The artist's role in the world is never as clear as that of a builder or a plumber. We are always straddling the line between the real and the ideal, commixing the two into a dense fabric in which one thread can begin and end on opposite ends of that spectrum. Ultimately we deal with the science and craft of patterns. We are charged with a dual purpose: to preserve the patterns that we sense in the world around us, and also to introduce new patterns of our own into the world.