Your March issue (“Art in the 90’s: Visions and Values“) was balm to a battered spirit. My sculptor husband (deceased) was punished professionally for his stubborn adherence to the belief that the best art serves truth and beauty. My own sculpture and, regrettably, that of our son is ignored with a vengeance. I am forwarding the March issue to his New York studio.

For those who anticipate the ascendancy of truth and beauty as manifestation of a higher power, the present state of the visual arts is discouraging. Biased art history is disruptive, but bold lies, repeated for gain, corrupt the present and endanger the future. Millions of buzzing words whirling around putrid corpses do eventually die from exposure. But living artists, eager to become sacrificial pawns for commerce, seem unaware of the deadly cost to themselves and their culture. Today, in full public view, ugly corruption is hawked and glorified to the confusion of all. Who benefits when scorn and ridicule are heaped on artists who value life and want to share a positive vision? The noblest aspirations wither in an unremitting desert.

There is comfort in the thought that reverent or joyous art, wrought in the past, has never lost its power. As surely as a good life serves holistic purpose, so a deeply felt and disciplined art is substance able to inspire, mystify, reinforce, and redeem human hearts. I recall that every quest and every pilgrimage had its origin in a solitary reverent heart. I pray daily for strength to persist.

        —Beverly Frazier
Del Mar, CA