Empty space is dead space, at least when it comes to urban real estate — and in this never-ending economic downtown, there's a lot of vacant retail frontage around town.

What to do about it?

Since late 2010, Storefronts Seattle — a collaboration between 4Culture, Shunpike, the city of Seattle's Department of Neighborhoods and half a dozen other civic groups — has been making dead space come back to life by putting art and artists in it.

Some projects are strictly window displays. Others are working studios, staffed on a regular basis. August has seen the arrival of 11 new installations/studios, several having exactly the enlivening effect the organization is after, others less successful.

Here's a quick look at some of the best:

• Sarah Lovett's "Dogody and the inflatable garden" (409 Maynard Ave. S.) is perched in a huge window overlooking Hing Hay Park in the Chinatown International District. "Dogody" is a 12-foot-long puppet constructed from reeds, tracing paper, gauze, LED lights and plastic. While he's canine in essence, he does seem to be paying homage to the dancing dragons of Chinese New Year. Lovett, on her website (www.lovettarts.com), says it takes three puppeteers to bring him to life. At the moment, he's artfully suspended on strings from the ceiling, looking as if he's about to leap into the square below.

• George Rodriguez's untitled ceramics-and-drawing installation (505 Fifth Ave. S.) pays homage to the Wild West. It features twin cowboys holding up trigger fingers as they square off for a duel, a spectator cowering in a barrel and a top-hatted undertaker flanked by two damsels seemingly unconcerned about any imminent shootout. Tumbleweed floats overhead and cactuses mark the space between the characters — all in fired glazed clay.

• Photographer Daniel Carrillo (604 Second Ave.) has developed a passion for wet plate collodion photographic process. A few of his photographs are propped in the storefront he shares with "Youth in Focus." His "Wet Plate Collodion Seattle Artist Portrait Project" (posted on www.daniel-carrillo.com) is a veritable Who's Who of local arts figures, including some — Adrain Chesser, for instance — in curious disguise. Carrillo is in the studio several evenings each week, teaching workshops and taking commissions from would-be sitters who want to look contemporaneous with Mathew Brady. Call 425-766-7810 to make an appointment.

• The Adventure School (610 Second Ave., 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Tuesday-Friday) is the most interactive space in this crop of Storefronts Seattle activities, offering lectures, workshops and do-it-yourself art-making. (An obliging Adventurer or Adventuress pedals away on a bicycle generator while visitors drip paint, Jackson Pollack-style, on a spinning piece of paper.) Adventure School founder Aviva Palmer says the workshops cover everything from piñata-making to wedding planning. There are Tuesday lectures on an eclectic array of topics and a Wednesday BYO lunch featuring special guests.

The Adventure School also is a highly eccentric retail outlet, offering goods that members have picked up on their travels or crafted locally. The antique typewriter, however, is not for sale. Instead, Palmer says, visitors are invited "to update it, as they would their Facebook."

Most shows/installations are up through early October. For a complete rundown on the Storefronts Seattle project, go to www.storefrontsseattle.com.

Michael Upchurch: mupchurch@seattletimes.com