“I can talk about music all day. I have lots of opinions and I’m not shy sharing them. They are honed from experience. A musical performance is a social contract, a public event. When there is a live audience and a dialogue with that audience, there is electricity, a pulse and a sharing of energy. There are well-wishers and witnesses to back you up.

But art is not that way. In many ways it is the opposite. It is not a place full of people. It is a solitary place for the most part, and not a place for conversation. There is no discussion about the work. It is made in silence.

Perhaps because of this I find it quite difficult to talk about my work, to explain in some way. I try to make things that can speak for themselves-urging, suggesting, whispering, sometimes screaming and shouting out if need be. All pieces beg for attention in their own way, and I must give it to them, because they are indeed like children in the beginning when they are coming to. When in time they are complete, they are not about themselves. They are about who stands before them.

History and mythology tend to romanticize the human condition, but across all cultures, there has always been a struggle to define the place of the artist. Is art not a mirror to the true face of society? Is it not constantly narrating this unscripted life? It’s very purpose is to translate, to channel, to instruct, to provide proof of higher motives and spiritual ideals. It is here to symbolize devotion to certain truths that endure across time and space. Because we do not endure. We are transitory. It is art that pays homage to the life force. It is the best and greatest of what we leave behind. It is purified by the aspirations and suffering of the world. It is burdensome. It does not rest.

There is great resiliency in the human spirit. It can withstand unspeakable hardships and rise above catastrophes. In literature the hero can only prevail in the third act, after overcoming the conflicts and obstacles allied against him. Often these forces destroy lesser men. We all must journey through dark nights, through loss, through abandonment, through doubt and betrayal. Only by passing through all of them do we emerge into light.

It is by creating art that man illuminates his path. It is the sacred duty of the artist to be both shaman and alchemist, that his work can serve as signposts, markers, revelations along the way, to guard against our coarser nature and encourage us towards compassion. Like Dante and Virgil before us, we all one day shall be left in the boatman’s charge. On this arduous journey, the most we can wish for ourselves and our fellow travelers is that we be given safe passage.”

– James Macdonell