Jan Taylor Weeks had no idea the French students were about to launch a jobs riot in Paris just at the time she and others were staging a quiet art show on the Hill celebrating the school of Paul C�zanne.

Far from the burning cars and the howling students, young painters and watercolorists are interpreting the famed light and the natural beauty of the south of France. Many are Americans on a unique program.

Full disclosure: I have nothing whatsoever to do with the Institute for American Universities or its division the Marchutz School, which is introducing its study-abroad program at Aix-en-Provence at a show here. It’s one example of the Hill’s remarkable range of institutions that each year vie for support. The school has a local champion in Weeks, an artist who has been both student and teacher at the school.

Not the usual “year abroad” for college students, the Marchutz School at Aix is for those entranced by the painter C�zanne, whose exhibit reigns at the National Gallery. Leo Marchutz was a German painter captivated by C�zanne’s shapes, light, vision, what have you; he came to Aix and never left, founding the school that bears his name.

“It was really to raise awareness of the school,” Taylor said. Hosted by Patricia Locke and Julia and Mike Coursey, the show exhibited the paintings of Weeks, Marchutz School director Alan Roberts, and C�zannists John Gasparach and Michelle Henot. Several paintings were sold; the website is www.iaufrance.org.

Spring is open season for supporters of local institutions and causes. Among the best known to locals are the Capitol Hill Community Foundation, the Congressional Cemetary Assocation, Friendship House Association, Stanton Park Neighborhood Association, Capitol Hill Restoration Society and the numerous Friends of (your local icon).

Jean-Keith Fagon’s estimable Community Guide to Capitol Hill lists almost 60 worthy causes, from Amnesty International to the Washington Humane Society. Many, many others are listed: youth organizations, schools that need help, arts organizations. Still others are clubs that need membership dollars. Then there are the churches, 48 of them and one synagogue, and calls to volunteer with tutoring, food, and taking care of city mini-parks.

After four years as Eastern Market manager, Stuart Smith of Eastern Market Venture has launched an advertising plan for the old market designed to attract attention, win new customers and fix the city’s only continuously operating public food market in the realm of Washington tourist destinations.

The “brand,” as it is called, is a stylized image of the market’s handsome fa�ade backed by a sunrise, a tall D.C. flag and the words “On Capitol Hill Since 1873.”

The quiet, almost preppy colors of green and yellow are prominent. Signs are planned for market entrances, using images of a cow, a rooster, an apple, a pig and a fish to illustrate the variety of foods available.

“This is Stuart’s baby and we have given it our blessing,” said Monte Edwards, the head of the Eastern Market Community Advisory Committee’s capital-improvements subcommittee. The Historic Preservation Review Board and Capitol Hill Restoration Society have seen the designs of the new logos and signs. The mild reservations expressed were that there might be too many signs and symbols in the plan.

Smith said the design was a “collaborative effort” between his firm and the community and Edge Advertising. What remains is to contract out the manufacture of the signs and symbols and find the money to produce them, part of which will come from Eastern Market coffers and some from the D.C. Office of Property Management, which owns the building.

One new element will be the use of the central archway in the facade as a community bulletin board. That mysterious archway, Edwards said, was once the most sought-after vending space, used to display fruit. Under the new plan, the arch will be available to post local bulletins and notices, and Edwards is tracking down archival photos he hopes will show ornamental ironwork that once decorated its perimeter.

RADIO POST
Idea’s time has come

The human voice has its charms — at least when it has something to say — and The Washington Post deserves congratulations for its new idea:  the launch tomorrow of Washington Post Radio on 1500 AM and 107.7 FM.

One of the attractions (which may or may not materialize) is the promise that there will be no music — particularly popular music. Instead there will be news read by radio professionals Bob Kur and Mike Moss and the voices of Post reporters, whose personalities are now mostly a mystery.

Besides those elements, Post Radio will broadcast Washington Nationals games.

Executives have wisely decided to use not only FM but AM. On most days, the AM signal will extend the voice of the Nationals far beyond FM’s 60- to 70-mile range.

The idea of a voice-only station opens the door to so many interesting possibilities. Not only has no local radio personality (except Kojo Nnamdi, perhaps) taken advantage of the endless interview possibilities of Washington but also we might hear columnists reading or explaining their columns, books or articles read by actors during radio’s midday “dead time” or even a return to my childhood favorite, radio dramas.

• Dan Tangherlini, former head of D.C. Transportation, is one of the most admired members of the Williams mayoralty inner circle, and after his move to head Metro he has ensured that he will continue to serve the city even after the election. He’s already shaken up the Metro bureaucracy and launched a plan to prune bus lines, and he wants to install an inspector general to probe Metro finances. ...

• Restaurant patrons are mourning the news that Montmartre Restaurant, which some say is the best and others the only “good” restaurant on Capitol Hill, is leaving for a location at 2002 P St. N.W, the premises just vacated by Johnny’s Half Shell, which is coming to 400 N. Capitol St. N.W. to replace La Colline. (Whew.) Montmartre’s building at 327 7th is to undergo the addition of two more stories.

• Tax assessment blues: Who on the Hill hasn’t got them? The deadline for the first-stage appeal is Friday, and there’s still time for advice, though you’ve missed the how-to seminars of Councilman Phil Mendelson (D-At large). Call his office at (202) 724-8064. ...

• Showdown at the MedLink Corral: It’s up to the D.C. Zoning Commission, after pleas from Councilwoman Sharon Ambrose (D-Ward 6) plus powerful local Northeast Hill groups (Stanton Park Neighborhood Association, Capitol Hill Restoration Society, Advisory Neighborhood Commission 6C) to reduce the possible building size on the MedLink (former Capitol Hill Hospital) site to 40-60 feet, rather than the 90 feet now sought by developers. ...

• Seventh Street Marvelous: Kitty Kaupp snapped up the little office building at 303 7th (across C Street from the south fa�ade of Eastern Market). She’s leased it to Marvelous Market, Michael Meyer’s chain of northwest Euro-bakeries, making a first-time foray onto the Hill’s cuisine scene.

• Barry Watch: One thing’s missing in the latest drama of Marion Barry’s dramatic career, a nail-biter about paying his $260,000 tax bill. Everyone seems to have forgotten that City Council is only a part-time gig. There should be no problem of making donations to Barry’s tax payment fund; in fact it’s time that some of the suits who made fortunes on crony deals during the Barry years hire Barry as a consultant and pay him thrilling amounts.