For me, an artist is a verbally silent poet depicting and interpreting life while transcending its limits, expectations, and boundaries. An artist is one who both explains and expresses the universe through light and shadow while unveiling themselves in the process. Their role is to summon curiosity, emotion, and inspiration. Through vulnerability they engage the community with introspection and beauty. They teach us their perspective and groom us to see the world differently. They provide a voice to those without one. And a vision for those who are unable to cultivate their own artistic path. Artists bring people together and tear them apart, therefore they make us think. Explore. Ponder. Decide. They walk the fine line of the creative continental divide, carving out the dichotomous attitudes of our society and awakening those still in an embryonic sleep. Human beings can live without art. It is not a question of survival. They cannot, however, consciously communicate and thrive within the realm of the hungry soul without the nourishment that is art.