UPDATED AT 1:55pm  You may have already noticed: the Somerville Arts Council has helped the Davis Square CVS take window dressing to a whole new level.

They call it the Inside-Out Gallery, and much as your initial instinct might be to start cracking jokes about desperate artists and drug stores, there's really no arguing how cool it is. CVS window or not, think for a moment about how many people walk past it daily, never mind over the course of a month.  And wouldn't you rather see a creative local offering than–oh, I dunno–a cardboard stand-up display of a pharmacist looking like he's eaten too much Prozac as he grins at a customer? Nobody working at a corporate drug store should look that happy…

"The owners of the CVS building loan us that space as a means to benefit the community," said Somerville Arts Council Office Manager Heather Balchunas. (Sounds like the building owners would prefer local art to corporate Prozac also–points galore for them.)

"Each month we fill it with something different," said Balchunas. "Sometimes it's just one artist. Other times it's a group with a unifying theme."

After participating in the Halloween-oriented Something Wicked This Way Comes show for October, artist Pauline Lim has the window all to herself this month for an exclusive showcase.

A multitalented forty-something of Korean descent and a Harvard grad, Lim has called Somerville home for the better part of twenty years. Harvard wasn't exactly her idea of a good time, but without it she may never have found the Brickbottom Artists Building on Fitchburg Court–it's where she lives, where she paints and where she makes her music.

"My parents were very ambitious immigrants who had escaped the ravages of the Korean War, so they were anxious that I be successful," she said.  "They were appalled when I told them I had decided to be an artist. I was so miserable at Harvard that the only way I could get through it without committing suicide was to play in the studio all day long."

"I just stayed on after graduation," Lim continued. "Having grown up in Iowa, it was just nice not to feel like such a freak. All the same, I'd been living in a house with a bunch of young artists who turned out to be more interested in doing drugs than in making art and I had to get out."

Founded in 1987, Brickbottom is the oldest live/work artist's community in the country. Lim just happened to be strolling down the street one afternoon, daydreaming about how to leave her stoned roomies in the dust when she saw a sign for the building and lucked out. That was in 1989.

Lim's visual work is complex, both in theme and composition. And she's been blessed with oodles of accolades; she's even been featured on ABC's Chronicle. But that doesn't hamper her humility; she's able to clearly see the value and opportunity of Inside-Out.

"I have shown in a lot of art galleries, but it never compares to when I show in a cafe or restaurant," she said, noting the Cambridge Trust Co. bank windows in Harvard Square as another public space where she's hung work. "I personally go to galleries only rarely. They're not usually inviting or fun."

Not only does Lim love the window-as-gallery concept, she firmly believes Somerville should take it to the next level.

"I don't think art should be separate from daily life," she said. "The more opportunities you have to confront something beautiful or thought-provoking or funny, the better! In fact, any space that lacks art should be filled with it. We have the creative force here; I hereby issue a challenge to the City of Somerville to fill every remaining inch of unadorned space in the city with art. We're doing pretty well with benches and electrical boxes, but we should go over the top with it.  Wouldn't that be fun?"

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Pauline Lim spent part of her weekend at the Vernon Street Open Studios, and the experience further drove home her enthusiasm for the evolution of Somerville as an arts mecca.

"I was blown away by the volume of great art I saw," she said "There was a lot of exciting work that you'd be hard pressed to find anywhere else.  Fun, funky, impressive, cool, well made. .. It's all happening here in Somerville, baby!"

The Vernon Street event brought back memories of her first year participating in Brickbottom Open Studios which, incidentally, happens again later this month.

"Brickbottom Open Studios changed my life, as it was the first time I sold work in a significant amount and got a big audience...  Talk about validation!  I have never missed a year since 1989, because it's always the biggest selling event for me, which helps me continue as an artist, not only financially but psychologically," she said.

Lim said that she loves living where she works and it makes showing up for her job that much easier. She noted that it can be a little cramped and speculated that preparing her home for an Open Studios event wherein throngs of strangers wander through is likely tough for her husband. Apparently, the emotional payoff makes up for all that. 

"There are all sorts of reasons to quit being an artist, and then you get this infusion of support that just beats all.  It's awesome.  This year's event is November 20 and 21, noon - 6, and I will be showing over 50 paintings."