BECAUSE NEW IDEAS ARE HARD >>>

This is the first week we've done this ... packaged the Volcano arts section into one of these handy-dandy hype blogs, that is. We've done it for a while, off and on at least, with the Volcano music section, but never with arts. I'm not sure why.

Quite honestly, at some point we just started to feel bad for leaving the back third of the paper out of the fun. From Christian Carvajal, Joe Izenman and Joann Varnell reviewing the action "on the boards" (I have no idea what that means), to the features of writers like Kristin Kendle,  Molly Gilmore, Joshua Swainston and Jackie Fender, to old reliable Alec Clayton and his long-running Visual Edge column, we've got more high-quality arts coverage on a weekly basis than is probably healthy in one sitting. Frankly, it might make you obese.

That said, here's a look at this week's Volcano arts section.

FEATURE - Pass it along: The Street Sign Project touches Tacoma

The Street Sign Project - a small, worldwide grassroots phenomenon started in Tacoma - takes the idea of public art a step further, to its evolutionary phase. Peppered throughout T-town, you may have noticed bits of non-defacing art that relay messages (of sorts), and perhaps unite the community at the same time.

It slaps me in the face when I least expect it:

"REALLY LOVE SOMETHING," one exclaims during my drive home from work.  - Jackie Fender

FEATURE - Origins of Fabitat: Fab-5 & Spaceworks Tacoma are at it again

Fabitat is the result of a partnership between Fab-5 and Spaceworks Tacoma - a venture that has set out to populate empty downtown storefronts with art and creativity. For three to six months, Fabitat will inhabit an old building in Hilltop. Previously a mobile program, this is the first time in Fab-5 history where teachers and students will have a central place to teach and create. Basically, Fabitat creates a home base for Fab-5's outreach. It's scheduled to open in July. - Kristin Kendle

VISUAL EDGE - Alec Clayton reviews Pink Skies at Mavi Contemporary Art

The name of the show is Under Pink Skies, but the skies above the lush and colorful foliage in the Nina Weiss landscapes at Mavi Contemporary Art are orange and lavender and a steely blue-gray - not just pink.

The colors and the sure and deliberate brushstrokes in these landscapes are like rich confections, lakes and streams and bright skies made of sugar and whipped cream.

I easily tire of landscape art. It's generally very boring and predictable. After all, who ever does anything truly original with landscape art these days? Nobody, that's who. So I was pleasantly surprised to discover that I really liked these paintings. - Alec Clayton

FEATURE - Free history: Venturing inside the Karpeles Manuscript Library Museum

On a sunny Thursday afternoon a group of inquisitive patrons enters an ornate park-side building. As they do so, they ask, "What is this place?" Thomas M. Jutilla, the museum's director, gladly tells them that they have stepped into the Karpeles Manuscript Library. The visitors' eyes light up as they realize they've found something genuinely special.- Joshua Swainston

PLUS: More local theater than you can handle!

PLUS: Transformers sucks and other things on local screens

PLUS: Viva South Sound Arts & Entertainment Calendar

DID YOU KNOW?: Today is your LAST DAY to vote in the Volcano's Super Best of Tacoma 2011!! There are arts categories, you know ...