ART SAVES LIVES because it expresses what is in the artist’s heart, and in the hearts of those who respond to it. Art is one place we don’t have to compromise, make do, adjust to another person. It helps us be ourselves. In the process of creation artists refine their values; they clarify what is most important to them, and in so doing help themselves see beyond the difficulties in their lives. The viewers, listeners, readers, are helped to see beyond their difficulties, and their response, in turn, nourishes the artist. Like a well-balanced ecology in nature, it is an interdependence vital to all concerned.

——Mary Steele, Painter