Five is far too small a number to encompass all the visual arts shows that stood out from the crowd in what was a remarkably good year in Hampton Roads and Southeast Virginia.

But here's my annual list of exhibits that were so distinguished and rewarding that they deserve extra attention:

"Swamp and Other Wetlands," oil paintings and watercolors by Ray M. Hershberger. Feb. 7-March 16, This Century Gallery, Williamsburg. More than 2 years of study and painting enabled this noted Norfolk artist to transform a previously unsuspected realm of roadside marshes, swamps and even algae-laden ditches into evocative visions of both the physical world and some deeper, less easily defined power.

"30 Americans," contemporary works by African-American artists from the Rubell Family Collection. March 16-July 15. Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk. This densely layered and revealing collection started by underscoring the undeniable impact of race — then battered away at that old paradigm of preconceptions and stereotypes with a group of independent talents intent on taking off in their own directions.

"African-American Art: Harlem Renaissance, Civil Rights Era, and Beyond," from the collection of the Smithsonian American Museum of Art. Sept. 28-Jan. 6, 2013. Muscarelle Museum of Art, College of William and Mary, Williamsburg. This stellar exhibit of 100 works from the country's biggest and most renowned collection of African-American art proved to be particularly strong in early work documenting the energy and passion of the pioneering black artists who fled chronic poverty and hardening segregation laws in the South to make new lives in such Northern communities as Harlem.

"Chihuly at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts," featuring individual works and gallery-size installations by pioneering studio glass artist Dale Chihuly. Oct. 20-Feb. 10, 2013. Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond. Beginning with an opening-day crowd of 6,500 people, the museum's guards and motion-activated alarms worked overtime to deal with bedazzled admirers who can't resist the impulse to lean in and even touch one of Chihuly's beguiling, often otherworldly flights of color, form and imagination.

But what you saw made the crowds and the drive to Richmond more than worthwhile.

"50 Great American Artists," 50th Anniversary Celebration Exhibition. Oct. 21-Jan. 13, 2012. Peninsula Fine Arts Center, Newport News. Made up of objects drawn largely from small museums, galleries and private collectors — plus some critical loans from the Smithsonian, the Chrysler Museum of Art and the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts — Pfac curator Michael Preble's unexpectedly rich and rewarding show outperformed many similar exhibits that boasted bigger and better-known lenders.

Erickson can be reached at merickson@dailypress.com and 757-247-4783. Find him at dailypress.com/entertainment/arts and Facebook.com/dpentertainment