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Sferfz - Guar Editor In Prai4e An artist is usually a damned liar, but bis art, if it be art, will tell you Lawrence) the truth of bis day." (D.H. I'm not sure I agree with the first half of this statement. O v e r the almost ten years I have been w r i t i n g for A R T S A L I V E M a g a z i n e , I have interviewed many artists f r o m all d i s c i p l i n e s painters, dancers, s c u l p t o r s , w r i t e r s , m u s i c i a n s , even puppeteers. I have f o u n d them all to be honest a n d open people. W h e n I first c o n t a c t someone for an interview, I ask them to think about what they want to communicate to the readers of our magazine. M y role, I believe, is to act as an intermediary between the artist and the readership. Often I visit the artists where they work. I read their poems, attend their concerts, watch their films. Back home I diligently listen to the taped interviews or reread our email c o m m u n i c a t i o n s or check out their websites. T h e n I get d o w n to the task of representing them as best I can. But, as I craft each article, I realize that it is the art itself that best communicates what the artist wants to express. I can only encourage the public the ArWtt to go to a festival, visit a gallery, or read someone's first novel. It has been an h o n o u r for me to meet the many artists I have written about and to help them in whatever way I c a n . M o r e than anything else. A R T S A L I V E M a g a z i n e provides a vehicle for local artists to let people k n o w what they are doing, to invite them to participate, to appreciate, to stop for a m o m e n t a n d sec the world from a different perspective. Without art, the crudeness of reality would make the world unbearable. {George Bernard Shaw) If this is true, we owe much to the artists in our midst. It follows then, that o r g a n i z a t i o n s like the F A N S Society and the North V a n c o u v e r O f f i c e of C u l t u r a l A f f a i r s are helping not only the artists they s p o n s o r a n d p r o m o t e , but also the citizens of the communities w h o are benefiting from the art around them. T o all you artists out there - keep up the g o o d w o r k . T h e world needs you now more than ever. 2 September|October