CRITICAL MASS >>>

Spew sifts through the Internets for local arts stories so you don't have to.

Weekly Volcano visual arts critic Alec Clayton can't seem to escape the work of artist Troy Gua, which isn't a problem for our art critic. "Gua's art is both conceptual and formally aesthetic. It is filled with humor (except when it is deadly serious such as in the war memorial show at Fulcrum) and with art world references. It is smart and skillfully executed," Clayton writes in this week's Volcano. Read Clayton full take on Gua here.

Heads Up: Two worthy arts events are headed our way. First, Tacoma Poet Laureate Josie Emmons Turner will host a poetry open mic for young writers Sunday. On Nov. 30, Lynn Di Nino unleashes "Pin a Dorito on an American" on Tacoma.

Kate Albert Ward over at Post Defiance has summoned Dr. David Karpeles to renovate his manuscript museum saying, "... it would better honor his remarkable collection, the museum would become a bigger draw in Tacoma, and it would be able to better fulfill Dr. Karpeles mission to inspire youth." It's a thorough piece of one of Tacoma's hidden treasures.

The News Tribune's Rosemary Ponnekanti reviews T-Town Transgender Neighbors: A Portrait Exhibition - a 13-piece photography and text show at the University of Puget Sound Collins Library. Ponnekanti says, "It’s not fantastic art, but it moves you just as much."

Janette Ryan‘s amazing photographs of Puget Sound are eloquently described on the Spaceworks Tacoma blog. "Through her lens, the horizon line dividing sky and sea dissolves into nothingness. Docks and pilings become graphic strokes so pure as to resemble a mysterious language of dots and dashes left behind by humans from an indeterminate age." Nice.

PLUS: This week's movie releases

PLUS: Freeloaders!