and women may be given free roundtrip airline tickets to enable their family or close friends to visit them while they are being treated at the medical center. www.fisherhouse.org.

— Advertiser Staff